New hot water cylinder (cost)

[Justpassingtime1]

We are not sure if it needs replacing or not.
It is about 30 years old and the use is minimal as in a small flat
Would a new fuse board have to be put in?
We are not aware it is leaking or anything just safety conscious

[PigletJohn]

Presumably you have a cold-water tank either on top of the cylinder or in the loft?

Do you have a gas boiler or heat it with an electric immersion heater?

What colour is it?

Do you find it adequate for a hot bath but too weak for a shower?

Do you have a good cold-water supply from the main? Fill a bucket at the kitchen cold tap, time it, calculate litres per minute.

[Justpassingtime1]

We have not used it for 10 years! Fine for a bath .We are not too
bothered about a shower though it certainly seems to work
for a handheld one. (though in the future a better shower?)
It is a gold/brown/bronze colour with some lagging on it. There is no gas so it is the main source of hot water
The cold tap runs well into the bucket .
Thanks

[PigletJohn]

Your cylinder is extremely old. It may go on for longer, or it may start to leak, but modern ones are better insulated so less wasteful of energy. I'd suggest the largest cylinder that will fit with an immersion heater near the top (for quickly heating a small amount of water) and one near the bottom (for heating a large amount of water more slowly). It will be blue. A plumber will take around half a day to fit it, maybe more so might quote around £300 labour, plus a new cylinder for a few hundred pounds. A "direct" cylinder will suit, but if you think you might ever get a gas boiler, you'll need an "indirect" which has internal plumbing to connect to a boiler. It may need to be ordered if not a common model.

A bath takes around 100 litres so get one bigger than that.

If you measure the litres per minute from the cold tap there is an alternative that may be better.

If you have storage heaters and an economy 7 type of tariff, you can use a timer to heat the whole cylinder overnight at cheap rate. If not, no benefit.

An old cylinder like yours may have the old type of immersion thermostat that can fail "on" and overheat dangerously. If yours is ever scalding hot, turn it off and have a urgent repair or replacement.

[Justpassingtime1]

Thank you for such useful advice. We do have Econ 7 so yes it would
make sense just to have it on overnight with a timer especially as
we do not need much hot water.