How long to heat 200ltr copper cylinder

newfy

Hi folks,

how long does it take your gas boiler to heat your copper cylinder to 60 degrees plus....

I have a 200 litre copper cylinder and it’s taking me ages to get over it...2 and half hours...is that normal ?

Sleeper12

An hour by gas or oil & up to two hours by using the element. Would be the norm

K.Flyer

Try opening the balance valve a quarter turn to help speed it up.

newfy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117693035#Comment_117693035

is your cylinder the same size?

Sleeper12

The size shouldn't matter. Bigger cylinder has a bigger coil.

What sort of setup have you got? Is zoned with a hot water zone?

Is this a new issue or always been a problem?

newfy

Yes it’s zoned to heat hot water on its own! I gave the balancing valve a quarter turn to see will that make much of a difference....

always been the same...it’s a new boiler and house has been re plumbed! Just notice it always takes a long time to get hot water up to temperature on the stat!

Sleeper12

If the stat is too low on the cylinder & set to 60c it may never reach temperature. Fingers crossed the extra quarter turn on the valve will do the trick

newfy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117693179#Comment_117693179

The probe is down at the bottom 3rd of cylinder...I have the stat set to 55 degrees...I have the boiler flow rate set at 65 degrees.

from a fully cold cylinder to 55 degrees it has taken me 1 hour 40 mins exactly

newfy

Would it hurt to turn the temperature up to 70-75 on the boiler to speed things up?

K.Flyer

Set the cylinder stat to 60'.

I would have reckoned your cylinder taking between 60 - 90 mins to fully heat.

Is it a sealed un-vented cylinder?

newfy

It’s a gravity fed system....so it’s a vented system I think....

newfy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117693563#Comment_117693563

What do your recommend setting the flow temperature on boiler

K.Flyer

I'd leave it at 65' for now.

Doolittle51

Cylinder stat needs to be set above 60 in order to kill the bacteria that cause legionella. Boiler should probably set to 70. If it's only a new system, why don't you get the plumber back to sort it out? Shouldn't have these issues on a newly installed system.

newfy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117694055#Comment_117694055

Because everything works fine really...rads are red hot...water is boiling...

just the stat takes long to get to set temperature...

K.Flyer

Water is usually hotter at the top of the cylinder than the bottom. If it is 60' at the stat located at the bottom of the cylinder it will be around 65 at top given the boiler is pushing out 65 degrees. A lot of cylinder stats are junk anyway (imo), might be worth investing in a decent Danfoss one for more accurate sensitivity.

If your gas boiler is a condensing model, the boiler stat would usually not be turned up over 65 to try keep it in condensing mode, but that's a whole different discussion.

You could try run it at 70, but i don't think it will speed up the heating by much, just make the water much hotter and burn more gas.

How many people are there in the house? Are you using up all of the hot water?

200 litres may be more than you require. It might be worth considering repositioning the stat a bit higher up. That would shorten the heat up time as you are not heating as much water.

Also that balancing valve may need just a little bit more opening, maybe try 1/8 of a turn more.