Water tank in new home, how best to use it?

bagand96

housebuyer143 said:

bagand96 said:

It will depend on the set up. Either your gas boiler will do the central heating and also the hot water tank, or the boiler has no connection to the hot water tank and as Robin says the water is only heated by electricity (immersion heater).

A lot of systems will have the boiler heat the hot water tank but also an immersion heater for back up - so do check that whether the boiler can heat the hot water or not. 

But regardless of whether your tank is heated by gas or electric, the idea is you heat up the tank and then it stores the hot water. So you’d set the hot water to come on for a time period in the morning to heat the tank, and then maybe again in the evening. But it largely depends on how well the tank retains heat and how much water you use. It will take a bit of trial and error, maybe start with an hour in the morning every day and see if you run out of hot water - if you do you need to run it longer (or for another period in the afternoon/evening).  If you never run out then you can reduce that time to 45mins etc 

How old is the tank? May also be worth looking at adding insulation to it if it’s older. 

Thank you - very helpful.

The boiler only has heating on it, no water symbol, but the controller next to it has a switch for heating and underneath hot water. You can select each one to either on, off, timed etc. I might trial it next and see if the HW comes on without the heating and then with the boiler off. 
When I turn on the boiler, the tank in the upstairs cupboard sounds like its on, even though the water switch is off... Reckon I need to google for the manual lol! 

Is there a way I can tell if its gas from looking at the tank?

If I only need it on for an hour or so before then that is good. The heating system is apparently 18 years old, but it looks good for that age! I could add some insulation if that will also help. 

If you select water on, does the boiler fire up?

MWT

housebuyer143 said:

BG have said its fine and they will move it  

BG will let you move your old tariff to the new address, but you do still have to register with the existing supplier at the new address first, before switching back to BG...

housebuyer143

bagand96 said:

housebuyer143 said:

bagand96 said:

It will depend on the set up. Either your gas boiler will do the central heating and also the hot water tank, or the boiler has no connection to the hot water tank and as Robin says the water is only heated by electricity (immersion heater).

A lot of systems will have the boiler heat the hot water tank but also an immersion heater for back up - so do check that whether the boiler can heat the hot water or not. 

But regardless of whether your tank is heated by gas or electric, the idea is you heat up the tank and then it stores the hot water. So you’d set the hot water to come on for a time period in the morning to heat the tank, and then maybe again in the evening. But it largely depends on how well the tank retains heat and how much water you use. It will take a bit of trial and error, maybe start with an hour in the morning every day and see if you run out of hot water - if you do you need to run it longer (or for another period in the afternoon/evening).  If you never run out then you can reduce that time to 45mins etc 

How old is the tank? May also be worth looking at adding insulation to it if it’s older. 

Thank you - very helpful.

The boiler only has heating on it, no water symbol, but the controller next to it has a switch for heating and underneath hot water. You can select each one to either on, off, timed etc. I might trial it next and see if the HW comes on without the heating and then with the boiler off. 
When I turn on the boiler, the tank in the upstairs cupboard sounds like its on, even though the water switch is off... Reckon I need to google for the manual lol! 

Is there a way I can tell if its gas from looking at the tank?

If I only need it on for an hour or so before then that is good. The heating system is apparently 18 years old, but it looks good for that age! I could add some insulation if that will also help. 

If you select water on, does the boiler fire up?

Boiler does not fire up 😐
 I have tried to attach some pictures although I suspect it's electric 😭

housebuyer143

See photos attached

bagand96

Photos are helpful thanks. 

Boiler Glowworm 18si is indeed a "System" Boiler.  A system boiler provides hot water for the central heating, but also heats the hot water tank.

Tank is a Megaflow unvented pressurised water tank.  These are designed to be heated by the boiler - there is a coil inside where hot water from the boiler passes and heats up water in the tank.  There is also an electric immersion heater, but these are really as a backup or quick top up use.  The white switch top right looks to be the immersion heater switch - so it's on in your photo.

The two silver boxes on the right hand side are motorised valves - one is for the central heating loop and the other for the hot water loop.  When the boiler fires up, the corresponding valve should open as requested by the controller - heating only, water only, or both.

So the boiler should be doing the heating and hot water.  You haven't shown your controller, but have another play with it, or Google for the manual, you should be able to turn on the hot water from that, and also set times for it to come on.  I'm not an expert but that tank looks modern enough to retain heat well so you should get away with once or twice a day - experimenting to see the optimal times.

If using the immersion is working for you then fine, you could even get a timer fitted for that to make it easier.  However electricity is 3 times the price of gas, so even accounting for inefficiencies in the boiler and heat loss in the pipes, getting it working with the boiler will likely be much cheaper than heating with electric. 

housebuyer143

bagand96 said:

Photos are helpful thanks. 

Boiler Glowworm 18si is indeed a "System" Boiler.  A system boiler provides hot water for the central heating, but also heats the hot water tank.

Tank is a Megaflow unvented pressurised water tank.  These are designed to be heated by the boiler - there is a coil inside where hot water from the boiler passes and heats up water in the tank.  There is also an electric immersion heater, but these are really as a backup or quick top up use.  The white switch top right looks to be the immersion heater switch - so it's on in your photo.

The two silver boxes on the right hand side are motorised valves - one is for the central heating loop and the other for the hot water loop.  When the boiler fires up, the corresponding valve should open as requested by the controller - heating only, water only, or both.

So the boiler should be doing the heating and hot water.  You haven't shown your controller, but have another play with it, or Google for the manual, you should be able to turn on the hot water from that, and also set times for it to come on.  I'm not an expert but that tank looks modern enough to retain heat well so you should get away with once or twice a day - experimenting to see the optimal times.

If using the immersion is working for you then fine, you could even get a timer fitted for that to make it easier.  However electricity is 3 times the price of gas, so even accounting for inefficiencies in the boiler and heat loss in the pipes, getting it working with the boiler will likely be much cheaper than heating with electric. 

Thank you so much! This is the most helpful thing ever. 
I accidentally switched the immersion on when I got the keys, so have just run upstairs and turned it off 🤣🤣 that's going to cost me! 

Sounds like I have a nice system 😬 and better that it's gas run. I didn't take a photo but I do have a working control switch for the HW and heating so will play with that. 

Thanks again for all your help.

markin

With the immersion On the boiler likely wont fire up as immersions are usually set higher at 65-70c.

bagand96

housebuyer143 said:

I accidentally switched the immersion on when I got the keys, so have just run upstairs and turned it off 🤣🤣 that's going to cost me! 

markin said:

With the immersion On the boiler likely wont fire up as immersions are usually set higher at 65-70c.

I think we may have our answer! As @markin says with the immersion on all the time then the hot water tank would be at temperature, so the boiler would never need to fire up even when you select hot water on the controller.