How do you remove an immersion heater element?

29th February 2020


	How to remove an immersion heater element


	Shop for Immersion Heater Spanners


			Now that your hot water cylinder or tank is partially drained, you are ready to begin. Make sure that the drainage valve is closed and shut off all your hot water taps. It’s now time to loosen your immersion heater element.

			Loosening the immersion heater element
			You will need an immersion heater spanner. You may also need a hammer if your immersion heater element is difficult to loosen. If your hot water cylinder is insulated with polyurethane foam, you may need a Stanley knife and a screwdriver.

			Step 1 – Attach spanner Attach the immersion heater spanner so that it fits snugly and securely around the immersion heater element.

			Step 2 – Get things into motion Rather than attempting to pull on the spanner by hand at this stage, give the spanner handle or tommy bar a series of short, sharp, firm raps with a hammer. For stability, you may need to hold the head of the immersion heater spanner around the element so that it doesn’t slip off.

			Make sure you’re turning the spanner handle anti-clockwise.

			Using a hammer in this way sends shock waves through the spanner and into the heater element’s screw thread, which can help toloosen your heating element if stuck. It also helps to prevent damage to the hot water cylinder, the copper boss or the pipes attached to it because you are using short bursts of force rather than applying prolonged pressure to the spanner handle.

			Don’t be tempted to apply too much force with the hammer – short, sharp taps should be effective enough to do the job. Big swings with a lot of force could distort (bend) your spanner’s handle or tommy bar, so put that croquet mallet down!



			If the immersion heater element that you’re removing is at the top of your tank then you do not need to drain any more water out of it and you can carry on with step 3 below.

			If the immersion heater element that you’re removing is at the bottom of your hot water cylinder then you will now need to empty the rest of the water from your tank. IMPORTANT – Turn your hot taps back on before reopening the drainage valve and leaving the cylinder to drain until it’s empty.

			Step 3 – Slacken off immersion heater element You now need to loosen your immersion heater element by turning the handle or tommy bar of your immersion heater spanner anti-clockwise.

			Step 4 – Remove immersion heater element Once the element is loose enough, finish unscrewing it by hand and remove.

			The element coil is long and can be fragile if it has blown. Pull it out carefully to prevent it from breaking and dropping debris in to the hot water cylinder. If the element has blown (failed), you may find that it has distorted and will not fit through the hole. Gently reshape it using pipe grips or similar until you can remove it freely. Forcing it out may damage the threads of the boss, or leave debris inside the tank.