Advice please - vented or not - will accumulator help

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I am researching what would be the best option for my requirements re completely renewing the domestic and heating systems and oil boiler (or rather my plumber will).
I have loads of info from various manufactures of vented and unvented cylinders and also thermoflows.
The House is detached and has 4 bedrooms – 5 residents
1 bathroom and 2 shower en-suites
No loft for header tanks as its full of bedroom
Water pressure is 3.5 bar but delivery is only about 9 litres pm - no chance of improving according to water company inspection.

I am considering a vented or unvented cylinder with accumulator – possibly a Bosch boiler.

Appreciate any feedback re which and why etc
Thanks
Mick
 
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A vented heat bank. See:
http://www.heatweb.com for explanation. Other companies make these.

An accumulator will do 300 to 400 litres. What is the static water mains pressure?
 
thanks for that - Severn Trent tested the pressure and it was 3.5 bars but only 9 litres per minute
 
have you room to fit a break tank and booster set along with a high recovery cylinder

ie can you house it in an outhouse or build one for the purpose
 
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have you room to fit a break tank and booster set along with a high recovery cylinder

ie can you house it in an outhouse or build one for the purpose

Not sure what these units are - more research clearly needed.
But the area where the units will be installed is about 2m square and 2.2m high.
 
Why can't they improve it...have you measured the flowrate at the neighbouring properties?

9 litres/min at ground level is about the legal minimum.

Have you measured the flowrate exactly using a bucket/watch; Wier gauges are not sufficiently accurate when you are close to the legal limit.

I had a customer that I measured at 8 litres despite the water company claiming 9 litres and saying it was ok. They were trying everything to avoid further work. 3 months before, the customer was getting around 30 litres/min. In the end they dug up the road and sorted it.
 
Why can't they improve it...have you measured the flowrate at the neighbouring properties?

9 litres/min at ground level is about the legal minimum.

Have you measured the flowrate exactly using a bucket/watch; Wier gauges are not sufficiently accurate when you are close to the legal limit.

I had a customer that I measured at 8 litres despite the water company claiming 9 litres and saying it was ok. They were trying everything to avoid further work. 3 months before, the customer was getting around 30 litres/min. In the end they dug up the road and sorted it.

Yes, checked several surounding properties - lived in the village all my life and its always been an issue with most residents. Very high above sea level. Water company checked the flow with a meter and i have checked by more basic method and got 10 lpm. Our main is complicated due to the location - i have explored the issue of sufficient service level already. Stuck with what i have got!
 
The pressure is fine despite being high above sea level. Perhaps the service main in the street is undersized and they won't upgrade an indivual property due to its impact on the neighbours.
 
3.5 bar and only 9lts a min doesnt sound right to me.
What do your neighbours have lts/min?

Sorry ignore above didnt read all your posts :oops:
 
Take no notice of the misadvice on here. The last thing you need is a cylinder/tank arrangement no more than you need gas light and a steam engine.

Explanation of an accumulator. They are super simple and passive devices. No pumps or other such garbage. They also store cold water too in a water outage.
http://www.heatweb.com/products/accumulators/accumulators.html

An integrated heat bank is what you need to supply three showers all at once - and an accumulator.

http://www.heatweb.com/products/cylinders/heatbank/heatbank.htm
http://www.range-cylinders.co.uk/products/flowmax

Get and "integrated" CH & DHW heat bank/thermal store. Run the CH off it and have the boiler only heating the store. Greater boiler longevity.

----------
Overview of Heat Banks

Instant high pressure hot water - When the thermal-store has reached the set temperature, water is delivered instantly at the taps.

Usable hot water in a matter of minutes - From a cold heatup usable hot water is available at the taps within minutes.

Very high water flow-rate - The high-end heat-banks have a flow-rate up to 45 litres/min.

Operates on low incoming pressures - Requires a supply pressure of 1 bar to obtain a good flow-rate.

Operates on high incoming pressures - Will operate up to 10 bar without a pressure reducer.

Long efficient boiler burn - Reduces boiler on-off cycling increasing efficiency. Inefficient boiler cycling is no longer a major problem with boilers with forced flues.

Maintains optimum boiler temperature range - The boiler Deta T is maintained giving boiler high efficiency and longevity.

Combines the output of the stored water and the boiler -

Cylinder may be smaller for a similar performance

Cylinder at low pressure - Unlike an unvented cylinder it does not store water at high pressures. No risk of an explosion.

Fast cylinder recovery rate - When the boiler is connected directly to the heat-bank or an indirect coil, the recovery rate is rapid.

Legionella bacteria eliminated - The Legionella bacteria cannot survive in the high temperature sealed conditions of a heat-bank's DHW section.

No scale build-up in heat-bank - Containing primary and not secondary fresh water, scale does not build-up inside the heat-bank, either on primary coils or immersion heaters.

Cold water storage eliminated - No need for cold water storage tanks.

Solar heating storage - Water heated via solar panels may be stored in the heat-bank via a solar coil.

Caters easily for multiple heat sources - Electric, gas, oil, solar, solid fuel and heat pumps can safely heat the one cylinder. The ideal solution.

Easy maintenance - If an external plate heat exchanger requires cleaning or replacing it is a matter of draining down the heat-bank, or closing isolating vales, and unscrewing the plate heat-exchanger. In some rare instances plate heat-exchangers are fitted directly inside the heat-bank preventing the unscrewing of the plate, however, de-scaling can be performed.

Easy to improve hot water flowrates - By simply adding additional plate heat-exchangers in parallel, hot water flow rates may be improved. Retrofit additions are possible if extra bathrooms or showers are installed.

Stored water vessel need not be cylindrical - As no internal coil is used for hot water heat transfer the stored water vessel may be any shape, as opposed to a thermal store which has to be cylindrical for maximum efficiency. Unvented cylinders need to be cylindrical to create a robust shape because of high pressures. This shape advantage is ideal where space is limited, promoting excellent packaging.

Integrated Heat Banks can run CH off cylinder - This enables TRVs on all rads when using an auto speed pump like a Wilo Smart or Grundfos Alpha. This give instant heat up in the mornings.

Creates a Superb CH buffer for free - A CH buffer is created, evening out heating distribution to demand. This puts less stress on the boiler.

Boiler sized for average not peak use -

Boiler can be a simple, cheaper more reliable boiler.

Boiler can be large and not cycle, giving fast recovery rates - Boilers can be large and be accommodated and not cycle as overlarge boilers do when connected directly to radiators. The heat up recovery rate is very fast.

Failsafe - When open vented, the system is failsafe and cannot explode.

No Overflow Pipes - On some models a discharge or overflow pipe is unnecessary. This means a heat bank can be fitted centrally in a house and not near an outside wall

Full DHW & CH Electric Backup - Electric immersions can provide CH & DHW backup.
 
Have you looked a high flow oil combi and an accumulator? Worth assessing.
 

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