Cost to replace water cylinder

whitelightrider

Hi folks,

Im looking for an idea of cost for the below:

We currently have a 300 liter solar cylinder in our garage but have no solar panels attached. The water is heated by an oil boiler and there is an immersion in the cylinder. However the immersion is at the bottom of the cylinder and can take 4 hours to heat the cylinder if we run out of oil.

What Im looking to do is change out the cylinder thats out there and install a new cylinder (300 liter) that has an immersion at the top of the cylinder thereby giving us a faster heat time for showers during the summer months, and if we run out of oil.

Can anyone give me an idea of what it might cost?

Outkast_IRE

personally i would just bite the bullet and get the solar attached , even on clear skyed winter days a well set up solar system could do well for you.

I would say it wouldnt be good value to change cylinder , just for immersion , it would make more sense to throw the extra few quid at getting the solar.

whitelightrider

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

personally i would just bite the bullet and get the solar attached , even on clear skyed winter days a well set up solar system could do well for you.

I would say it wouldnt be good value to change cylinder , just for immersion , it would make more sense to throw the extra few quid at getting the solar.

Hey Outkast, I found a thread Id started on this last year when it happened before. Someone mentioned a willis immersion? Could this be fitted to the solar cylinder to heat the water faster?

Outkast_IRE

whitelightrider wrote: »

Hey Outkast, I found a thread Id started on this last year when it happened before. Someone mentioned a willis immersion? Could this be fitted to the solar cylinder to heat the water faster?

yes but only if you have the necessary connection on your cylinder, only some cylinders would have the connection its the one labeled C on this diagram http://www.willis-renewables.com/immersion-how-it-works.htm
if you currently have it i would imagine its blanked with a fitting .

whitelightrider

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

yes but only if you have the necessary connection on your cylinder, only some cylinders would have the connection its the one labeled C on this diagram http://www.willis-renewables.com/immersion-how-it-works.htm
if you currently have it i would imagine its blanked with a fitting .

Theres a lot of connections on our cylinder, not sure which one it would be though.

www.photobucket.com/albums/vv238/gordokumite/?action=view&current=DSC00779.jpg

Outkast_IRE

in a pressureised system its a done a different way , see this diagram, http://www.willis-renewables.com/pressurised-system.htm

it should be doable , i havent installed them though so i wont vouch for them but as far as i can see it could be added to your system it also has a big note about its not usable in a hard water area so be wary if your water is hard.

slavetothegrind

how are you losing the heat from that cylinder.
it would be fully insulated and so not lose much heat.
are you saying if your oil heating is off you draw off hot water untill cold and then set immersion for hot?

better off leaving immersion on and maintaining the temperature in the cylinder at 60 degrees or whatever you have set, it will lose a mere degree or two a day with no draw off of it

of course if you have a large house with a few people running a shower each a day it gets expensive so adding solar will pay you but if it's only 2 people.....

whitelightrider

slavetothegrind wrote: »

how are you losing the heat from that cylinder.
it would be fully insulated and so not lose much heat.
are you saying if your oil heating is off you draw off hot water untill cold and then set immersion for hot?

better off leaving immersion on and maintaining the temperature in the cylinder at 60 degrees or whatever you have set, it will lose a mere degree or two a day with no draw off of it

of course if you have a large house with a few people running a shower each a day it gets expensive so adding solar will pay you but if it's only 2 people.....

Hey there,
No its just that we ran out of oil and the tank was cold so to heat it using the immersion takes 3 to 4 hours. But my brother in laws immersion heats his tank it about 40 minutes. Only difference is that ours is solar and the immersion is on the bottom of the tank. Was trying to find a way of using the immersion if this happened again.

Outkast_IRE

whitelightrider wrote: »

Hey there,
No its just that we ran out of oil and the tank was cold so to heat it using the immersion takes 3 to 4 hours. But my brother in laws immersion heats his tank it about 40 minutes. Only difference is that ours is solar and the immersion is on the bottom of the tank. Was trying to find a way of using the immersion if this happened again.

does your brother in laws immersion heat a 300 ltr cylinder in 40 mins ?

roy rodgers

should there be an expansion vessel on that cylinder???:eek:

Outkast_IRE

roy rodgers wrote: »

should there be an expansion vessel on that cylinder???:eek:

look at pic 5 in the set , i think i see a white one behind the cylinder near floor level , but hard to be sure

roy rodgers

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

look at pic 5 in the set , i think i see a white one behind the cylinder near floor level , but hard to be sure

Yeah you could right there but it also looks like the expansion vessel of the pump from a well?

lomb

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

does your brother in laws immersion heat a 300 ltr cylinder in 40 mins ?

Usually there is an immersion up top termed the sink immersion, this heats the top bit of the tank in 40 minutes enough for a shower or wash dishes. I you left his on all the time, it would slowly heat the lower half also soaking the electricity. Heating from the bottom up will heat the whole tank so is a slow process. Hence pure electric homes have dual immersions, a lower one heats overnight the whole tank on a cheap rate, with the upper immersion heating the top of the tank only as a day boost say for an hour.
I dont really understand the Willis heater how does the water move from bottom to top, is there a pump?

I put in a tiny 40 liter cylinder with dual immersions and heavily insulated in a commercial building and leave it on all day, have boiling hot water in 15 minutes in the morning and costs peanuts to run. To be honest if I had an electric shower and dishwasher I would put that into my house and be happy with it.