Greetings from Norfolk
I have an indirectly heated water supply run as part of our oil heating system. With the increasing cost of fuel can anybody recomend the optimum temperature for the water from the boiler relative to the temperature of the water thermostat to achieve maximum economy, whilst maintaining hot water.
-- Richard.
"I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which when looked at in the right way, did not become still more complicated" Poul Anderson
This is usually set to somewhere in the region of 55 degrees C in the summer months, but increased to something like 65 in the winter time. It is really your preference though, and depends on how hot you like your water to be.
Greetings from Norfolk
I agree that it depends upon the temperature I like the water at, but to heat the water to say 65 deg C it is necessary for the heated water from the boiler to be hotter than this, but how much hotter for best economy ?
i.e. if I want the water to be 65 deg C, then the water from the boiler must be at a temperature greater than 65 deg C, but how much.
-- Richard.
"I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which when looked at in the right way, did not become still more complicated" Poul Anderson
I may be asking a stupid question here, but how do you control the temperature of the water from your boiler?
I assume you have a thermostat on the boiler. If so, then as long as the boiler stat is set higher than the thermostat on the hot water tank then there should be no difference either economically or timewise in heating the hot water.
Adam
Well, in theory the boiler gets more efficient at lower set temperatures as it will extract more of the energy from the combustion fumes. However, a non-condensing boiler must always be set higher than the dew point of the combustion fumes, or there's a risk condensation will form inside the boiler and/or flue pipework, quickly wrecking the boiler. For a gas boiler, the dew point is normally about 55C so you should never set it below 60C. I don't know what the equivalent figures are for oil fired boilers.
(Obviously, a condensing boiler is designed to work below the dew point, and to handle the condensate produced in the heat exchanger and flue pipework, and consequently work more efficiently.)
Andrew
What is the thermostat on an older type of boiler reading? eg my Ideal Mexico 2 that I threw away last year.
Adam
Unless it's marked in temperature (which my parents' old Ideal Standard was), or the manual translates the markings to temperatures, then I've no idea. You could buy a clip-on pipe thermometer and clip it to the flow pipe from the boiler. (These work much better with a large blob of heatsink compound thermally connecting the thermometer to the pipe.)
Greetings from Norfolk
You have hit the nail on the head, the efficiency of the boiler is increased with decreased water temperature, but the efficiency of the transfer of the heat to the tank is reduced.
With regard to measuring the water temperature from the boiler, a clip on thermometer or a temperature sensor is the solution.
-- Richard.
"I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which when looked at in the right way, did not become still more complicated" Poul Anderson
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