Thermal store:

[Ian Tracey]

Hi,

I am in the process of trying to decide which thermal store to buy to be used only for heating up hot water in a two bathroom house. Rerouting the heating to be driven by the store seems more hassle than I think it is worth, but can see the advantages of the longer boiler running etc.

I currently favour the DPS Pandora

as it is a manual fill and seems to have simpler plumbing than the more automatic ones. Can anybody think of a good reason why I do not want to go down this route. So far the negatives / questions I have:

Over time it might need topping up. While I would do this, what about the next house owner who might not. How often will it need topping up ?

Does anybody know how much water resistence their heat exchange offers and is it better or worse than others ?

any comments from the floor to help me decide ?

many thanks

Ian

(ian dot tracey at btinternet dot com)

[Neil Jones]

I installed a Pandora a few weeks ago after reading Christian McArdle's review. I considered it along side an unvented cylinder such as a Megaflo, but decided in favour of an unpressurised cylinder because the layout of my house does not lend itself to easily accommodating the pressure relief pipework. A bonus was that I could get a tall, thin cylinder which would still leave me some useful space in the airing cupboard. Now I have installed it, I'm not even sure the Megaflo would have fit in the cupboard. The narrow cylinder also gives me scope to relocate it to the loft if I decide to do so in the future.

So far the performance has been as expected.

If it needs topping up you'll soon know, because you won't be getting any more hot water. The fill level is just above the level of the take-off point for the pumped side of the heat exchanger.

I have not actually measured the pressure of the DHW to compare with the cold main but they are similar - if I turn on the hot and cold taps in t he cloakroom they produce similar levels of embarrassing water splashes on light coloured trousers. The heat exchanger certainly seems to do its job.

hope this helps

Neil

[Neal Jones]

Neil, Can you point me to the review you mention please. Also, how much does one of these things cost? regards Neal Jones

[Neil Jones]

Here you are:-

vary according to specification - best to call them with your requirements I should think.

HTH

Neil

[IMM]

If this is a problem to you, then get one with an integrated F&E tank connected to the mains.

[Christian McArdle]

Do you care? If so, leave instructions. If they're too scared to do it themselves, they can always call a plumber or handyman to do it for them.

I have not topped up the Pandora since it was installed in October. That's fractionally shy of six months. It still works perfectly. The flow rate compares well with my mother's Megaflo and is determined almost solely by the mains supply. At some point, I'll cool it off and see how much the water level has dropped. Given the design, I suspect it won't have dropped at all.

The design has what is referred to as an "anti-evaporation" bubble. This expands when the cylinder is hot and looks pretty impervious to water vapour. I doubt much water could escape the system if it tried. The design is certainly not having the hot water sitting in a puddle at the top, just asking to be evaporated, like you would find in a ball valve system (where it wouldn't matter, of course).

Christian.