On Fri, 04 Apr 2008 18:44:25 +0100 someone who may be Richard Skeen wrote this:-
In a hard water area one with external plate heat exchangers (often called a heat bank rather then a thermal store) is advisable. That pushes up the cost, but does mean that the store itself does not get scaled up and the heat exchangers can be cleaned/replaced.
In a soft water area Navitron do basic thermal stores for less than half your quote.