Tell me about this boiler/water tank please

[MrsJ28903]

I’ve only had experience with a combi without a tank.

What is this type of tank?

[dementedpixie]

Is that not your hot water cylinder? Stores hot water ready to be used

[dementedpixie]

What do you want to know?

[Elieza]

Looks like my hot water tank (cylinder) with its insulated jacket. Inside my bedroom cupboard. It’s where your hot water comes from.

You will probably have a control thing to put the heating on or off or on timed. Mine is in the kitchen beside the boiler. On it are also controls for hot water. You switch on the hot water for like half an hour when you want to have hot water in your bathroom and kitchen hot taps. The element inside the hot water tank heats up the water in there that runs into your hot taps. It’s not instant though.
Some set ups have the hot water on as soon as you put the central heating on. My mums is like that. She therefore has to put the heating on for a while to get hot water for doing the dishes even in summer! Mine has independent controls for both heating and hot water fortunately so I can have either heating or hot water or both. I generally put it on times for a half hour morning and a half hour evening to guarantee hot tap water.

[PigletJohn]

it is a hot water cylinder. It appears to be lying on its side which is very worrying.

By the red jacket I estimate it to be 30+ years old, assuming it does not have a factory-applied coating of plastic foam under the jacket. It also looks quite small. What are the dimensions? You may find them on a paper label or stamp under the jacket.

A more modern one will heat up faster, retain heat longer and (I recommend) be bigger so it can hold more hot water.

I am assuming that you heat it with your gas boiler. It might have an electric immersion heater as well, but apart from switching it on for two hours once a year to check that it works, leave it turned off except when your boiler breaks down, because energy from electricity costs four or five times as much as energy from gas.

If you take a close, larger picture, showing it upright, I may be able to see more detail.

[dementedpixie]

Is it not just the photo that's on its side?

[dementedpixie]

Oops didn't read your whole reply there before posting, sorry

[PigletJohn]

May have been joke.

[MrsJ28903]

@PigletJohn my phone uploaded it on its side

Thanks for the info. I’m figuring out how much it would cost to improve a house. The boiler is modern and less than 10 years old but this tank looked very old.

[MrsJ28903]

The radiators look relatively old like the tank though.

[PigletJohn]

a new larger cylinder costs some hundred pounds. A different, improved system would probably also need plumbing changes.

Are you thinking of buying this house to live in, or to rent out?

[MrsJ28903]

To live in

[PigletJohn]

With a 30+ year-old cylinder, I think you can assume it is ready for quite a lot of renovation.

[MrsJ28903]

I’m already fearing this and I’m not sure it’s a viable option!

[Elieza]

Mine is 27 years old. Totally fine. The gas guy said the system is old but it’s ok.

[filka]

I had a tank like this, cost £660 to replace a few months ago.

Are you in a hard water area, or soft water? If hard water and the tank is old then it may well be full of limescale and definitely time to change. If in a soft water area then maybe if it ain't broke, don't fix it - or leave it for later, anyway.

Another point to consider is that with this type of hot tank there is usually a very large cold water tank in the loft. This means that your hot water is at much lower pressure than the cold water because it only uses gravity.

Switching to a combi would free up space in this cupboard and also allow the tank in the loft to be removed, potentially making the loft space more usable and make your hot water at mains pressure so will improve your shower water flow. More expensive than just replacing the hot tank though.

[Thinkle]

We had something like this (with a cold water tank in the loft above). We replaced it with a mega flow pressurised cylinder (no cold water tank in loft).
Benefits of this are: more efficient, hot water for simultaneous showers, mains cold water (for drink) in bathrooms, emergency Emersion heated water and good water pressure
You can get it removed and rely on a combi boiler but you’ll have an issue with people running hot showers or hot taps at the same time but you will get mains water in the taps.
Ours cost over £2500 (London) including stripping out the old stuff in the loft and I am delighted.

[PigletJohn]

Many houses have poor incoming flow from the watermain, and need to run a new pipe out to the pavement, to get adequate flow from an unvented cylinder or a combi.