Why can I get no hot water?

[peachmornings]

I posted yesterday so apologies to do a new thread but I have a better understanding now of what I’m looking at I think. So I have an unvented hot water cylinder / immersion heater, however despite being left on all night I’m not getting any hot water from it still. The switch next to it is on, I think this is all that’s necessary? Can anyone advise please? Please if anyone knows anyone who might know please ask, I’m losing it here 🤯🤯

Is there a timer or control panel anywhere in the flat?

@dementedpixie there is this but I’m not sure if it connects to the radiators or the hot water, I’m not sure how to work it

Also I am not sure if the issue is the pressure on this maybe, if so how do I fix?

Paging @pigletjohn !

Looks like there are controls under the panel on the right - try opening it from the middle out

I think the thermostat is to do with the radiators rather than the hot water

You need @pigletjohn

It looks like a portable room thermostat rather than boiler controls

I’m pretty sure it’s because the pressure on the red thing is so low! But how on earth do I change it?

If you flip open the rhs of the thermostat panel are there controls underneath?

Under the red thing, on one of the pipes, is a tap that looks like a handle. Try turning that and see if it increases pressure on the dial.

Ours is different, but I know our system has an automatic cut-out if the pressure is too low.

I think the heating element of the immersion heater might be buggered. Is the pipe emerging from the centre of the top of the big white cylinder anything other than stone cold?

do you mean there is no water? or the water is not hot?

the switch with the glowing neon looks like it controls two immersion heaters. I think it has two flexible cables coming out of it. show us where they go please. are there any switches or other controls on them?

look at your electricity meter. if an immersion element is drawing power, it will use 3kWh per hour.

is your boiler running, and is the HW set to On?

How long has it not been working, and how long have you lived there?

@PigletJohn there is water, it’s just not hot. I have attached a photo showing where both wires go (both into the cylinder), there are no switches on these.

I literally moved in yesterday and haven’t been able to get it to work, don’t have contact details for the person who lived here before me.

I have attached a photo of boiler too, but nothing on there about hot water.

I’m going to have to call someone I think, but is it a plumber or an electrician I need? I’m close to tears

I am not able to enlarge the pics enough to see what is going on.

But if the neon on the switch is glowing, there is very likely power going to it. I don't know why (if) the elements are not getting hot. They have an internal thermostat under the cap that might be set too low, or they might have cut out for safety if they ever overheated. A plumber can fix either of those faults. There may be some other control on them but I can't enlarge the pics enough to see. AFAICT this is a weakness of the recent forum upgrade. another possibility is that there is a leak or plumbing fault allowing hot water to run away and be replaced with cold. In this case the electricity meter would display the high (and costly) use of electricity at 3kWh per hour. If the immersion elements are not using any electricity then they are not heating up.

I do not see any large pipes going into the side of the cylinder. These should exist if it is capable of being heated by the gas boiler. It is unusual to have a gas boiler that does not heat the cylinder. Have a look and see if there are any round the side or the back. If there are, and they are not heating the cylinder, you probably need a gas heating engineer. If the house has been unoccupied somebody may have turned something off, or it might just have an unrepaired fault.

It's an electric boiler not gas @PigletJohn

oh dear, that must be expensive

in that case it makes sense for the cylinder to be heated by the immersion heaters.

It is essential to look at the electricity meter to see if they are using electricity.

@PigletJohn I took the cover off one of the immersion heater things and this is what it looks like, shall I take the green cap thing off too if I can to see if there is a thermostat underneath? Or do you think I should just call a plumber

What is the pressure gauge showing as its hard to tell from the photo?

@dementedpixie is that the red circle? If so it’s between 2 and 3

I think you need to turn those black taps at the same time under the big pressure thing to increase the pressure. Just for a few seconds at a time to see the pressure rise... not 100% but that's what I have to do on a boiler I look after (informally!).

No I mean from the red expansion tank thing in a previous photo

@dementedpixie i did something to the pressure so now looks like this, does it need to be higher?

Have you bought this flat, OP? If so, at least in Scotland, you have a week to check that the heating and hot water system works after moving in. Contact solicitor and ask them to ask the seller? If it's a rental your landlord should sort it.