For six months? I’ve just found out what that seemingly pointless switch does in the hall. Bugger. How much money have I donated to the energy company Christmas do fund?

What brainless wastes of money have you achieved recently?

https://www.sust-it.net/immersion-heater-energy-calculator.php

If you really want to know.

But roughly about 35p an hour 🙂

May I suggest in future if you don’t know what a switch does you might want to keep it in off position until you do. 🙂

You might also want to check the wiring behind the switch, as they’re not really designed to run continuously like that.

I’ve just found out what that seemingly pointless switch does in the hall.

I used to live in a country cottage with heating and hot water running off a back boiler in a solid fuel stove. Pain in the arse as I lived there by myself and worked long hours so having hot water for a bath (there wasn’t a shower) meant lighting a fire when I got home at around 10pm that wouldn’t give off any heat via the rads until after I’d gone to bed. I’d then wake up to a cold house but at least have some hot water.

When I first moved in I’d spotted an isolator in the kitchen next to the cooker. Flicked it on and off but it didn’t seem to have an effect on anything. A few years later for some reason I flicked it on and off a few times again out of idle curiosity – but this time left it on.

Came home from work 10 hours later and there was steam billowing out from between the roof tiles and a sound like a boiling cauldron. Turns out I had electric water heating all that time, the landlord had just never bothered to tell me. I’d left it switched off for so long the thermostat had jammed.

If its a poorly insulated water tank it could be quite expensive, a well insulated tank would cost a lot less 🙂 All the pipework near the tank should also be lagged.

It’ll have a thermostat so it’ll just have been heating the water at times when it was sufficiently cool to call it. So……..depends!

Like having a kettle on gentle simmer 24/7.

a few years ago customer with a huge rear garden just been on holiday for 2 weeks, chatting to them in the kitchen and i pointed out the water feature bottom of their garden a huge pool, we went out and it was the hosepipe left running, it appeared neighbour had been watering the lawns and gardens for them and forgot to switch off the hose, and they had a water meter fitted.

Must have been a huge waste of water and a huge bill.

Not enough info to answer accurately but……..

Assuming you have a 210 litre cylinder and that you use a tankful a day, then you’ll have used about 12-13kWh per day.

Standard tariff of 14p per kWh means a cost of £1.70 per day.

If your gas heating was set to heat the water at the times you use(rather than before you use it) then the gas will have done most of the work.