hot water tanks

[a1y]

Hi , we have just moved into a new home , and have found we have a hot water tank system the boiler is about 3 yrs old and im guessing the tank is as old as the house (1970's).

We had a combi (inc ho****er tank) in the last house which we found no hassle with! but with the system in are new house we are finding that once the wife has a bath im left with warm water for my shower ......:veryangry2: is it possible to fit a bigger tank? and could i move it to the loft to help hot water pressure ? the central heating is fine with no real issues .

or should we save for a combi system? if so is it just a case of fitting a combi boiler ?


manythanks

 

[Simon F]

what system you have will depend on personal choice, property size, water pressure and flow available.
you can have a bigger hot water cylinder.
maybe it just isn't being fully heated??
moving the hot water cylinder to the loft will not change the pressure.

 

[dancinplumba]

hi, what is cylinder thermostat set at ? wants to be 60c. is stat two thirds of the way down the side of cylinder ?

 

[a1y]

the house is a 3 bed ,we have changed the stat but its not made much of a change . and yeah its set at just over 60 and the stat is two thirds down

 

[Best]

Some of the older cylinders were slow to heat up as they had shorter coils inside them, or had a 3/4" coil fitted later.
The pipes to the cylinder could can have a blockage, especially with an old system & this can make the heat recovery very slow. Get an engineer to check for this & also that a balancing valve or any thermostatic valves are open enough.
Good idea to try to have baths while the boiler is still heating the cylinder.

 

[SimonG]

Or you could just fit an electric shower as a back up if you had an issue with your hot water.

 

[a1y]

so would people keep the old system or should start saving for a combi?

the previous owners had a pump fitted to the shower if we got it sorted /change the tank would it be manageable to run the pump when using the shower?

 

[a1y]

Or you could just fit an electric shower as a back up if you had an issue with your hot water.

we did think about that. but was hoping to sort out the tank so we would not need to fit a box to a wall

 

[Subby]

If you want more pressure to your shower, you could have a shower pump installed.

electric shower would give you continuous hot water, or you could user the immersion heater in the cylinder while the bath is being filled to decrease the recovery time.

If the cylinder is old, it is possible that the heating elements are covered in limescale and the cylinder needs replacing.

A bath takes about 80 litres, and a cylinder usually holds about 120 literes (this can of course vary), so after the bath is poured, two thirds of the water in the hot water cylinder has been replaced by cold water and it takes time for this to get heated back up.

The water in the cylinder is set to above 60 deg to prevent microbial growth (disease) and below 70 to prevent carbonates precipitating from the water and forming limescale.

 

[a1y]

we have one but worried that if we use it it will just use all the hot water up in a couple of minutes.

what are unvented tanks?

 

[Mike Jackson]

I wouldn't worry about unvented tanks or combis. Get someone in to check that the cylinder you have is working correctly and if it's faulty get a replacement fitted. If your boiler is only 3 years old you are wasting money changing it. A standard cylinder with a shower pump will give you a good shower without having to spend a fortune.

There's times when I think that all some plumbers and heating engineers want to do is spend other peoples money without looking at practical measures that won't cost a fortune.

 

[Destroyer2813]

If you are in a hard water area and the cylinder is the original you could well have a tank full of scale as well not helping matters

 

[a1y]

If you are in a hard water area and the cylinder is the original you could well have a tank full of scale as well not helping matters

think its best if i get the tank checked , dont think we are is a hard water area...