Thermal store quick question

[amtrakuk]

Must cost a few $ to heat electrically....

It isn't that bad. Reason I got rid of gas was the combi boiler failing and was BER. Got quotes form 2.5k to a massive 4.5K with British Gas (Say no more!)

As I'm on my own in the house, my usage for hot water and heating isn't huge.

When the boiler was condemned I sketched some monthly costing. A new boiler on average would cost me £3,500 with a life expectancy of about 10 years / £30 a month. Not being technical I used Homecare which cost me £25 a month, If I remember correctly I was using about £50 a month in gas. So all in all the boiler was costing me over £100 a month.

Prior to the conversion my Electric bill at the time was £35 a month.

Im sure with my usage I could undercut that by going all electric. With the help of a qualified sparky the conversion cost £300. The hardware (Convector heaters from Argos, nearly new free standing cooker, and at the time a 12Kw Redring Powerstream for the hot water) all came in at £350.

My Direct debit for the whole house standard rate electric is £100 instead of the £140 I was paying for duel fuel. Obviously the electric is used heavily in the winter with the heating but during the warmer months the account gets into enough credit to equal itself out.

Although reliable the only mistake was the Powerstream, powerful enough for a shower and hand washing etc round the house but the water wasn't red hot.

 

[ianniann]

You can drive a coach and horses through that cost analysis

 

[Axel]

Thermal vest, long johns and a wooly jumper from Primark is an alternative costing option.

 

[ianniann]

So you've been to my house then, Axel

 

[amtrakuk]

So you've been to my house then, Axel

Lol.... Thermal store problem sorted. Took apart thermostat and re ranged the dial. Now 70 degrees is a true 70 degrees.. 1 bath and a shower later there is still plenty of heat left!

 

[amtrakuk]

Sorry for the delay in getting back but to conclude the rod thermostats for the elements was badly out of calibration. Carefully taking the covers off the rod thermostats and re-ranging the cap, reassembling and testing I got both up to 70 degrees and hey presto the thermal store works a treat.

Actually for me on my own I just use the top 3Kw element. enough for a 10 minute shower and 10 minutes later enough for a sink of hot water.

Am VERY pleased with it and am considering getting an expansion vessel, pump and connecting the radiators up to provide whole house heating as well as hot water. Calculating the radiator load as 5.5Kw/h I should be ok but I may have to upgrade the elements to 2 x 6Kw but they are quite pricey.

Doing daily calculations (with heating off) working out at about 10 units a day with a shower in the morning with washing up etc. I expect this to rise to about 40 units in the winter.

 

[ajrobb]

Those who do will recommend an unvented cylinder as long as its correctly installed by a qualified person!

With an uprated mains, we have been very happy with our unvented cylinder.

If I have any worries, it is that we have to be careful not to turn the boiler down too far or the boiler never 'satisfies' the cylinder thermostat and the HW temperature doesn't reach 60°C for legionella control.

 

[mysteryman]

ajrobb raises an important point - you must keep the boiler thermostat set high to maintain high temperatures in the thermal store. If you are taking the central heating off the store, without stratifying control, you will prevent the boiler condensing.

It is far better to take the central heating straight from the boiler with weather compensation and water priority to the thermal store or cylinder. Interposing a huge store between the boiler and central heating is crazy.

Modern boilers will modulate at variable temperature, maintaining the best possible efficiency and control.

Incidentally, any combi properly installed will run a bathful in about six minutes.

Get all your kit and controls from one manufacturer - they know better what they are doing than your 'mate'.

 

[LuckyScoreThames]

Hi everyone,

My partner and I live on a tidal part of the Thames on a little wooden boat.

We're in the process of building out new dream home - a steel Dutch barge, and we're looking into the best ways to heat it.

At the moment we're strongly considering a pellet stove boiler, linked up to a thermal heating store. We could also link up a solar heat panel to the thermal heating store too, to give us a bit of leeway in the summer months.

One major concern for us that this point is that boats move! We wanted to see if anyone has any insight or opinion on the impact this could have on the plumbing, and specifically the thermal store. We're unclear on how robust the various pipes leading in and out of it are, the connections between the pipes and the store, as well as it's internal mechanisms. Is it something that could break if it moves around too much...? We could keep it as secure as possible so it isn't bumped, but we certainly can't prevent the boat rocking when faster boats whizz by, as they often do!

Any and all insight really welcome!

Big thanks in advance, Gabriella