Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

How to stop the oil burner from heating hot water tank

  • 17-12-2011 12:50am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 2,803 ✭✭✭


    Hi plumbers,

    I have searched google for this but probably using the wrong search terms as i'm not getting an answer.
    Is there a way to stop the oil boiler from heating the hot water that comes from the taps?
    It is a rented place so I am not familiar with the works of the place.
    Never had an oil burner before either.
    There is no one here using the hot water all day and I figure that I am burning more oil for nothing as it is going to waste.

    Advice appreciated.


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 3,029 ✭✭✭Rhys Essien


    There should be a control box on the wall with buttons for heating the rads or the water or both depending on how new the heating system is.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,803 ✭✭✭irishproduce


    Thanks Rhys.
    Its old...fairly old.
    I have been told the boiler is about 20 - 30 years old anyway...

    Basically the only switches are next to the hot water tank and they are the immersion, I know by them. There are two.

    Something else is controlling it.


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,370 ✭✭✭GAAman


    If it is an older system there might not be a way to stop it heating your water. I have an old oil system and there is no way to do this that I know of, but I am wondering why you would want to stop it?


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,803 ✭✭✭irishproduce


    Hi Gaaman,

    We are trying to stop it because no one is using it.
    We have an electric shower that we use and that heats water as it goes.

    The water that is being heated by the boiler is not being used for anything


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,370 ✭✭✭GAAman


    Hi Gaaman,

    We are trying to stop it because no one is using it.
    We have an electric shower that we use and that heats water as it goes.

    The water that is being heated by the boiler is not being used for anything

    Ah, it is the exact same with me but the way I look at it is the same amount of oil is being burned regardless, by stopping it heating the water you would not be saving oil (I am open to correction but I don't believe it would)

    I mean the way my system is set up is that water essentially gets heated up via three ways, the water heater itself, the oil heating and the open fire. Sometimes the water gets used for a bath or to wash dishes/mopping the floor but most times it is not used.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 2,803 ✭✭✭irishproduce


    Surely though the boiler has to heat the extra water in the tank thus burning more oil in the process to get that result?


  • Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭mercenary2


    it sounds like the return to the boiler from the rads is heating the the tank no way to stop this on your system and will not burn much xtra oil ,so little you would not notice the diff.,but as it is heating the water why not get a shower head connected to your bath taps and make use of the hot water in your tank as this would be alot cheaper than using that electric shower..


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,370 ✭✭✭GAAman


    Surely though the boiler has to heat the extra water in the tank thus burning more oil in the process to get that result?

    Edit: Yeah I typed a long reply and sugarman just strolls in and slaps that diagram down!! :D:p


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,803 ✭✭✭irishproduce


    That diagram is kind of making sense.
    That burner that is on the left is out in the back garden here.
    That copper tank is upstairs in the press.
    There is one tank in the attic covered in insulation, not two.

    Basically so, I am benefiting from the hot water?
    There is a shower connected in the bathroom upstairs but no holder for the head. I must get a sticky on holder so and utilise this hot water!


  • Registered Users Posts: 168 ✭✭mercenary2


    sugarman wrote: »
    Nope, does'nt make the slighest difference. The oil burning is heating the water in the system in the pipes into rads. The water is heated in the tank through a coil which is just the hot water passing though the system.

    See here
    images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSOPgd5uBStDzYa1G1QAc9stT6lAR48O0EEdzQP4yEzNQxQkttFxQ


    sugarman you need to learn about heat transfer before you tell people it does not make a difference,the hot water traveling through the coil is getting cooled as it passes through the coil in the tank untill the water in the tank is at the same temp as the water in the coil hence using a bit more oil to heat the system but as i said in my earlier post not enough to notice a difference


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 2,842 ✭✭✭Billy Bunting


    If you have a cylinder that is well lagged and full of hot water that nobody is using then there is no or little heat transfer, the water is hot, hence! using little or no extra oil.

    If you need to turn off the primary flow supply to the cylinder then check on the return pipe for the balancing valve, note its position before turning it off.


  • Registered Users Posts: 44,080 ✭✭✭✭Micky Dolenz


    Picture of your cylinder OP would be handy.

    You will have two pipes entering the cylinder horizontally and parallel to each other, they will be about 18" apart. When the heatings on they will be hot, the top one being hotter (flow) then the bottom one (return). As Billy has mentioned, there may be a gate valve on the return. If this is completely shut down, you will no longer get hot water.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,803 ✭✭✭irishproduce


    Back at work today.
    Thanks for all the replies.
    There is nothing boards people dont know!!

    I will take a picture tonight of the setup behind the press door upstairs and report back!


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,219 ✭✭✭tipptom


    mercenary2 wrote: »
    it sounds like the return to the boiler from the rads is heating the the tank no way to stop this on your system and will not burn much xtra oil ,so little you would not notice the diff.,but as it is heating the water why not get a shower head connected to your bath taps and make use of the hot water in your tank as this would be alot cheaper than using that electric shower..
    That sounds like a good idea,I think a plumber said that ours was a closed valve system so we could not fit a power shower easily.Does anyone have any ideas as to the best system for fitting to the taps of the bath as i think this way would save us a lot on energy bills seeing as we have hot water in the tank anyway.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,820 ✭✭✭MicktheMan


    Surely though the boiler has to heat the extra water in the tank thus burning more oil in the process to get that result?

    Yes you are correct. Lets now try to work out how much.
    What we know:
    Boiler is old
    Boiler is outside
    House is rented

    What to assume:
    Boiler efficiency 65%
    System efficiency 50%
    Hot water cylinder 120l
    Boiler set to 75 degC
    Cylinder is poorly lagged (as house is rented)

    What we don't know:
    How long it would take for the hot water to cool to room temperature if not being heated by boiler.

    So given the above if it takes 7 days for the cylinder to return to room temperature (20 degC), and the heating is used for 26 weeks it would use approx 40 liters of oil. If it took only a day for the cylinder temperature to loose its heat then oil consumed would be about 280 liters. I suspect the real oil use (wasted) is somewhere in between these two.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,803 ✭✭✭irishproduce


    That is some answer Mick.
    Thanks for the well thought response.
    The boiler is in the back yes.
    It is old and unserviced...
    It is heavily insulated though.

    I hate inserting pictures on boards as they come out huge so sorry about that.
    The tank is not lagged now because the jacket is off, landlord is changing it.

    If you need more, let me know

    1il5kz.jpg

    352g5k5.jpg


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭DoneDL


    The cylinder and pipework should be insulated. irishproduce, in pic 2 the top pipe to the cylinder is shown but does the pipe below it have a red wheelhead like the one on the wall above the cylinder. If it does turn it clockwise to close off the flow to the cylinder and that will cut off the supply from the boiler.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,842 ✭✭✭Billy Bunting


    Behind the cloth would be your primary return where you may find a valve.




    sorry DoneDL.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 902 ✭✭✭DoneDL


    My apologies Billy I didn`t realise you were actve :o


  • Registered Users Posts: 590 ✭✭✭maddragon


    Sweet Jesus, No lagging jacket, that alone is costing you about 150 litres in oil per year. Go out and buy one for €30 in Woodies tomorrow.


  • Advertisement
  • Registered Users Posts: 2,803 ✭✭✭irishproduce


    Thanks guys.
    Ya, landlord is changing the lagging jacket.
    Didn't realise it would be 150 litres a year!!

    Gonna go with previous advise and utilise the hot water by putting a shower head in the bathroom and use that instead.


  • Registered Users Posts: 336 ✭✭CBYR1983


    I got some rads changed last year on an old system. The plumber informed me there was no balancing valve on the hot water cylinder. Obviously did this as was easily done. Could be the case that you don't have one.

    When I originally moved into the house, the cylinder had been boarded over - couldn't even access it! Talk about ignorance back in the day.

    There isn't a pipe lagged in the house with gun barrel sitting on muck below uninsulated suspended timber floor, wet patches from outside pipe runs in the snow, pipes buried in concrete with no lagging.

    Not to mention the asbestos flue on the boiler! :)

    Thankfully I'm moving out!


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,464 ✭✭✭creedp


    maddragon wrote: »
    Sweet Jesus, No lagging jacket, that alone is costing you about 150 litres in oil per year. Go out and buy one for €30 in Woodies tomorrow.


    A point to make here though is if not using the hot water in the taps then the heat loss goes into the house and reduces the need for space heating. Im assuming the cylinder is actually in the house. In my previous house there was no radiator in the hallway which contained the hotpress but it didn't matter becasue the heat loss from the poorly insulated cylinder heated this space.


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,219 ✭✭✭tipptom


    Got a shower head and rail and the suction taps from Argos yesterday(€21.99) and its not to bad,no leaking from the taps and you just lift the little handle and it switches back to a mixer tap for the bath.Tried it this morning and it done the job with all the hot water we had so seems to be a good result for the money.


Advertisement