Found out tonight that our immersion has been on for

[ButterflyMcQueen]

6 months!!!!

If you have a well insulated hot water cylinder it can actually be more energy effricient than letting it heat up then cool down.

We have a bizarre heating system and our immersion has been on for the last four years at least. It's an old system and it's just the way it works - our bills are reasonable though.....have you just had a nasty bill?

I had this as a student - bills unaffordable etc - we went to put our crappy christmas decs away in a loft we'd paid no attention to and found an UNLAGGED hot water tank in an UNINSULATED roof space... shudder.

the bills are horrific but the gas is worse

i just kept saying that the hot water was too hot and we needed to alter the timer

begain to alter it ( eventually) making it less and less but the water stayed the same

eventually turned it off for last 24 hours
water still piping

decided to search whole house for another switch - as the one in bathroom deffo off

eventually found one in cellar [ blush]

checked meter - switched on - then off .........whoops

What lubyloo says is not true. Theoretically if you have perfect lagging (zero heat loss from the water tank, which is impossible) then the energy used to heat the water would be equal if the immersion was left on constant or came on once a day. Anything less than perfect lagging and you are using the system to heat your house a bit as well as the water and so using more energy. Electric heating is pretty much 100% efficient (neglecting inefficiencies at the power station) which means all the electric energy used is converted to heat.

so snorkle does that mean my bill will plummet?

they should be less yes (how much less depends on how much lagging) - of course the electric price rises will probably swallow up any savings you might make.