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Plumbing

Replacing a unvented hot water cylinder that's to small

Anonymous user 23/02/2024 - 3.31 PM

Hi, I currently have a 50L unvented direct cylinder used to supply a shower and basin in a single bathroom, my issue is it isn't big enough and after 1 shower it's empty. Because it's got a 3kw element it takes over an hour to heat so we have to wait a long time for the shower to be sued again. I have looked into the cost of replacing it with a 120L tank to find it's well over my budget with purchase and installation cost. So I was wondering if I could instead buy a instant hot water heater like the one I have for my kitchen sink with a 6-9kw heater element that heats the cold water before it fills my 50L cylinder. This would mean instead of my inlet to the cylinder being 15degrees it could be 30-40degrees meaning it would last a lot longer before the thermostatic shower emptied it of hot water. It would also mean it could heat the tank up quicker. The instant heater would need to be one that is temperature controlled and doesn't set the temperature by reducing the flow rate to make sure the unvented system does not reduce the shower pressure. Would this concept of heating water a bit before it goes into the tank make sense, and is there anything wrong with this concept? Thank you

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5 Answers

Alex

No reviews yet

West Kensington, London
Would be OK to have an instant heating but the consumption would be much higher.
Answered5 May 2020
3

B Fisher Plumbing & Heating

Rating: 5 out of 5
Bradford
I would avoid messing with unvented cylinders. But I cant see why it would not work, you just need to be carefull of legionnaires disease.. or buy a water saving shower head with the little stone balls in the handle..
Answered5 May 2020
0

Anonymous user

mmmm so this property do not have any gas boiler??? everything is electric??mmm, 50 l , calculation is about 15 litres per person, mmmm i think u must to check the support for the cylinder if can support the weight, so go for it 120 litres, but the problem is the person, that use the shower, for 30 minutes, or replace cylinder, change u boiler for a combination boiler, or ask the person, to move out, you have to see which option is cheaper.
Answered11 May 2020
0

Christopher Plumber.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Norwich
Impossible to give any advice on this ,without seeing the installation first!
Answered13 May 2020
0

Asm Plumbing and Heating

Rating: 5 out of 5
Greenhithe
Maybe consider going for an unvented hot water cylinder, like for example a Megaflow. Offers the very best in hot water delivery whilst still being fairly compact.
Answered17 May 2020
0