Towards a StBC Tank model

Sean,

I wish my DHW cylinder set up had as much room around it as yours - but that might be contributing to the overall heat loss. All that space to keep warm. My 216L cylinder is in an airing cupboard with v. little space to work but also very little air change/movement – and all the surfaces of the cupboard are within the walls/floor/ceiling of the house. I lose about 2 to 3^OC overnight (between midnight & 0800 providing no H/W is used).

Before putting the cylinder in place we filled the uninsulated, concave base with rockwool to reduce heat leakage.

I didn't spot the beer bottle but I can see quite a few shiny brass and coppery areas that will be allowing heat to escape. The only bit of pipe workery in my system that is uninsulated is the body of the C/H circulation pump - but I might be remedying that soon as the Grundfos web pages say it's OK to insulate the body (but not the connection box).

I've added a couple of pics of the A/Cupboard.

All the black insulation is a double layer of Armaflex on the solar pipes. C/H Pump is just asking to be wrapped up too.

In the middle of the second pic there's a well insulated Horne25 TMV.

Addition... Forgot to include that the ambient temp in the airing cupboard from March to July (when I stopped monitoring the A/C temp) this year varied between 27 and 33C. It tracks the changes in temp of the water in the cylinder. House temp is fairly static at 21 to 23C. So despite all the insulation I've used on the pipes & fittings there's still a fair amount of heat loss. Mainly I suppose from the cylinder. Due to lack of space it's nigh on impossible to add any more insulation to the cylinder.