On Oct 3, 8:50*am, "Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
In article ,
* *Bill Wright wrote:



Our combi boiler is a long way from all the taps, which are all at one
end of the house. The reasons are historical, and also quite
hysterical, but that's beside the point. I stand there drawing water
off for ages before any hot comes, and it annoys me. I'm seriously
considering fitting a conventional electric immersion tank very near to
the taps. So, I need to work out whether it would ever pay back. I'm
not one for doing these things just for show, like those people who put
a wind turbine on their roof. The tap is turned on about four times per
day when the water in the pipe is cold. The volume of cold water that
comes before the hot (and thus of course the volume of hot left to cool
in the pipe) is seven pints. I can find out the total cost of getting
an immersion tank fitted. What I don't know is how much it costs to
heat a given volume (a gallon, say) of cold water. The boiler is fairly
new and runs on a big gas tank in the yard. The water supply not
unusually warm or cold. The hot water needs to be good and hot, which
is it at the moment once it comes. I am prepared to exclude any savings
made when the water in the pipe is cool but not cold, and just
calculate on the basis of the freezing water that I get when the system
hasn't been used for hours.

Have you got gas in that area? A small multi point gas heater close to the
tap would be ideal as you'll then get continuous hot water. They can be
bought secondhand quite cheaply. There's no electric system that will
provide this at a reasonable flow - takes too much current.

shame no-one makes a pipe heating wire that wraps round the existing
hot pipe and heats it to 60C thermostatically. Probably could be DIYed
if you wanted.


NT