Should I upgrade my hotpress hot water cylinder

anotherquestion

Hi folks,

I have oil central heating, and hopefully I am getting a grant to replace oil boiler, oil tank and other bits and bobs.

The hot water cylinder is in a clothes cubbard (hot press) is surrounded by timber shelving, they have mentioned in the past that the cylinder itself should be lagged, but as it would be difficult to do this, with the surrounding shelving, I have given it a miss, also the hotpress is in bedroom, so sometimes we leave cubbard door open to help heat the room.

The grant inspector has mentioned installing a new cylinder, the present one has been here since house was built in 1988, and gives us hot water etc, there is also a small immersion cylinder in there.

Have cylinders moved  on much since 1988, as the present one suits our needs fine eg hot water after central heating heats  up, gravity fed shower etc, should we bother trying to replace the cylinder itself if grant funds allow.

Many thanks for any advice, really appreciated.

Albermarle

An unlagged hot water cylinder is very inefficient and not the best way to warm a room !
A modern hot water cylinder will come with integrated lagging/insulation.
Like this one.
Telford Standard Vented Cylinder | B3D09045VF | Direct | 117L (heatandplumb.com)

DougMLancs

What are they planning to replace the oil boiler with? I can’t imagine you could get a grant to put another oil system in. I only ask because if it’s a heat pump then that will definitely affect this decision. 

Aside from that, the lack of lagging will mean you’re wasting a lot of heat (I know it heats the room but there are time of year like now when you probably don’t want that heat!). You might find a similar capacity modern cylinder with incorporated insulation will fit in the same space (you could go short and squat or tall and thin) and you can keep the shelving.

FreeBear

If you getting a heat pump (you are going for one, yes), it will require a new cylinder. The heating coil is considerably larger, and the tanks are (usually) unvented, so you get water at mains pressure.

Even if you are sticking with burning oil, a new tank will be much better insulated, so less heat loss = lower heating bill. The airing cupboard will still get warm & toasty. Building regs would mandate an insulated tank, so you may not have much choice in the matter.

Risteard

It should definitely be lagged, even in the hot press. (Incidentally the cylinder is always in the hot press.)

anotherquestion

Thanks to all for replies, no its going to be an oil boiler, don't think the grant would stretch as far as a Heat Pump, I would imagine that would be in excess of 10K?, unless I was going to throw a lot of money at it myself as well.

The Assessor was out having a look, but will take about 8-10 weeks depending on funding available.
I would be happy enough with an oil boiler, and the oil tank with some rads in house to be replaced as well.

FreeBear

anotherquestion said:

Thanks to all for replies, no its going to be an oil boiler, don't think the grant would stretch as far as a Heat Pump, I would imagine that would be in excess of 10K?, unless I was going to throw a lot of money at it myself as well.

The government is handing out £7500 grants to help with the cost of installing a heat pump. The rules on EPC recommended insulation upgrades has been relaxed to encourage a greater uptake.

I did a "what if" query earlier in the year with Octopus, and they were quoting me around £2700 - That isn't much more than I paid for a gas boiler last year. If I had waited, I think I would have gone for a heat pump. Yes, a HP would have required a lot of new plumbing and bigger radiators, but I've replumbed the heating system with that in mind. With bigger radiators, a gas boiler can run at lower flow temperatures which pushes up efficiency. The same applies to a condensing gas boiler - Bigger radiators, lower flow temperatures, higher efficiency.

Grenage

FreeBear said:

anotherquestion said:

Thanks to all for replies, no its going to be an oil boiler, don't think the grant would stretch as far as a Heat Pump, I would imagine that would be in excess of 10K?, unless I was going to throw a lot of money at it myself as well.

The government is handing out £7500 grants to help with the cost of installing a heat pump. The rules on EPC recommended insulation upgrades has been relaxed to encourage a greater uptake.

I did a "what if" query earlier in the year with Octopus, and they were quoting me around £2700 - That isn't much more than I paid for a gas boiler last year. If I had waited, I think I would have gone for a heat pump. Yes, a HP would have required a lot of new plumbing and bigger radiators, but I've replumbed the heating system with that in mind. With bigger radiators, a gas boiler can run at lower flow temperatures which pushes up efficiency. The same applies to a condensing gas boiler - Bigger radiators, lower flow temperatures, higher efficiency.

Blimey that's a good deal, they quote me 7,500 with the grant.

coffeehound

anotherquestion said:

Have cylinders moved  on much since 1988, as the present one suits our needs fine eg hot water after central heating heats  up, gravity fed shower etc, should we bother trying to replace the cylinder itself if grant funds allow.

As well as the insulation being much better, the coil will also be far better, as mentioned.  In the '80s, some of the worst cylinders just had two loops of pipe as the coil.  This means that the water returning to the boiler is hot quickly and so the boiler leaves condensing mode earlier.  And the heating cycle takes longer. 

A modern high surface area coil does a much better job of moving the heat from the boiler flow into the cylinder.  Therefore it returns to the boiler cooler for a longer time, thus getting better efficiency from the boiler overall