Fridge freezer costing £20 per day to run?

[Buttonsluna]

Hi there ,

We have just realised our standard size Liebherr fridge freezer is costing us over £7,000 a year to run . Obviously we’ve unplugged it and bought a new one (arriving today), but do you think I can get compensation from the company?

It took us a whole quarterly bill period to realise it‘s been using over 100 KWH per 24 hours. Our bills went up dramatically before that, but we put it down to both WFH.

Basically we now owe thousands of pounds we can’t afford (I feel sick and I’m having panic attack about how we’re going to pay).

As soon as we realised there was a problem when submitting our meter read, we bought a plug to check how much electricity each appliance is using. We were shocked that our Liebherr FF cost £23.50 over a 24 hour period!!!

We purchased it from John Lewis 10 years ago. Is there any recourse for compensation or do we have to suck it up? Is this just what happens when FF break down- is it normal? It seemed to be functioning ok, everything cold/ frozen and no frost or anything.

If you have any ideas please help. We acted as soon as we realised there is a problem so please don’t tell me I’m stupid for not noticing, I am busy working mum and struggle as it is to keep up with all life admin. Obviously I’m checking meter constantly now.

An ‘electrical leak’ could be a folksy way of referring to a short circuit, when e.g. two wires make contact when they shouldn’t. However, the immediate massive surge in current will cause the fuse to blow, circuit breaker to trip etc.

I’ve got a feeling that leakage to earth is also a possibility if the install is faulty in some way, but again, should trip a circuit breaker. It wouldn’t just go on and on and on….

When I had a immersion water heater I had it on a timer that was just wired on before it got to the main switch.

To leave it on all the time makes sense to me assuming it is modern and well insulated. Heating it up from cold twice a day being more expensive as compared to keeping it ticking over seems to me to make sense.

But if its well insulated it wouldn't be heating from cold either as it will still be warm/hot

I have a hot water cylinder and having it on timer a couple of times a day gives plenty of hot water for our needs. Dishwasher and washing machine are cold fill. We use an electric shower and rarely have a bath. We don't need a lot of hot water for other uses

I still want to know more op.
Why did you have the partial rewire?
Who did it?
When?
Why not full?

My sister was advised to keep her immersion on permanently. She got a gigantic bill!

@3luckystars

Leaving the immersion on is just lunacy!

This reminds me of that thread where the woman was throwing all her cutlery UNSORTED into the drawer. Just all in. All together. Not even separating the teaspoons!!!!

Sometimes I read things on here and I think these things are planted to shock. The immersion, on all day??? Come on.

This might be my favourite thing I've read on Mumsnet 😂

looks like the OP has been sorted out now.

but on a related point, I am horrified

@ButtonslunaMon 15-Nov-21 09:51:28

Our immersion, which is only used if the boiler is off or we have too many people having showers for the boiler to keep up, does not have a working thermostat (on my list of things to fix) so it keeps heating the tank until it boils, very much not a good situation. We use a timer to stop this happening.

A modern immersion heater is safe.

An overheating immersion heater is a very dangerous thing.

You know yours is faulty. It makes my blood run cold.

There have been the most terrible accidents

I know of a baby, and on another occasion a young mother, who were fatally scalded.

Modern immersion heaters are fitted with an overheat cutout in case the main thermostat fails.

I don't know how old your cylinder and your immersion heater are, but as a guide, a typical replacement thermostat costs around £13.

A low price to pay.

Any competent plumber or electrician can fit one in minutes.

To hell with your list.

@PigletJohn you are so right! Thanks for reminding people about the importance of this. How would you know if your thermostat goes? Is it just that it makes lots of noise like PP said?

Is it true that leaving an immersion on 24:7 is cheaper when the gas boiler only does heating? What would be the better solution- hook boiler up to water or get new boiler? Why would they fit a heating only boiler in domestic house?

I'd imagine it's an electrical fault, pretty standard in a 10 year old appliance. You will struggle to get compensation for a product of that age.

I'd count my lucky blessings and be grateful it didn't cause a fire from overloaded electrics.

Cissyandflora

It was a live wire that was earthing, because of where it was it wasn't noticed till the soil was obviously heating up, no massive bills because it wasn't a major loss, it was just to give an example of how a loss/leak can happen

the thermostat will (should) turn off electricity usage as soon as the water in the cylinder reaches target temperature.

If it does, then you stop using electricity, so it does not use electricity all day even if turned on. Hot water cylinders are (should be) very well insulated and stay hot for days.

if it does not, the water will get hotter and hotter. First it will be painfully hot, then it will be scalding, then it will boil, and will squirt out of the vent into the cold water tank above (or, if an unvented cylinder, out of the pressure relief into the tundish) which you will hopefully hear. If it goes into the cold water tank, that tank will also get hotter and hotter, will soften, and may eventually give way and pour out hundreds of litres of scalding water, with potentially serious injury or fatal results.

it is practically impossible to make a cylinder explode, unless you alter it to defeat all the safety precautions it includes. This has occasionally been done for entertainment purposes on TV shows or by comedians on youtube.

An immersion heater warms water at the rate of about 1 litre per minute (slower in winter) so will take about an hour and a half for a bath.

if you have a gas boiler, the cost of heating HW is inconsequential, and the expensive electric immersion heater should be turned off and kept as a reserve against the day the boiler breaks down.

Thanks @PigletJohn for that helpful explanation. Sounds v scary!

We have one of these modern systems where gas boiler just does heating. Water on immersion 24:7 as told most efficient. Wouldn’t have chose it myself but previous owners installed it. Do I have options that don’t involve installing new boiler? Thanks

I don't know why your gas boiler doesn't heat the cylinder.

Do you have hot water radiators?

What make and model of boiler is it?

Hi there,
Just a thought - not sure if anyone else has suggested this but have you checked out that you don't have a small but constant hot water drip/leak. This was the reason my son was running up larger than expected electricity bills. Also, not wishing to worry you, but have you checked there isn't a hot water pipe leak anywhere? If your tank is losing the hot water the immersion will be running more. Good luck

[quote Buttonsluna]@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz we noticed our bills went up dramatically when we moved into a new house just before Covid. We assumed because we have an immersion heating water 247 (we’ve been told by heating professionals we need to keep it on for efficiency reasons). There’s a chance the FF could have been damaged in move I guess. Also Covid - WFH explained partly another jump in bills.

Unfortunately I can’t check old bills as our supplier went bust and it was all online [/quote]
Have you actually tried checking old bills?
Online energy accounts are sometimes still accessible years after you leave a supplier (I've just done this with a company we left nearly three years ago), so it's worth trying even though your company went bust.

@ Buttonsluna having an immersion heater on 24/7 will cost an absolute fortune!!

Dont recycle until you have given manufacturer a chance to inspect and maybe contact john Lewis its got to be worth a try love

@Ericabro

Dont recycle until you have given manufacturer a chance to inspect and maybe contact john Lewis its got to be worth a try love

It's not the fridge freezer

I honestly think these heating engineers are trolling us when they say leave the immersion on all day, it’s like leaving the kettle boiling all day.

Our immersion was switched on timer when we moved here, that got turned off pretty sharpish I can tell you when the energy monitor started whizzing away at 3kwh twice a day. Bastards.

@Bebethany

@ Buttonsluna having an immersion heater on 24/7 will cost an absolute fortune!!

no it won't.

the cylinder is insulated and has a thermostat. Once it reaches its target temperature the thermostat will cut the power.

Is there any Customer Care area within your electricity company who might have a conversation with you about excessive / oddly high electricity bills, and customer liability ? I’d think there’s little recourse to JL or Leibherr (unless you need an independent report to prove appliance is faulty) but I’m shocked that it’s possible to rack up such a mammoth bill without the electricity company flagging up excessive usage. Whilst your appliance was seemingly consuming the power, it seems so odd that their system does not flag up massive electricity consumption. I’m imagining an elderly person (not you obviously) whose appliances could go faulty and if there’s a system in place to address these problems?

If the immersion heater is fairly new, it’s likely it either has a built in timer, or a thermostat that does not draw on the electric (much) until the temp drops. Heating cold water takes more electricity than bringing warm water up to hot. So it will be ‘topping up’ the heat periodically. If really in doubt contact the manufacturer or supplier to check how it should function.
As for the fridge freezer that’s bonkers. So, same advice really. Our energy bill has shot up cos of the recent gas issue and price hike. 10 yrs is a long time for an appliance. I would be concerned about it’s electrical safety if it were drawing down that much. But being out of warranty there’s not a lot you can do. But most electrical retailers will remove old when new is delivered, so check that out before you pay extra to have it taken away.

I’m glad the fridge was proved innocent. We had a Liebherr fridge freezer a few years ago when we were richer and could afford decent kit. It kept the food so much fresher than our current fridge. I think it was magic.

Your issue could be eon.

We woke up to a lovely surprise of them taking £432 out on our direct debit yesterday.
After a few phone calls we have found out the meter readings during covid didn't enter the system properly. So now the system has a glitch and is attempting to play catch-up.

They have refunded us and taken to correct amount now. But for us the issue was eon and there technical glitch.

I seriously think you'd be better off getting a new super-efficient combi boiler. I got a new boiler a year abo, and the energy bills have gobe down a lot.