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Hot Water Cylinder

7 replies

5amisnotmorning · 04/09/2017 20:45

Anyone have any idea how long a hot water cylinder should last? We seem to have a leak from corrosion on ours but it is onky around 15 years old.
We have 4 bathrooms with pumped showers and currently an unvented system - should we stay unvented or go to pressurised and any recommendations what we should be looking for?

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PigletJohn · 04/09/2017 21:39

15 years isn't long.

Santon now offer a 30-year guarantee. Some are 25. Some are 10. Conditions apply, including regular servicing.

They are usually stainless steel and made to the British Standard. Maybe it is a pipe connection that can be repaired. They must only be repaired by a qualified engineer who has the G3 certificate (many, but not all, heating engineers. Ask before making an appointment). They should be regularly inspected and serviced, like your boiler.

Unvented is the same as pressurised. It is unlikely you will get such good performance from any other type of hot-water system.

What colour is it?

PigletJohn · 04/09/2017 21:40

p.s.

It doesn't make sense to have an unvented cylinder and pumped showers. I'm not sure what you've got. Please provide photos.

5amisnotmorning · 05/09/2017 16:56

Sorry it is vented not unvented! Definitely no pressurised system. The jacket is green and I didn't realise they needed servicing. We have been in the house 2 years and given that we had to replace the boiler as it hadn't been serviced, I am guessing that the cylinder has never been looked at either. I will take pictures in a bit.

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5amisnotmorning · 05/09/2017 16:59

Hopefully the picture has worked. Thanks PigletJohn!

Hot Water Cylinder
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PigletJohn · 05/09/2017 17:18

an ordinary, vented cylinder like yours doesn't generally need servicing. It the unvented ones, because they run at high pressure and are fitted with safety devices that need to be kept in good order.

Your green one will be copper. I don't remember when the newer blue ones came out. Somewhere between ten and twenty years.

It does look like it is leaking at a pipe connector. An experienced plumber may be able to fix that. It doesn't need a gasman. The copper is quite thin and easily damaged by heavy-handed spannering. A replacement is not especially expensive.

Before you decide, measure the water flow into your house. Fill a bucket at the kitchen cold tap; time it' calculate litres per minute. Do the same at your garden tap and utility room cold tap of you have them.

Have a look at the incoming pipe from the watermain where it meets your stopcock. Depending on age of house it will be lead, iron, copper, black plastic or blue plastic. Measure its outside diameter. It will probably be 15mm, 20mm, 22mm, 25mm, or 32mm.

If it passes under wooden floors and flowerbeds it would be easier to upgrade than concrete floors and drives.

5amisnotmorning · 05/09/2017 19:15

Thanks! The water pressure downstairs in the kitchen near the stop cock is very fast and no problems throughout the house to be honest. Once bedtime is over I will measure the flow.

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5amisnotmorning · 05/09/2017 19:17

Oh but it is a long driveway and concrete floors that the pipes go through. Given we have no problems I guess we should probably just replace with another vented cylinder.

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