remove lagging from cold water tank in summer ?

Hi,

I have 2 large plastic water tanks in my loft (= a small header for the CH). The tanks are black plastic and interconnected. They are also well lagged.

I was thinking about solar Hot water and it occurred to me that during the summer it may be of benefit to remove the insulation from the tanks. The attic can get unbearably hot and presumably the insulation is working against any preheating of the water before it hits the boiler for HW ? I'd guess by pure infra red radiation the plastci tank would heat fractionally on hot days ?

Of course with the mad UK weather there is always the risk of a cold spell, but I'd guess for a few months the risk would be low.

anyone do this and get any benefit

Reply to
jives11
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Don't! It will stagnate at an elevated temperature, and be liable to spread legionella, particulary if there is a cold draw off from it. It must be kept at below 20degC.

Reply to
<me9

Many thanks. I had not thought of that. So how do solar water heating systems avoid this ? I'd assumed they preheat stored water before it enters the boiler.

Last year while on holiday in Crete I noticed lots of houses

*appeared* to have black plastic water tanks on their flat roofs. I'd assumed this was a cheap way to get some raise of temperature.
Reply to
jives11

I dont think you can have a solar heater with a combi if thats what you mean, you need a stored hot water cylinder system which heats the water to over 60 degrees C.

Reply to
FKruger

On 29 Mar 2007 13:19:38 -0700 someone who may be "jives11" wrote this:-

Assuming you are thinking of the domestic hot water heating part of a combination boiler, the solar panel will feed a relatively small hot water cylinder from which water to the boiler is drawn (either directly or via a heat exchanger). The combination boiler must be able to accept heated water.

Reply to
David Hansen

system with hotwater tank.

I had assumed that anything that raised the temperature of the water in the HW header tank would reduce the amount of gas and hence CO2 consumed.

So how do solar hot waters heat the water ? Is there a secondary coil in the hot water tank, through which the solar heated water is pumped OR do they raise the temperature of the water in the storage tank. Sounds like the latter is unlikely given the health issues with having quantities of warm water hanging around with only a lid protecting it.

Reply to
jives11

This is the preferred method, though you can put s pre-heat cylinder in the existing cylinder feed

No, partly for the reason you give (legionnaires), also because there is potential for this water to become dangerously hot and it is being fed to uncontrolled places (e.g. basin 'cold' taps), also a plastic cistern full of very hot water is not a good idea.

Reply to
Tony Bryer

On 30 Mar 2007 02:16:52 -0700 someone who may be "jives11" wrote this:-

formatting link
has a diagram of one way a solar panel can be connected.

Reply to
David Hansen

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