Anyone ever fit a second hot water cylinder to increase volume of hot water.

vincie1967

Hi I am wondering if anyone ever fitted a second hot water cylinder directly above the previously fitted tank on the first floor. I have a stove and a hot water cylinder on the same level. If there is a power outage the backboiler stove cant heat the cylinder so a friend has suggested that the easiest solution would be to piggyback a second hot water cylinder directly above this one with the back boiler pipes attached to the second tank.. he says that it would mean that the cylinder would heat without the need to be pumped/circulated. It would also increase the amount of water heated by the existing solar panel coil which is in the existing tank. I would appreciate any advice thanks.

antoinolachtnai

vincie1967 wrote: »

Hi I am wondering if anyone ever fitted a second hot water cylinder directly above the previously fitted tank on the first floor. I have a stove and a hot water cylinder on the same level. If there is a power outage the backboiler stove cant heat the cylinder so a friend has suggested that the easiest solution would be to piggyback a second hot water cylinder directly above this one with the back boiler pipes attached to the second tank.. he says that it would mean that the cylinder would heat without the need to be pumped/circulated. It would also increase the amount of water heated by the existing solar panel coil which is in the existing tank. I would appreciate any advice thanks.

This is pretty specialised stuff. The problem is that if the power goes off and heat can’t get from the back boiler to the tank then the back boiler and the water it contains could get very hot indeed. This has the potential to be an extremely bad thing if there is nothing in place to mitigate.

Your friend’s idea might be a good one but you really need a plumber who is experienced with plumbing back boilers. You need to take that plumber’s advice and carry out the works he recommends. He in turn needs to take some responsibility for the safety of the whole thing.

The problem with all this is that it is likely to require works costing hundreds or even thousands of euros. You need to be sure it’s actually worth it.

greasepalm

Would a bigger capacity unit not be what you need.

gctest50

Would it not be easier to raise the tank up ?

Ubbquittious

Two cylinders on the same gravity circuit?

vincie1967

gctest50 wrote: »

Would it not be easier to raise the tank up ?

The original tank is a 500 liter solar tank and I honestly don't have the room for it higher up. I can just fit in a 250 or 300 liter tank with a squeeze

vincie1967

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

This is pretty specialised stuff. The problem is that if the power goes off and heat can’t get from the back boiler to the tank then the back boiler and the water it contains could get very hot indeed. This has the potential to be an extremely bad thing if there is nothing in place to mitigate.

Your friend’s idea might be a good one but you really need a plumber who is experienced with plumbing back boilers. You need to take that plumber’s advice and carry out the works he recommends. He in turn needs to take some responsibility for the safety of the whole thing.

The problem with all this is that it is likely to require works costing hundreds or even thousands of euros. You need to be sure it’s actually worth it.

Thanks for the advice. I will ask a plumber to see what they think. Thanks again