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| Thread ID: 80997 | 2007-07-12 05:09:00 | Hot Water Cylinders | pctek (84) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 568389 | 2007-07-12 05:09:00 | We just had to replace ours. It was 6 years old and leaking like a sieve. Because we are on bore water and it is very acidic. So we got a horribly expensive Coopers stainless steel one. With the new 10 year guarantee. Which has all sorts of small print about water and stuff in it. While husband was at the supplier getting it someone was returning a Peter Cocks copper one, 2 years old, and being told the manufacturer won't cover its warranty for this reason. The old ones used to be guaranteed for 30 years and lasted at least that. Funny seeing they had the same water......... Another example of rubbish they make nowdays. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 568390 | 2007-07-12 06:38:00 | A 1983 IBM PC keyboard cost $500, weighed about 10 lb, had a real "key touch" feel (like an IBM golfball typewriter) and would still work today. A modern PC keyboard is a lot cheaper. It won't last 20 years. A hot water cylinder 30 years ago would have had 16 SWG copper. A modern one is probably 20 SWG or thinner. Both will corrode. But the older one was probably connected to galvanised iron pipes, and you would have had electrolytic corrosion. The galvanised pipe would have been the sacrificial anode in the system. Now with plastic or copper piping your aggressive water will happily attack just the cylinder. I'd read the fine print in the guarantee very carefully. Stainless steel isn't magically immune to attack. Various grades are made, and they all tend to "stain" less than other steels. ;) A fountain in Christchurch was made of "stainless steel". It rotted out in a few years. You can probably expect that cylinder manufacturers know about the domestic water environment, and would use a suitable grade of SS. But these days, when managers are appointed for their management and cost minimization "skills" they might find that the right grade of SS is not the cheapest. ;) There might be a sacrificial anode in the SS cylinder. If so, they should suggest that it be checked (and replaced if necessary) from time to time. |
Graham L (2) | ||
| 568391 | 2007-07-12 07:08:00 | .5mm or .7mm is what they are now. Older ones were often 1.2mm. We did not have galvanised pipes, not even copper. Its buteline. Yes I know Stainless isn't immune, its just better. Its as I said, its all rubbish nowdays - they want you to buy more, not have them last ages. A friend round the road has a perfect 40 yr one. Probably due to die, but hey, it beats 6 years. |
pctek (84) | ||
| 568392 | 2007-07-12 08:40:00 | Remember "less is more". The sh*thole "engineers" I used to work with called it "cutting out the fat". Definition of engineer "doing for $1 what any fool can do for $2". |
zqwerty (97) | ||
| 568393 | 2007-07-12 09:52:00 | Just had our hot water cylinder changed this year . At one stage we had green **** coming out of the tap!!! the boys did a good job though, all good now:thumbs: |
rob_on_guitar (4196) | ||
| 568394 | 2007-07-12 10:24:00 | .5mm or .7mm is what they are now. Older ones were often 1.2mm. We did not have galvanised pipes, not even copper. Its buteline. Yes I know Stainless isn't immune, its just better. Its as I said, its all rubbish nowdays - they want you to buy more, not have them last ages. A friend round the road has a perfect 40 yr one. Probably due to die, but hey, it beats 6 years. Simply the world we live in. Seems we have to keep everybody in a job even if it's only digging holes in the sand between tides. |
Cicero (40) | ||
| 568395 | 2007-07-12 10:46:00 | My old middle sixties hot water cylinder used to have hot water in it for 3 days after I switched off the power, money being short, one day 2 years ago it developed a leak, the plumber said get a new one the old one is crap and the insulation sux, so I did, now when I switch off the power I only have hot water for two days, the new one is worse than the old one, extremely annoying, scammed again. | zqwerty (97) | ||
| 568396 | 2007-07-12 10:53:00 | My old middle sixties hot water cylinder used to have hot water in it for 3 days after I switched off the power, money being short, one day 2 years ago it developed a leak, the plumber said get a new one the old one is rubbish and the insulation deteriorated., so I did, now when I switch off the power I only have hot water for two days, the new one is worse than the old one, extremely annoying, scammed again. Set your mind on accumulating a bit of dosh and do job proper like. |
Cicero (40) | ||
| 568397 | 2007-07-12 11:35:00 | I would guess that the old cylinder was 180L with skinny underfelt insulation and the new one is only 135L inside thicker foam insulation. | PaulD (232) | ||
| 568398 | 2007-07-12 12:13:00 | The point is that the new cylinder loses heat faster than the old one in spite of all the advertising blurb about "energy efficient" etc. And yes it is slightly thinner but virtually the same height, one would hope that the "breakthroughs" in new insulation techniques would have obviated the tendency away from the ideal sphere, being the object with minimum surface area vs volume. Having looked at it to ascertain what the problem might be, I would say that it is just shi**y modern engineering with everything cut to the minimum and in this case the insulation, even though it may be a superior material to the older type, is just not thick enough. PaulD, I realized you think I mean that it runs out of hot water, but that is not what I mean, I only wash my hands every now and again with very minimum use, the water in the cylinder just gets cold because the heat is leaking away. |
zqwerty (97) | ||
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