Santon Premier Plus Unvented Hot Water System - HELP!!

[GemmaTaylor]

I'm looking to buy a house, but it has a Santon Premier Plus Unvented Hot Water System - I'd never even heard of these, and am completely confused as to how they work and whether they are suitable for my lifestyle.

I live with my husband, we each shower every morning (total time ~ 30 minutes) then use hot water for washing up etc in the evening. We use the heating probably slightly less than the average household as it's a well insulated house and there's just 2 of us.

Could anyone help explain:

1) Is this an all-in-one system, or is there a separate boiler somewhere?
2) Is it gas or electric powered?
3) Is it at all economical for a household of just 2 people to use this type of system?
4) How often would we need to heat water, and how long would it stay hot for?
5) Does it work for both hot water and heating?

Sorry for the multitude of daft questions, this is just completely baffling to me!

Thanks so much for your help,

Gemma

 

[flameport]

It's a cylinder, which contains hot water. It is connected to the incoming cold water at mains pressure, so your hot water will be at the same pressure as the cold. This means you can have mixer taps on the sinks/bath, and no need for noisy pumps for showers etc.
It could be heated electrically via immersion heater(s) built into the cylinder, or it could be heated from a gas or oil boiler.

Economical - probably, although the electric only ones will cost more than the gas/oil types.
Heating water - depends on how often you need it, and how big the cylinder is. However they are factory insulated so will stay hot for a long time.

It does the hot water only. If it's heated by a gas/oil boiler then the same boiler should do the radiators as well. If all electric, then expect to see night storage heaters or some other form of electric heating.

In summary - it's far better than the old gravity fed hot water cylinders. It should be better in terms of flow rate than a combination boiler (which heat water as it is used).