What size hot water cylinder do I need

adam88

Hi. Doing total refit of my house. Complete new plumbing. Standard house standard family of four. My guy is telling me I need a 300l hot water tank stainless steel. . I think he's off his nut.

Surely 300l is too much. I'm just thinking of the cost of having to heat that tank all the time. How many baths/ showers would you get off that????

corkplumber

shanes going to impressed with the cork plumbers theory.

minimum ltrs required

3 bed 1 bath = 145 ltrs
4 bed 1 bath = same
4 bed 1 bath and shower = 175 ltrs
4 bed 2 bath = 225 ltrs

whats your requirements?

adam88

corkplumber wrote: »

shanes going to impressed with the cork plumbers theory.

minimum ltrs required

3 bed 1 bath = 145 ltrs
4 bed 1 bath = same
4 bed 1 bath and shower = 175 ltrs
4 bed 2 bath = 225 ltrs

That's with people living in the rooms lol

While I have a four bed 2 bath house for a good period of the year there will be only one person living in the house.

Head is melted

shane0007

What will you be heating it with?
Oil, gas, solar? Will you be future proofing for perhaps adding solar or solid fuel in the future?

corkplumber

adam88 wrote: »

That's with people living in the rooms lol

While I have a four bed 2 bath house for a good period of the year there will be only one person living in the house.

Head is melted

when i bought my 4 bed . it was just me and some young one from a night club at the weekend. a spudnick wouldve done me. i have a couple of kids now and a wife (not from the night club, bought online) but 4 beds are made for the purpose of a 4 bed. so volume of cylinder is required.

fit an electric shower and turn cylinder stat off. bobs your uncle

adam88

corkplumber wrote: »

when i bought my 4 bed . it was just me and some young one from a night club at the weekend. a spudnick wouldve done me. but 4 beds are made for the purpose of been a 4 bed. so volume of cylinder is required.

Three coiled stainless steel cylinder, consisting of oil, solid fuel stove and themal dynamic thing. I genuinely don't have a clue with regard to plumbing bit I'm getting there. I understand what your saying alright with regard to future proofing. I'm just afraid I'm going to be over paying fit something that I don't need

corkplumber

adam88 wrote: »

Three coiled stainless steel cylinder, consisting of oil, solid fuel stove and themal dynamic thing. I genuinely don't have a clue with regard to plumbing bit I'm getting there. I understand what your saying alright with regard to future proofing. I'm just afraid I'm going to be over paying fit something that I don't need

lumber rad for solid fuel stove.
if its a new installation. you can add down the line your oil or stove or thermal thingy thing thing. just pipe them out. im not been smart but if you can afford to heat a 4 bed living in it on your own and install that kind of system. its financial advice you need not plumbing

shane0007

You won't be able to install other fuel sources with thermodynamic, if its the LVP. It does not have a coil, to my knowledge anyhow. They are also generally not suitable for solid fuel to connected to them either.

adam88

corkplumber wrote: »

lumber rad for solid fuel stove.
if its a new installation. you can add down the line your oil or stove or thermal thingy thing thing. just pipe them out. im not been smart but if you can afford to heat a 4 bed living in it on your own and install that kind of system. its financial advice you need not plumbing

Lumber rad?????

Bought house really cheap cause it needed work. Not expecting heating to be that dear as I'm insulating the hell out of the house.

corkplumber

There is no connection or coil with solid fuel for themo. but you can have a lumber rad or rads heating of the solid fuel and heat the room the stove is in.

adam88

shane0007 wrote: »

You won't be able to install other fuel sources with thermodynamic, if its the LVP. It does not have a coil, to my knowledge anyhow. They are also generally not suitable for solid fuel to connected to them either.

From what I've gathered. It does its own thing and heats one of the coils going into the cylinder. YouTube magic box oil installation. I think your thinking of the yoke that comes wit it's own cylinder.

corkplumber

adam88 wrote: »

From what I've gathered. It does its own thing and heats one of the coils going into the cylinder. YouTube magic box oil installation. I think your thinking of the yoke that comes wit it's own cylinder.

are you talking about a heat pump. im lost. over to shane. ill be learning now aswell

adam88

corkplumber wrote: »

are you talking about a heat pump. im lost. over to shane. ill be learning now aswell

No. This yoke had a panel that goes outside. It works in the reverse if a fridge. Go on you tube and type in thermal dynamic heating system. Go down until you see something about Scotland. Lol. Sorry in phone do can't post link.

corkplumber

adam88 wrote: »

No. This yoke had a panel that goes outside. It works in the reverse if a fridge. Go on you tube and type in thermal dynamic heating system. Go down until you see something about Scotland. Lol. Sorry in phone do can't post link.

scotland . you would want a lagging jacket on yourself never mind the cylinder. that place is ****in freezin. lived in stirling for a year.

adam88

corkplumber wrote: »

scotland . you would want a lagging jacket on yourself never mind the cylinder. that place is ****in freezin. lived in stirling for a year.

No that's just a way to find what I'm on about. I'm in kerry lol

corkplumber

adam88 wrote: »

No that's just a way to find what I'm on about. I'm in kerry lol

i cant find it. im after ending up on a porn site. nipples hanging out of boilers everywhere. ill leave shane or one of the other lads give you the ans. ye kerry lads always confuse me.

shane0007

I don't know about that particular unit. The technology seems to be getting more and more popular. I would also check to eneure what cylinders can be used along side the unit & also are there any restrictions on any other fuel sources that can be connected with it.

The weak point is obviously going to be the coil & with the solid fuel being an uncontrollable heat source, how the gas in the HP will react to that is outside my knowledge. I would also check with the cylinder manufacturer to see if they feel suitability is present.

A problem only becomes a problem when it is a problem & with varying manufacturer's involved, they tend to blame each other when issues arise.

shane0007

I presume it's this one
http://www.magicthermodynamicbox.com/little-magic-box.php

I'm actually fitting the NUOS in Cork Monday week.
Think I'm invading Limerick after that.

adam88

shane0007 wrote: »

I presume it's this one
http://www.magicthermodynamicbox.com/little-magic-box.php

I'm actually fitting the NUOS in Cork Monday week.
Think I'm invading Limerick after that.

Ya that's one if them. Thermos.ie is the other. The magic box on fits into your own cylinder while the other one comes wit it's own cylinder but you can't add other sources to the magic box one. Or so I think anyway.

ccsolar

shane0007 wrote: »

You won't be able to install other fuel sources with thermodynamic, if its the LVP. It does not have a coil, to my knowledge anyhow. They are also generally not suitable for solid fuel to connected to them either.

LVP had the market with the thermodynamic solar system at first but now there is a number of different companies out there selling the thermodynamic panel .
You can special order the tank now with upto 2 extra coils at a cost of €250 per coil.
No problem connecting solid fuel to the tank either .
The running cost is about €200 - €250 per year depending on water usage.
The magic box is fairly new to us and its my understanding that its great for small amounts of hot water upto 150 litres
I open to clarification on this...

Cc

I'v never heard any complaints from users of LVP but i'v heard a lot of complaints from people who don't have LVP:eek: funny that.

ccsolar

gary71 wrote: »

I'v never heard any complaints from users of LVP but i'v heard a lot of complaints from people who don't have LVP:eek: funny that.

I've never heard any complaints from any customers who have had any type of solar system installed correctly..
LVP is just a company who buy a thermodynamic solar system from Spain.
They were the first to import it and appointed a distributor / fitter in each province, which kept the price of installing it very high.
Now other companies are buying it direct from the manufacturer in Spain and the market has opened up which has resulted in a large price drop.
Lot of LVP customers now unhappy with how much they payed for their system to be installed...

Cc

shane0007

ccsolar wrote: »

I've never heard any complaints from any customers who have had any type of solar system installed correctly..

I wouldn't go that far.
Installer can fit a solar thermal system to the highest standard but if the sun don't shine, it won't heat to satisfactory levels.
The last couple of years have been crap for solar weather wise.

ccsolar

ccsolar wrote: »

I've never heard any complaints from any customers who have had any type of solar system installed correctly..
LVP is just a company who buy a thermodynamic solar system from Spain.
They were the first to import it and appointed a distributor / fitter in each province, which kept the price of installing it very high.
Now other companies are buying it direct from the manufacturer in Spain and the market has opened up which has resulted in a large price drop.
Lot of LVP customers now unhappy with how much they payed for their system to be installed...

Cc

Your right but to clarify i'v never heard of any complaints that it didn't do what it said on the tin, cost on the other hand would be a totally different matter.

I can't say the same for other products i.e. wood pellet, solar, heating heat pumps, gas/oil boilers etc...

This I feel is more to do with my understanding that LVP installations are being commissioned by themselves. We never really get to hear about installations that work well but are inundated with complaints of installations that are crap, on my travels i'v yet to meet someone who wasn't happy with the performance of their LVP product which is unusual I find.

This isn't a love in for LVP as its not my cup of tea, but they do make something that works.

Leslie91

Sorry to revivie an old thread but I've the same question as OP and not sure the above answers the question for me...

Here is the deal. We are a 3 person house, 2 adults and a soon to be teenage son.

We have 1 bath (with a shower too) and 1 more shower in the house. It is gas CH.

Our builder/plumber has recommended we upgrade to a 42" cylinder, not sure of size of existing but it has to be smaller of course. The existing one seems to be serving our needs right now but I expect soon to be teenage son will be taking more showers soon.

Should we move up to a 42" cylinder do you think?, as part of the build we are putting in new boiler and thermo controlled rads etc.

John T Carroll

Leslie91 wrote: »

Sorry to revivie an old thread but I've the same question as OP and not sure the above answers the question for me...

Here is the deal. We are a 3 person house, 2 adults and a soon to be teenage son.

We have 1 bath (with a shower too) and 1 more shower in the house. It is gas CH.

Our builder/plumber has recommended we upgrade to a 42" cylinder, not sure of size of existing but it has to be smaller of course. The existing one seems to be serving our needs right now but I expect soon to be teenage son will be taking more showers soon.

Should we move up to a 42" cylinder do you think?, as part of the build we are putting in new boiler and thermo controlled rads etc.

How long is a piece of string?...it might be prudent to calculate for 4 persons,
the consumption guide gives hot water (at 45C) consumption respectively for Low, Medium & High usage/person as 25,40 & 60 litres/day. In your case this translates as 100, 160 & 240 litres/day but as you will/should be heating your cylinder to 60C these figures become a hot water cylinder capacity of 72, 115 & 170 litres (from an average cold water temperature of 6C). Your plumber suggested a 42 ins cylinder, a 42X15 ins has a capacity of 26 Galls or 118 litres so that should satisfy your needs if you are a "medium user".
If you have a hot press and you are replacing a 15 ins Foam Insulated cylinder with another of the same diameter then obviously no problem but when I was replacing mine, the hot press was pretty narrow because the old cylinder (1972) was not foam lagged so I had to get a custom made (at very little extra cost) cylinder of 14.75 ins diameter to allow for the insulation, otherwise I couldn't have fitted it in my hot press without major surgery, I went for a 150 litre indirect copper cylinder with two coils, 1500X375MM (before insulation) or roughly 59X14.76 Ins.

Maybe I should add that as the cost of a bigger cylinder than your current needs wont cost a leg and an arm more to buy/fit, perhaps with future needs in mind you might consider a 150/200 litre cylinder if space permits.