My whole life I've lived in places in which the water was heated on demand so there was never such an issue as running out of hot water. I was aware of such systems that heated a lot of water at once and could run out of that hot water but I thought they were just antiquated systems that had not yet been replaced. My friend recently moved into a brand new house fitted with a system of the kind that runs out of water. Why are these even being built still??
Why buy an old style hot water system which can "run out of hot water"?
- Thread starter username132
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In what way are they very good? Are they more energy efficient? Cheaper to install and/or maintain?
I think they have two bathrooms but I don't know what facilities are in each. I don't know the specifics of the hot water system either.
N
Newboy
They only "run out of water" if they are incorrectly sized for the property. They also have the distinct advantage that they can (usually) be independently heated if there is a problem with the boiler, can deliver a higher flow rate & a higher temperature than a combi-boiler/instantaneous heater.
Wait until you've got a house full of people all wanting hot water at the same time and see if that changes your view.
Wait until you've got a house full of people all wanting hot water at the same time and see if that changes your view.
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Or if the boiler was turned off.
Such installations are limited to a single outlet, and are therefore useless where two or more bathrooms are fitted.
They are incapable of supplying high flow rates, such as you would want when filling a large bath.
Or there are teenage women in the house who are in the shower for 15 minutes minimum per shower.
Shouldn't make any difference, reheat time of a modern unvented is around 20 minutes after drawing off 70% of the volume
when I used to visit my Aunt and cousins, and spend the night over, in the morning she would say to me if I want to take a bath can I please wait for an hour as someone just had a bath and the hot water has run out! crazy!
Typically yes but when it is a large cylinder ( vented or unvented ) and a low power boiler then re-heat can be considerably longer.
Classic case of am undersized cylinder, or possibly an electrically heated one as they heat up much more slowly
So in situations where the system hasn't been correctly specified, it doesn't work as it should? Wow, there's a surprise
So in situations where the system hasn't been correctly specified, it doesn't work as it should? Wow, there's a surprise
Maybe the time to re-heat has been specified as one hour. That would allow for a lower heat output boiler to be specified. It could more efficient and cost effective to then specify a boiler whose maximum output matches the peak central heating load. This maximum output might be less than the output necessary for a 20 minutes reheat cylinder . Running a High output boiler for 20 minutes may or may not be as efficient as running a boiler 1/3 of the output for 60 minutes.
Bernard, if you were a farmer, would you buy a tractor with a lawn mower engine as that engine could use flatulance produced by the cows hence would be very economical?
If I am going to buy a Bently would I be looking at the MPG instead of comfort?
If I am going to buy a Bently would I be looking at the MPG instead of comfort?
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