[nathankaye]

So this is the formula to see how long it is required in kw hours to heat a volume of water using x kilowatt heater.

Calculate the kilowatt-hours (kWh) required to heat the water using the following formula: Pt = (4.2 × L × T ) ÷ 3600. Pt is the power used to heat the water, in kWh. L is the number of liters of water that is being heated and T is the difference in temperature from what you started with, listed in degrees Celsius.

My tank water is freshly filled from empty up until about around 400ltr or so (estimated as I don't have a scale on the tank) and is 16 degrees. I would like it to be 70 degrees (so it will be in the 60's at the brush end. So an increase of 54 degrees is needed.

The power in kw hours needed to do this is:
(4.2 × 400 × 54)÷ 3600. = 25.2  kw hours of power needed to do this.

I'm now using a 2kw element and so I need to calculate this into the equation by dividing the power required in kw hours by the actual kw heating source.
25.2 ÷ 2 = 12.6 hours are required based on this formula. ( Which doesn't take insulation etc into account)

I'm certainly not running it for twelve hours, tonight I'm simply turning it on at midnight and will turn of at 7am hopefully or else 8am if I forget as i won't be using a timer.   Let's see what impossible results I get in the morning and perhaps adjust my timings if needed.

[alank]

Will the thermostat not just cut the power when it gets up to temperature?

[Dave Willis]

Have you checked the cap to see you do indeed have a 2KW element?

[Jonny 87]

Whay didn’t you fill your tank all the way up?

Is it not a 650 tank You have?

When you test the heat of the water, test it at the brush head, or Atleast out the reel. That will give you a more realistic measure, as the water will be the hottest right at the top of your tank.

I used to use a 2kw element and would only get about 30 degrees from 8 hours of heating on a 650 tank.

[Dry Clean]

Why do you keep going on about your insulation as if it helps heat the water, the calculator will give you the best possible result
which you wont achieve because of the  heat lost over the heating time, your insulation will help reduce this loss nothing more.

[Dry Clean]

Have you checked the cap to see you do indeed have a 2KW element?

Iv already had this out with him, if the heat he was getting from his 1kw immersion was true then it had to a higher kw than what he believed, infect it would have had to be above 3kw which could have meant it was dangerous, the fact that he wasn't concerned showed me that he was just up to his usual 2+2=5 story telling.
Gold done a thread on this a while back, if you are considering the immersion route look up his findings.

[nathankaye]

Have you checked the cap to see you do indeed have a 2KW element?

Iv already had this out with him, if the heat he was getting from his 1kw immersion was true then it had to a higher kw than what he believed, infect it would have had to be above 3kw which could have meant it was dangerous, the fact that he wasn't concerned showed me that he was just up to his usual 2+2=5 story telling.
Gold done a thread on this a while back, if you are considering the immersion route look up his findings.

I wasn't overly concerned as I know it wasn't a 3kw heater, besides, my electric meter would also show a significant rise if it was it was a 3 Kw heater as well.

I haven't filled my tank due to the legal payload and the extra weight which is in my van nowadays and no not from my body weight 😁 so I compensate with less water to remain safe.
Yes I know the insulation helps prevents heat loss, which means it will help retain the heat once a set temp has been reached, esp greater than the vans ambient temp.
Yes I can take a reading at the brush end as well as a reading from the top of my tank and see what the difference will be.

[Jonny 87]

Looking forward to it. 

[Bungle]

Tl;dr

[Dry Clean]

Looking forward to it. 

I take it you don't know Nathan ?  this is him with his latest brush. lol

[Dave Willis]

I have a 2kw and 650 l tank. Eight hours will only give me a tepid tank. I also have 2kw on my boat and that’s pretty poor too. When I ordered my heater for the van I bought a spare just in case. Both looked the same only one was marked 2kw the other was 3kw for some reason. I don’t have the wiring set up for 3kw so sold it on. I also didn’t want particularly hot water either. I might add that when looking for a 2kw element they tended to be around ten inches long and had to be made to order - about £50. A bog standard long 3Kw can be bought for about £16 from Wickes. Just seems your temperature rather surprising.

[paul alan]

I've got a 3kw set-up, last winter I would put it on for 10 hours and only get warm water in a 650, which was all I wanted. A bit like a brew that's been sat on the side for 10-15 minutes was all.

[Dave Willis]

Sounds very much like Nathan may well have a 3kw heater? This means his tank would be done in 8.2 hours on those calculations.

[֍Winp®oClean֍]

Anyone noticing a deteriation in heating performance from their element might want to check it's thermostat setting. Mine had worked it's way down- maybe from road vibration? This also happened to another windy I know too.

[Go]

Why not run two elements off different fuses?

[nathankaye]

The 1kw heater I had was an ecosave one from heat rod, the only one they sold online and yes, most places sell the bog standard 14inch 3kw immersion heaters that you can pick up from any / most DIY type stores ie wickes, screw fix, BnQ etc or online.
However Heatrod produce many various types of elements and not just your standard domestic ones. Hence in another post/thread I gave details of this 2kw option as many do not wish to change their domestic electrics and you can not order this on line but have to phone and request it.

Interesting post about the thermostat, which might account for some peoples poor heated water, but also again my tank is 500 not 650 or larger.  However as I've mentioned above,  it's also not a full tank either.
But back to the element, when ordering a replacement thermostat, it's not one replace all type of fix. You need a specific one for your specific heater. There is a huge difference between my 1kw thermostat to that of my 2kw one.

Sean, guess you don't like my brush 😱😂.  Some people can't handle the weight and need a super light one, I get it.  However some of us are used to handling large things 😉
😂

[Jonny 87]

I check the forum at 08:15 and there isn’t an update video from Nathan! What’s the world coming to. It’s been an hour since you turned your immersion off! What’s happened. Someone should send a search party.

 

[KS Cleaning]

C’mon Nathan, you’ve had plenty of time to add hot kettles of water to your tank by now, get the results in😉

[John Mart]

Speaking philosophically, no you can't.

[nathankaye]

Wanted to build some suspense 
Not really and not that u actually want to know, but I like to waffle  .     With the Mrs health getting worse, we've put kids back into school, so I've been on school run etc etc.

The results.......... Less than disappointing at the moment.  The heat increase was far less than expected.  According to the all important heat calculator, it was as if I was using a 1kw heater and not a 2 kw.  However I've not looked into this yet, as the result is definitely wrong so not sure if my timer was at fault or something else. So I will look at that later this evening and report back.
For now, lets hear the jibes 😒😁

[Jonny 87]

Wanted to build some suspense 
Not really and not that u actually want to know, but I like to waffle  .     With the Mrs health getting worse, we've put kids back into school, so I've been on school run etc etc.

The results.......... Less than disappointing at the moment.  The heat increase was far less than expected.  According to the all important heat calculator, it was as if I was using a 1kw heater and not a 2 kw.  However I've not looked into this yet, as the result is definitely wrong so not sure if my timer was at fault or something else. So I will look at that later this evening and report back.
For now, lets hear the jibes 😒😁

No jibes mate, I just honestly think that your old element was a 3kw. 😬

The results you have got this morning are probably what we all have had with immersions in the past.

For me it would take a 2kw element about 12 hours to just get my tank warm. You were getting scorching results before that seemed way more than was possible with even a 2kw.

As a side note, I hope your missus is doing ok, or Atleast can recover in the future from the current health issues.

All the best.

[nathankaye]

Wanted to build some suspense 
Not really and not that u actually want to know, but I like to waffle  .     With the Mrs health getting worse, we've put kids back into school, so I've been on school run etc etc.

The results.......... Less than disappointing at the moment.  The heat increase was far less than expected.  According to the all important heat calculator, it was as if I was using a 1kw heater and not a 2 kw.  However I've not looked into this yet, as the result is definitely wrong so not sure if my timer was at fault or something else. So I will look at that later this evening and report back.
For now, lets hear the jibes 😒😁

No jibes mate, I just honestly think that your old element was a 3kw. 😬

The results you have got this morning are probably what we all have had with immersions in the past.

For me it would take a 2kw element about 12 hours to just get my tank warm. You were getting scorching results before that seemed way more than was possible with even a 2kw.

As a side note, I hope your missus is doing ok, or Atleast can recover in the future from the current health issues.

All the best.

Cheers, hopefully soon she will be on the road to recovery.

I do agree, the previous element was amazing, however I did not have a spike on electric usage that I was expecting to see on the meter and by all accounts it was what I purchased. However it is out now, so I can investigate a little more perhaps but whilst I was getting good results with no heated wiring or plugs etc, I had no reason to take it out and look. Esp as it was relatively cheap to use.

However, if the likes of Sean are convinced the heat calculation is also scientific fact, then something is at fault with this as well. As it isnt giving the results of a 2kw. Haha I feel like putting the old one back in. But I will investigate, as it could be simply my error with the digital timer plug or something.

For now, I've had my third coffee of the morning so I best go clean some glass.
Have a good day lads (though here it looks miserable and grey)

[Smudger]

No jibes - perhaps an admission that others sometimes know what they are talking about

You’ve done the test and got a result  just go with it, that’s far more credible than waffle

Darran

[p1w1]

I think you should sit up all night and keep records and report back , maybe video it all
Joking aside mate ...best wishes to your Mrs hope she's better soon

[Dave Willis]

Sorry, I was asleep at the back. I haven’t a clue what you’re on about now. You had an amazing 2Kw heater and took it out for a 1kw? Or you have a new 2Kw?  What was wrong with the first one? Just one sentance reply would do 

[Smudger]

No Dave pay attention- he had aquarium heaters that reached 60 degrees then installed a 1 kw element that heated the water (450 litres) to 70 degrees or boiled by point (something like that) in under 3 hours but has now put in a 2 kw element 🤪

Darran

[nathankaye]

Nope, I'm using 100 pocket warmers. There great and all you do is reboil them. (so keep them in two nets lol
😱😂😂

[NWH]

As soon as you unplug that immersion the water is cooling down Nathan insulation or not

[Smudger]

That’s true - but it stays hot/warm enough for several hours

Darran

[nathankaye]

Obviously, however good insulation will slow that down heck of a lot.
My experience was that in the course of a day and I mean until 8pm, my water would have only lost about 5 degrees.
Also the home immersion tanks with a jacket on would keep the water in the tank hot for the majority of the day.

[nathankaye]

So this morning the temp was a hand warming 43 degrees.
Tonight at 8pm the water that's left in is 39, 3 degrees.

[Don Kee]

Do you somehow circulate the heat or are you just taking the temp readings from the top of the tank?

If the top of the tank then surely you’re getting a false reading as the water at the bottom of the tank will be a lower temp reading (due to heat rising) and therefore the water at the tank outlet is lower? (and thats the water you’re actually using)

[Slacky]

In answer to your opening gambit, no you cant and no you didn't in the first place.

[KS Cleaning]

Dry Clean sitting on the sidelines