Moving hot water cylinder to the loft

[SurreyAlan]

Like some earlier posters I'm going to move my hot water cylinder up into the loft though as it's over 30 years old thought I'd replace it with a new one.
My pumped flow and return to the coils are in 15 mm (the original documentation I have does say 15 or 22), is there any benefit moving up a size, I've never had any problems with recovery times.

Was thinking of getting a Gledhill Enviro Foam tank as compression connections must be easier than the usual fittings. Any comments on these. I have seen some adverts for Gledhill High Recovery Condencyl tanks, meant to be for for condensing boilers but they have much more insulation. Curiously they aren't mentioned on the Gledhill web site which seems odd.

Off topic, any views on plastic speedfit fittings? I wouldn't use them on high pressure or heating but on the low pressure hot and cold? I've had to do some temporary pipework and used them on that, being a bit old I have a luddite distrust of new things but these did seem very easy to use, just worried that when I turn 80 they'll all be leaking past the seals.

Comments on the sizing and Gledhill would be gratefully received.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Where is the cold water cistern in all this?

 

[SurreyAlan]

Where is the cold water cistern in all this?

the cold water cistern is up high and it's bottom would be about 300mm higher than the top of the 1050 high so shouldn't be any issues there.

 

[flameport]

Any new cylinder will be far quicker to heat than a 30 year old one, so even if you are happy with the current one it would be beneficial to replace it.
Also no point in keeping the 30 year old one anyway, as it could leak or split at any time, and it will be full of scale and other rubbish.

Cylinder connections are irrelevant, there's only a few of them and they will be connected to pipework once, so it matters not if some take slightly longer to connect than others.
15mm for flow & return will be far too small and will result in the cylinder taking ages to heat up.

Nothing wrong with plastic speedfit or other makes provided they are installed properly. This also means pressure testing the system as specified by the manufacturers. You will no doubt find that those mewling persons who have tales of failed speedfit installations are the very same people who just shoved the pipes into the fittings and hoped they would hold.

Cylinders with more insulation are desirable, however do remember that extra insulation can be easily and cheaply added to any cylinder, so don't choose a cylinder purely on the insulation it has.

There may well be nothing wrong with Gledhill cylinders, but I certainly wouldn't buy one. That company (and it's various failed relations of similar names) have a history of making products which are unnecessarily complex, overpriced and which claim to solve problems which don't exist.

 

[SurreyAlan]

I did briefly think about moving the old tank but it is very old and has a few dribbles. Time for a new one.
Despite the 15mm flow and return the recovery time is under 30 minutes. Easy enough to do in 22mm and they'll be very short runs as the planned cylinder position is right next to the main pipes from the boiler.
Still fancy the Gledhill as easier to nip up a single compression connection than the standard type.
Thanks for the views on the speedfit,