Boiler/Hot Water Question

sweetdaisy

Sorry if this is in the wrong section, I'm not sure where it should be.

We have an 'Ideal Classic' boiler in the kitchen and a Hot Water tank in the airing cupboard upstairs. We have a 'Drayton Tempus' central heating/hot water control panel in our kitchen.

I am looking at ways to reduce my energy bills and at the moment I have my heating on a timer, it's on for an hour in the morning and 4 hours in the evening.

I need some advice about the hot water. For years and years my Hot Water has constantly been 'on' on the control panel. This means that we always have hot water for doing dishes, shower, bath etc. But should I be turning the hot water off at night? Is it more expensive to keep it on all day or does it cost more to turn it off and on again as it will need to heat the tank up?

Any advice is welcome.

Premier_2

Do you keep your kettle constantly on the boil for the odd occassions you need hot water, or do you just boil the water as required?

Use your domestic hot water heater in the same way - well as far as it is convenient for you

Cardew

As said above, it is cheaper to have it timed, however provided your hot water tank is well lagged the difference is not huge.

sweetdaisy

Thanks for the advice.

I am going to compare the meter readings and am going to have the hot water on constant for 2 days, then put it on a setting for 2 days and see what the differece is. Should two days be long enough to do this?

If I do put the hot water on a setting I am going to do it from 6am - 7:30am and 5pm - 9pm. But think it may be costly as I will be using a lot of gas for the 6am-7:30am to heat the hot water as it is only for a short period of time.

Cardew

sweetdaisy wrote: »

Thanks for the advice.

I am going to compare the meter readings and am going to have the hot water on constant for 2 days, then put it on a setting for 2 days and see what the differece is. Should two days be long enough to do this?

If I do put the hot water on a setting I am going to do it from 6am - 7:30am and 5pm - 9pm. But think it may be costly as I will be using a lot of gas for the 6am-7:30am to heat the hot water as it is only for a short period of time.

Such experiments to try and find small differences will just not work - there are too many variables.

If your HW tank is well lagged(with foam) it will have been tested to a British Standard and will lose heat worth no more than 2 to 3kWh in 24 hours when heated at 65C(so 6p to 9p)

So even if on a timer it will have hot water in the tank and still lose some heat. So in real terms you will probably save about 3p to 4p a day by having it timed.

However, that 'lost' heat is not really lost as it heats up the house - which is why tanks are usually in an airing cupboard.

sweetdaisy

Cardew wrote: »

Such experiments to try and find small differences will just not work - there are too many variables.

If your HW tank is well lagged(with foam) it will have been tested to a British Standard and will lose heat worth no more than 2 to 3kWh in 24 hours when heated at 65C(so 6p to 9p)

So even if on a timer it will have hot water in the tank and still lose some heat. So in real terms you will probably save about 3p to 4p a day by having it timed.

However, that 'lost' heat is not really lost as it heats up the house - which is why tanks are usually in an airing cupboard.

Thanks for the advice. Our HW tank is lagged well with foam and the temperature on the tank is 60C. So I may keep it on constant like I have done for the past 10 years!

We had the central heating serviced a couple of days ago and we had an extension (2 extra rooms) built last year and our heating has not been right since. So when the heating was serviced the radiators all had to be balanced as some were previously too hot to touch and others wouldn't work.

The engineer had to increase the pressure on the HW tank, so we now have a constant humming sound of the hot water being circulated around the house, even when the heating is off - and the house seems to be a little warmer, but not sure if it's me just thinking it is :think:

Cardew

sweetdaisy wrote: »

The engineer had to increase the pressure on the HW tank, so we now have a constant humming sound of the hot water being circulated around the house, even when the heating is off - and the house seems to be a little warmer, but not sure if it's me just thinking it is :think:

Pressure on the HW tank????

I suspect that he has increased the speed of the Central Heating pump; that would increase the 'humming' sound. Try turning it down(on the pump) to see if that is the cause.

However no hot water should be circulated around the house when the heating is off, unless you mean hot water from the boiler to the HW tank(i.e. not the radiators)

sweetdaisy

Cardew wrote: »

Pressure on the HW tank????

I suspect that he has increased the speed of the Central Heating pump; that would increase the 'humming' sound. Try turning it down(on the pump) to see if that is the cause.

However no hot water should be circulated around the house when the heating is off, unless you mean hot water from the boiler to the HW tank(i.e. not the radiators)

Sorry I am useless with things lke these. You are right - he increased the speed of the CH pump and the water being circulated is from the boiler to the tank.

I'm not sure how to turn down the speed on the pump, but the humming sound is driving me crazy. Thanks.

Cardew

There are different types of pump, but they will have a small 3 position switch low/med/high or 1/2/3 on the top. Shown here just above the white dial. just try it in different positions.