Alternative Hot Water Cylinder Insulation

RTNI

Hi,

On our hot water cylinder we have a red insulating jacket. Is there anything else I could add to this (either under or over it) to keep the water warmer for longer? I was thinking about bubblewrap as a possibility but was not sure if the heat would melt the plastic if it was the first layer.

Do you think if I tightly wrapped the bubble wrap around the existing jacket several times I would notice a difference in the water temperature after say, overnight?

Any other thoughts on alternative insulating materials I could use?

happybiker

Baking foil, shiny side towards the cylinder wrapped round tight and then the red cylinder jacket put over that. Bubblewrap the outside over the red jacket if you wish and don't forget to insulate all visible pipework as well

southcoastrgi

Old blankets, coats, old duvet, anything really, if the cylinder is that old that it doesn't have foam lagging then it's prob not gonna be that long before it needs replacing anyway, so better to save your money for that & just use what you already have

keystone

What is your rate of heat loss at the moment?

Cheers

lstar337

Old duvet, folded to 4 layers, and stitched at the edges.

RTNI

keystone wrote: »

What is your rate of heat loss at the moment?

Cheers

Can't be terribly specific, but with the heating on for 1 hr on the time clock at about 6pm, feeding about 7 rads, the hot water is certainly up to temperature for washing hands etc. In the morning at 630am the water is still quite warm but not as hot obviously.

Heat loss is not excessive in my opinion, just looking for anything to help keep the heat in. Bungalow is about 25 years old (unknown if the indirect cylinder is as old as this) but certainly would love to get a foam insulated one in the future.

RTNI

lstar337 wrote: »

Old duvet, folded to 4 layers, and stitched at the edges.

That's a good idea. I think we have a spare king size one that we don't use anymore - I could get that fashioned into something like this.

keystone

If you've only got the boiler running for 1 hour a day then its unlikely that the cylinder will be up to tremperature. I suspect its no worse than the average so follow SCRGI's advice and then save for a lagged one.

Cheers