What is this hot water tank called and will it cost me more

rockkie

Hello everyone 
I am moving into a rented property and they have this water tank - I have never seen one before so I don’t know how it works and if it would cost me more in gas and electric to run- I am very naive sorry.
do I have to raise anything with the landlord prior to moving in, do I have to be aware of anything about it prior to moving in to keep us safe and lower costs

i will appreciate any advice 
thank you 

user1977

You've given us pictures of two tanks - are they both in the property?

eddddy

It looks like those are images you found on the internet.

Those are hot water cylinders - water is heated up inside them. The first big question would be in your rented house - is the water in the cylinder/tank heated up by a gas boiler (often called a 'conventional boiler' or maybe a 'system boiler') or by electricity?

Electricity would work out more expensive. A gas conventional boiler would work out cheaper.


What type of water heating system are you familiar with? Perhaps a gas combi boiler (which doesn't have that type of cylinder/tank)?

If so, you could google something like 'combi boiler vs conventional boiler' to read about the differences.

SiliconChip

The term that you're looking for is "immersion heater", at least for the bottom one, which looks like it has an electric element that heats the water inside the tank (they are often lagged with insulating material to keep the water inside hot for longer - the tanks are usually made from copper so I suspect both of these are lagged). The top one may also be an immersion heater but it could be one that heats using gas.

housebuyer143

Personally I think it does cost more but it depends how you use it and if it's gas or electric.
I heat mine 2x 1 hour a day and it costs me £35 a month for hot water 😔 if you didn't use it much though you can heat it less. 
It's still cheaper than an electric shower would be though if that was the alternative. 

eddddy

SiliconChip said:

The term that you're looking for is "immersion heater", at least for the bottom one...

Both of the tanks pictured have electric immersion heaters fitted. There's a silver coloured one in the top picture, and a black one in the bottom picture.

But in the top picture, the immersion heater would typically be for 'emergencies' - only if the boiler breaks down. The main source of heating would be the boiler.

It's less clear in the bottom picture, it may be that the immersion heater is the only source of heating.

Sunsaru

SiliconChip said:

The term that you're looking for is "immersion heater", at least for the bottom one, which looks like it has an electric element that heats the water inside the tank (they are often lagged with insulating material to keep the water inside hot for longer - the tanks are usually made from copper so I suspect both of these are lagged). The top one may also be an immersion heater but it could be one that heats using gas.

The top one has both immersion heater and bolier. The bottom picture is purely immersion heater.

If it's the bottom one then it's going to cost more as 1) it's purely electric powered and 2) it relies on OP remembering to turn it on and (more importantly) turn it off.

Mr.Generous

If its immersion only they usually fit a timer.

Electricity to heat the water is more expensive.

If its a system boiler then a condensing boiler rather than a really old one, one works out a lot cheaper.

Sunsaru

Mr.Generous said:

If its immersion only they usually fit a timer.

Electricity to heat the water is more expensive.

If its a system boiler then a condensing boiler rather than a really old one, one works out a lot cheaper.

I know you say usually but every rental I've had with immersion only has never had a timer.

*sucks to be me*

ThisIsWeird

rockkie said:

Hello everyone 
I am moving into a rented property and they have this water tank - I have never seen one before so I don’t know how it works and if it would cost me more in gas and electric to run- I am very naive sorry.
do I have to raise anything with the landlord prior to moving in, do I have to be aware of anything about it prior to moving in to keep us safe and lower costs

Hi Rockkie.

To answer your last Q - is it 'safe' - these are both 'vented' tanks, so are not under any water pressure other than 'gravity'. They won't 'explode', and they don't require safety checks like 'unvented' cylinders (which are under mains water pressure).

Vented cylinders are typically recognisable by their domed tops, and the immersion heaters being fitted on that curved top, close to the hot water exit pipe. (I'm sure there are other styles, but I'm trying to make it simple).

As others have asked - why show two different tanks? Is it because you don't have a pic of the actual cylinder in this property?

The two you have shown are similar in terms of safety and operation, but seem to differ by the way they are heated - the blue cylinder does not appear to have any form of heating other than from the electric immersion heater, whereas the top one has additional plumbing which indicates its primary source of heating will be from a gas boiler - this will be much cheaper to heat (by a factor of around 3?).

So, does 'your' cylinder have these extra pipes and parts or not? Eg, the yellow-arrowed?