Emerson Heater

[happymummy12345]

Sorry I didn't really know where to put this as I need some answers fairly quickly.
We are currently looking at houses to rent as we want to leave where we are asap. Not having the best of luck finding somewhere though.
Anyway we went to see a house this morning, it's not perfect but it's by far the best we've seen so far, and we think we could make it work just about.
The biggest thing is it's not a combi boiler, it's got an emersion heater. We've never lived anywhere with one as adults so not sure exactly how it would work?
The shower is electric. So would we need hot water in the tank to use the shower? Or just the bath and sink downstairs. What about the central heating, how would that work? Do all heaters of this kind have timers? If so would we be best to set the timer to come on a couple of hours before we get up so we have hot water throughout the day? Then if needs be switch it on again in the afternoon for ds's bath in the evening? How long does the water stay hot roughly? Is it very expensive?
Sorry for all the questions and we will try to speak to an expert, I just thought someone here may be able to help, it's just we are looking for a long term home and we love the rest of the house. But won't take it if the heating/ water issue will be too complicated and or expensive. Thank you and sorry for the ton of questions.

I can’t answer all of those but I expect it’s more expensive than gas, yes. An electric shower heats the water as you use it so you don’t need the immersion heater on for that. Other than that, you’re looking at putting it on before you need it so there is a tank of hot water ready for a bath or for dishes etc.

Is there a boiler and heating?

We have a traditional non combi gas boiler which heats the radiators and hot water. The hot water is stored in a cylinder (a kind of tank which is insulated). There is an electric immersion heater in the cylinder which acts like the element in a kettle - you can use it to top up the heat or if the gas boiler fails. Gas is a lot cheaper than electricity so we very rarely use the immersion heater. What kind of heating system does the house have? If it's electric radiators or heaters of some kind it could be expensive to run. Electric showers usually heat water from the cold water feed.

Apologies for the spelling mistake as well, just realised (currently not feeling great and got a banging headache).

Thanks for the replies both.
The heating is proper radiators not electric heaters.
There is a boiler but the landlord said the immersion heater isn't connected to it i think, could that be right? (I had a banging headache so I wasn't concentrating as much as I should have, I know that must sound very rude..).
The shower not needing hot water is good news. But I'm still a bit confused by the heating and if the water in the tank would need to be hot in order for the heating to work?

I thought maybe we could simply set the timer to come on a couple of hours before we get up to heat it up for the day, then hopefully it will last. If not switch it back on for a while in the afternoon for the evening washing up and ds's bath (could reset the timer to come on if we had to go out during the day, then reset it again for the following morning).

We had heating and water like this all the time I grew up, it worked but having experienced gas central heating I wouldn’t go back. It does suggest that not a lot of upgrading has been done to the property so be sure you are happy with everything else. I’m not sure about the heating - you say there are proper radiators but electric storage heaters look like “proper” radiators imo. I think you need to work out exactly what you want to know and ask the agent to clarify.
Maybe you’ll get lucky and @pigletjohn will be around on mumsnet today (font of wisdom)

That's the thing we are happy with everything else and overall would be happy to live there. And there is other interest so we can't be hanging around.
I think you're right. I'll contact the landlord again tomorrow and get him to confirm exactly how it works in terms of the heater and the boiler in the kitchen.
It's the only thing putting both dh and I off in all honesty. I'm a bit gutted as it's as ideal as I think we will get.

I think you mean there is a hot-water cylinder something like one of these. What colour is it?

Inside the cylinder is usually one (sometimes two) Electric Immersion Heaters like this though you will only be able to see the round cap sticking out of the side or top of the cylinder, with a thick electrical flex to it.

If there is a gas boiler in the house it is normal, and very much preferable, for it to be plumbed to heat the cylinder, but you think your one isn't. This is poor. There are possible reasons, such as a cheapskate conversion, or a plumbing fault which has been closed off rather than repaired.

The cost of energy from electricity is about four times as much as the cost of energy from gas, so this would mean your hot water cost, even in summer, would be (say) £2 a day rather than 50p.

The electric shower will give a disappointingly feeble amount of lukewarm water, especially in winter. Again the most likely explanation is to save the landlord money at the cost of higher bills and less convenience for the tenant.

Is the rent lower than usual for the area?

Hi thanks for the reply.
Yes I'm sure that's it but I honestly can't remember what colour it was. As I said I had a very bad headache and in all honesty I was lucky to make it through the viewing I felt that faint. (I'm okay now). So I really didn't take in what the landlord was saying (I didn't expect to have to have such a chat, and I'll be honest I didn't really understand too well what he meant by it all).
I think he said it wasn't connected, again I could well be wrong and it is indeed connected to the boiler.
If it is connected to the boiler what does that mean? How does that change things in terms of the shower for example? And for keeping the water warm?
(We will do as the previous poster suggested and contact the landlord again tomorrow to ask him to explain exactly how it works).
And I've had a quick look at houses roughly the same size in that area and the rent for the house we viewed is around the same mark.

the colour will give some clues about keeping it warm. The dimensions will give some clues about how long it will last before being used up. Some photos would help.

If there are equivalent houses at similar prices, with better heating and HW, get one of those.

It's not really the area we were wanting anyway. But we were having so little luck and we come across that house by chance and it looked ideal so we thought we'll view it anyway and see, and if it's suitable we will make the area work somehow.
Hopefully we can find some others to view instead that will work for us and have a more up to date heating system. But we will speak to the landlord as well and get some more info regarding the heating/ water situation.

Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it. But orange is ringing a bell? Could that be right?

probably a "yellow" one about 30 years old. The colour may have degraded over time.

Yellow also means it will be low pressure, so although it may fill a bath in reasonable time, the cylinder will not give an adequately strong shower.

Thought it was about that band. Emerson, Leak and Plumber.

(Sorry. Couldn't resist. Hope you feel better soon.)

Thanks for all the replies, especially @pigletJohn. Although we mostly loved the house itself overall, for a few reasons, the heating issue being one of the main ones, we decided it wouldn't work for us and decided not to take it (someone else has though).
We've got a viewing elsewhere tomorrow, and a couple more houses to look into as well. Hopefully the one tomorrow will work for us when we see inside, as it would be perfect for us.
Thanks to everyone again.