Plumbing problem.

I don't know if this is the right area to post this unusual question. After my heating goes off my hot water goes cold after a few hours. It's a newish tank with that green foam around it. when I touch the tank it feels Luke warm but the water is roasting telling me the insulation is working. It is annoying really as other people I talk to with tanks like that have hot water well into the next day without ever having to turn on the boiler or immersion. Any advice would be appreciated.

muffler

Probably better in DIY.

Moved from C & P.

Avns1s

Sounds like your circulation pump is running constantly. Can you check it?

JamesM

Avns1s wrote: »

Sounds like your circulation pump is running constantly. Can you check it?

Agree - or you are just using a full cylinder - a couple of showers will do it

311

An other thing it might be is a radiator in an attic above.
If there is ever a radiator in an attic ,it's mostly piped from the cylinder. At night when the water is hot ,the radiator can gravity circulate through the coil ,causing it to cool down.

Edit : Remedy is to turn off the radiator ,preventing circulation. Or get the pipework changed to prevent gravity circulation.

Thanks guys, you know I never even heard of gravity circulation before . And now that you mention it, the radiator in the upstairs bathroom does seem to stay quiet warm for a long time after the heat is gone off and I always wonderd why! Can anyone tell me why it's only that 1 small radiator that says warm? and would turning off the rads cure it, or would heat still escape from the pipes? It really is an annoying and costly problem really as even if no water is used at all it goes completely cold in a matter of hours! And how could the problem be fixed? Thanks again!

RangeR

Deleted User wrote: »

Thanks guys, you know I never even heard of gravity circulation before . And now that you mention it, the radiator in the upstairs bathroom does seem to stay quiet warm for a long time after the heat is gone off and I always wonderd why! Can anyone tell me why it's only that 1 small radiator that says warm? and would turning off the rads cure it, or would heat still escape from the pipes? It really is an annoying and costly problem really as even if no water is used at all it goes completely cold in a matter of hours! And how could the problem be fixed? Thanks again!

Knowing absolutely nothing about plumbing but a little about physics, the reason your attic rad stays warm for longer could be that warm water rises, where as cold water would tend to sink lower.

If your hot water cylinder is lower than the attic rad, then that would explain it. The warm water is rising as far as it can go [your attic rad] while the cold water is falling as low as it can go [your cylinder].

Hence, the possible gravity circulation. Warm stuff rises, cold stuff falls [in layman's terms].

As mentioned, the easiest way to fix this is to turn the attic rad off when not in use

Thanks irishTLR I'll turn off the rads tonight upstairs and see if it makes a difference.

It worked. I could not believe it! I am able to get up now and have a nice hot shower without turning on the heating or immersion. Wonderful! Thanks again Everyone!