Two hot water taps on large hot water cylinder!

FullForce

Scribos wrote: »

I have a one bedroom flat, electricity supply only. It has a legacy, very old and badly insulated huge hot water cylinder with a cold water supply tank above it. It supplies hot water to just two taps, one in the bathroom for the basin, and the other in the kitchen sink. My bills are large! There must be a cheaper, more efficient way of providing hot water for my two taps?

Any suggestions would be very welcome!

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/you-switch-gas-electricity

I see insulation improvement has already been mentioned.

Most immersion heatered hot water cylinders offer a boost facility which only heats the top 30% rather than the full cylinder. This boost may be enough for just the two taps you say the cylinder supplies.
If not, ensure boost and main heaters are not switched on at same time.

Check the thermostat operation & setting, and reduce if appropriate.
Most people have it set far too high. Around 60C is usually more than adequate.

Consider E7 which offers 7 hours of cheap electricity every day.
(You may need landlord approval if renting)

With or without E7, consider fitting a timer to the immersion heater.
(Again, may need landlord approval, although I doubt any landlord would object to such improvement)

What makes you think it is the water heating that is the main contributor to your large bills??? How high are your large bills?
There is no more efficient method of heating water than using an electric immersion heater which is 100% efficient (as near as makes no difference)

Davesnave

Scribos wrote: »

There must be a cheaper, more efficient way of providing hot water for my two taps?

Any suggestions would be very welcome!

Yes, there may be more efficient systems if your tank is losing heat rapidly, but your challenge is to convince your landlady she wants to part with good money installing them.

All the facts aren't known here. She might argue that your rent is more reasonable than you'd pay elsewhere. Even £10 a month difference would go a long way towards offsetting any disadvantage.


Insulation on a DIY basis might be the way to go.

-taff

When I lived in my flat, I had the same set up. I bought one of these and had an electrician and a plumber come and fix it. I should have installed a water filter too because it's a hard water area but I didn't and it was still going strong when I sold the flat. It was plumbed directly to the mixer taps/shower head through one wall, and directly to the taps through the other [I had a kind of storage cupboard between the two which supplied the waste pipes and plumbing through the different storied flats.



https://www.stiebel.com.au/single-phase-electric-instant-hot-water-system

-taff

I also kept the tank when it was taken out and sold it for scrap copper which went towards the costs....

Norman_Castle

I always boil a kettle for hot water in the kitchen. Depending on the length of pipework between tank and tap you will be paying to heat X litres of water which is unused.

southcoastrgi

Can you post some pics of said unit ?
Put them up on a photo hosting site & post the links here without the http & the forum will think it's just text