Hot water help/advice please

[Filleto]

Trying to only heat the hot water once a day.

At the moment this is meaning only the people that shower at that end of the day get hot showers. There’s no way we’re using all the water in the tank because it’s a big tank and everyone has quick showers, it’s just not staying hot enough for showers later in the day. Is this normal? I was under the impression that it should stay pretty hot.

Mine wouldn’t stay hot all day if I heated it in the morning. Does your tank have a jacket on it ?

Yes, the tank and boiler are both 5 years old so pretty new and the tank has a jacket.

We’ve always heated it twice a day but dp is determined to only heat it once now. It’s just miserable having cold showers though and will be even worse when it’s cold outside. Unfortunately due to sports/work it isn’t possible for everyone to shower at the same end of the day.

We're heating ours twice a day now as we found once per day wasn't quite enough. 40 minutes in the morning and just ten minutes in the afternoon. We find that's enough for two showers and a small amount of washing dishes by hand (most go in the dishwasher).
When we wash our hands, we try to use the cold tap.

I meant to say, it's costing 49p per day for the hot water.

When do you heat it ?

You should heat it just before you have the showers.

I have a 20 year old tank, and water in it will stay warm for at least 24 hours, probably more.

Have you turned down the water heating temperature ? Normally it is set to 60 degrees C.

My tank is set at 50* and that’s more than hot enough for showers.
I wish the washing machines would go back to hot and cold fill, as then hot water wouldn’t be left to go cold again in the tank.

Doesn't the tank top up with cold as the water is used? So rather than starting with 150l of hot water and using it until it's gone, you use eg 50l and then the tank (if the hot water is off) will contain 100l hot and 50l cold, so water will be cooler and get more so as water is used?

Ours used to be on for several hours twice a day and I've reduced it to 30 mins morning, 30 mins lunchtime and 2 hours in the evening (baths) and I still think this is too much but DH doesn't believe me that it will heat up the tank in 30 minutes. It's only 145L.

What you say about the top up is correct.

I have a 145l cylinder like you. I have it on for 1/2 hour every second day. That heats it up to max temp (65 degrees C) and provides enough water for 2x showers and 2x washing up.

Yes I believe so although the plumber who fitted it said that the cold water enters the bottom of the tank and so doesn't mix with the hot water which is meant to keep the hot water hotter for longer. It must still cool it though just from being there! I think we’d be better off having the water heated for a shorter period twice a day so that we always have hot but dp is unconvinced

I am confused now, I had a bath this afternoon (unusual, but I had a day off!) so I put it on a boost hour to run the DCs a bath this evening as the next cycle not due to come on until 7. Ran out of hot water before I had enough. So apparently a whole hour isn't enough to heat a 145l tank.

I suppose I need to find out the power output of the boiler.