hot water tank insulation query

Ask yourself how warm the foamed tank is to the touch when it's heated up, and how warm it is inside that cupboard.... what you are feeling is wasted heat.

Jackets don't cost much and are well worth fitting... best thing is to wrap it as well as you can given the constraints: anything is better than nothing, if you can't wrap it completely.

David

The message from "Mark" contains these words:

Our tank stays hot for a day or more longer than it did before I added an extra jaket over the top of the foam. the airing cupboard's cooler, too. And the cats don't seem to like it as much.

you get in B&Q, wickes & builders merchants etc. It made quite a difference to the surface temperature of the cylinder. Make sure to thoroughly lag the pipes, too.

Oops, sorry, I can see you have done that. However you should not put insulation over the immersion heater!

Hi It is not an immersion heater, there is not one, it is just a big nut. Also there is no way to turn the gas heating off other than the thermostat knob on the boiler.

Mark

The message from "Mark" contains these words:

If there's a thermostat on the tank, a switch in parallel will stop it.

The message from Guy King contains these words:

Sorry, that should, of course, have been "in series".

That should be fixed as a priority. Having fully independent control of heating and hot water with thermostatic control is a must for energy efficiency. It also helps safety, as it stops the water getting so hot that a child is almost guaranteed to need hospital treatment before long.

Christian.

Hi that is the way the water heating works, it has been like that for the past 16 years I asked if it was worth while putting another layer of insulation on the tank not on how my heating does or does not work.

Mark

No doubt.

And I'm saying that a much greater benefit is available to you by fixing the controls to modern standard.

Christian.

Hi I had the unit serviced today and there is nothing that can be added or altered to the water heating as it is designed to be left on all the time. Mark

Hi I had the unit serviced today and there is nothing that can be added or altered to the water heating as it is designed to be left on all the time. Mark

The message from "Mark" contains these words:

That sounds like complete and utter bullshit to me.

All it needs is a timer in series with the tankstat.

So how would you fit a timer to a Johnson & Starley J25-32 warm air/hot water unit where the only control for the hot water is a knob in the unit behind a door?

Mark

Also the gas still works and heats the hot water even when the electricity is off during a power failure. So since no electricity is used or required how is it possible to fit a timer? Mark

The message from "Mark" contains these words:

You might have mentioned before that you were talking about pre-history!

If that's the unit I think it is, then there were hundreds of them on this estate - all now gone bar two, or so it is rumoured. I have yet to find anyone who actually knows someone who still has one.

If there's really no electrics involved then you're largely stuffed.

I had a similar circulator in a WAU up to 12 years ago. The gas was controlled by a solenoid valve. I put a time switch and a (bypassable) thermostat in series with the (24v ac) solenoid, so I could control it and also only heat the top of the tank for normal use, and the whole tank for baths.