Electricity only hot water options.

tomstickland

I've been taking a closer look at my hot water system tonight.
I've got a very large hot water tank in the airing cupboard. It's on a small pedestal (about a foot high) and then reaches up to within a few inches of the ceiling. It has about an inch of insulation on it.
What surprised me is that the lid is just piece of tin like that found on a tea urn.

I only use hot water for washing up and cleaning the bathroom. I use a shower rather than bathing.

I've just been looking round the net to see whether there might be cheaper to run options.

Now, maybe filling the rest of the airing cupboard with insulation would be the cheapest way of saving money.

I have had a quick look round the net and found things like this:
Thermal store. Essentially a well insulated tank of water, but with a heat exchanger so the hot water is at mains pressure.
http://www.elsonhotwater.co.uk/elson/elson.nsf/03798e9169de46dd80256a2a003c660b/ab7f0dfabac190a780256ac300524b41?OpenDocument

Self contained immersion heater unit.

http://www.elsonhotwater.co.uk/elson/elson.nsf/03798e9169de46dd80256a2a003c660b/ccbd8f0a012b082180256ac30052621d?OpenDocument

From first principles I can't see the thermal store + heat exchanger offering any benefits other than mains pressure.

I see that "max daily heat loss" is quoted. 2.4Kwh/day for the smallest and 2.7 for the largest.

I also wonder, given the small amounts of hot water that I use, whether it might cheaper to heat "on demand". I could do the sums quite easily I suppose, since I can compare heating the water in a large kettle at daytime rates versus the cost of heating that water and covering the losses from the tank at the night rate.

ukwoody

This is not really my field and I'm sure Canuklehead will be along shortly to correct me, LOL. But are you sure that what you haven't got is a hotwater tank, with a small open coldwater feeder/header/expension tank on top of it. They only have a thin lid. They are built into one unit so a sort of all in one for small spaces - especially flats and places with limited loft spaces.

woody

tomstickland

Aha, that makes sense.