In large households, there’s always someone wanting to use the hot water.
Picture the scene: in any one day, your son’s in the shower, your daughter’s in the bath, you’re doing the washing up and your husband’ll be back from the gym any second – plus, your dog’s just rolled in the dirt.
See what I mean? The bills can soon add up – this is where an unvented cylinder could help you out.
Maybe you’ve even heard of unvented cylinders in the past, but haven’t known exactly what they are or whether they’d be suited to your household.
In this blog, I’m going to explain exactly what an unvented cylinder is, and how it could save you money on your energy bills.
What is an unvented cylinder?
An unvented cylinder is a hot water storage system that is incredibly efficient and allows you to store and distribute hot water throughout your home, at mains pressure. Because of this, it’s known as a high-pressure system.
This system was first introduced in 1986 and has been steadily growing in popularity since then.
Unvented cylinders can be fitted together with system boilers, and are particularly suited to larger households and families who need hot water and heating to various rooms at the same time.
How an unvented cylinder works
Unlike open-vented copper cylinders which you’ll still find in homes across the UK, unvented cylinders (as the name suggests) are not open to the air and therefore provide much faster heat recovery.
And because the water is supplied direct from the mains instead of a cold water storage tank or cistern, you’ll also get much better water pressure, and you’ll probably notice the difference in the flow rate to your taps.
The benefits of an unvented cylinder
Probably the greatest benefit of an unvented cylinder, aside from the fantastic water pressure, is the fact that it is incredibly energy efficient. This is because cold water tanks simply aren’t needed (much the same as a combi boiler in this case).
Most old-fashioned cylinders with open vents require a separate storage tank usually in the loft, which means a lot more pipework, space, and opportunities for problems to occur. They’re also not very efficient, which means heating bills are more expensive compared to modern, unvented cylinders.
With unvented cylinders, you’ll be able to achieve true mains balancing at your water outlets, which reduces the risk of scalding – it’s also easy to include blending valves into the mix.
In fact, you’ll find with an unvented cylinder, your heating and hot water will run so smoothly that you won’t even have to think about it.
Finally, the last benefit of unvented cylinders is that they give you so much more choice for where to locate your boiler, as the cylinder no longer needs to be connected to a storage tank in the attic.
Conclusion
If you have a large home and are looking for ways to lower your energy bills and improve your carbon footprint, an unvented cylinder could be a great option. It’s essentially a mains pressure hot water storage cylinder which allows you to store, heat and distribute water throughout your home.
The benefits include faster heat recovery, energy efficiency, fantastic water pressure, smooth operation and more choice when choosing where to locate your boiler – plus, no need for separate storage tanks!
TIP: If you’re curious about whether an unvented cylinder could be the answer for you, stay tuned to my blog, as I’m going to be talking about the various scenarios that suit unvented cylinders down to the ground.
