geyser timer???or not

[wynn]

I love Murdock's savings advice and AndyD's technical know how, but the thing on those geysers that are situated outside that bothers me is they are horizontal cylinders used in a vertical installation, the efficiency must be halved there alone??? only the one picture shows a horizontal installation done correctly. the other thing is that I don't see too much use of vaccuum breaker air relief valves.
Can't tell you anything about the electrical installation but the piping could definately benefit from insulation and the geysers when installed properly would be more efficient with extra insulation. also seal the seams on the geysers with an expanding sealant to prevent weather from intruding and decreasing the efficiency.

[IMHO]

I was told these geysers can be installed horizontal or vertical. No-one said anything about the one way is more efficient than the other! BTW, why is the one more efficient than the other?

[AndyD]

As far as I know most domestic geysers are suitable to be mounted in horizontal or vertical orientation. I'm not a plumber so I don't keep track of the different makes and models of cylinders so it's very possible there's types of geysers that can't be mounted either direction. They do have a considerably higher hot water delivery capacity if they can be mounted vertical because of the internal top to bottom temperature gradient.

I love Murdock's savings advice...

Murdock's savings techniques are pretty hardcore and sometimes a little scary if you ask me. I take my hat off to him and his family but I don't think I'll be following suit anytime soon..

[murdock]

andy when you have spent nights sleeping in a hole in the ground..full of water...for hours and just wished the sun would come out so that you can dry your clothes...

other times had to go for as long as almost a month without bathing or showering...we were given 8 litres of water per day...and what you did with it was your bussiness...some days we would come across man made watering holes...but the water was always green and slimy.

then last year had not water and electricity for almost a year...where i bathed...shaved and brushed my teeth using a bucket every night and morning...spent nights with only candles for light...unti l i got a little money and got smart...then rigged up the solar lights...gas stove...invertors etc...(i did make sure my wife and daughter had a warm bath almost everynight)

the way i see it...i am spoilt the way i live.

[Martinco]

Well Murdock,.........................I admire your determination and efforts. It seems to have worked for you. Well done !

[kleva]

A few years ago I couldn't figure out why my hot water always seemed short. Turns out that all the pretty new taps installed in the house were the hot water theives. These are the models that have a single handle to select cold/hot mix. Everyone left it in the middle, so every time a tap was opened, hot water was running.

I went to each tap and installed the little half turn valves underneath and now leave the hot water to these closed, wife happy she has pretty taps, me happy cos no hot water running when used. If we need to use hot water, then it is quite simple just to turn the valve on per tap, use and then turn off again.

My solar panel started leaking about 5 months back and without money to replace, I had to bypass and started using a timer about 3 months back. With a 150l and only turning on for 2 x 1hr periods per day (@70 degrees) I am saving 4kW/day vs No timer and set at 40 degrees.

[AndyD]

Turns out that all the pretty new taps installed in the house were the hot water theives. These are the models that have a single handle to select cold/hot mix. Everyone left it in the middle, so every time a tap was opened, hot water was running.

Never really thought about this because we don't have them (all the my house are home built and fairly basic). I could see it might be a common problem though as people would tend to leave them in the middle position where everything's symmetrical and they look the prettiest. Maybe you could re-align the handle on the splined shaft so the centre position is actually cold water on full and you would need to swing the handle sideways to get any hot water at all.

[tec0]

It has been my experience that whenever you touch the warm water tap it starts up the geyser. Now my geyser is also set on high. Now I turn it off and only turn it on for about 4 hours a day I have saved a lot of money. My next step is an insulation blanket for the geyser hoping that within the 4 hours of use it will not lose as much heat as it does now. Yes my water stays warm for longer than 15 hours but still I think there is room for more improvement.

If I may, do this experiment, turn of your main water supply open a cold water tap and drain any existing water. Close the tap and flash your toilet. Now I have found in my home that after flashing the toilet it will actually somehow take water from the geyser!!! Now that was a gobsmack!!! So I figured out how plumbing works and fixed the problem myself. I used to use a "professional" plumber but they never even figured that this can happen…

[Justloadit]

The geyser in line should be fitted with a non return valve to prevent what you described

[tec0]

The geyser in line should be fitted with a non return valve to prevent what you described

It has one now yes.

[chariot]

Our estate gets hit by a high demand charge in the first half hour after a power outage/loadshed. So we need a geyser timer that will delay switch on after power has been restored. Is anything like that available?

[bergie]

you can get a delay on timer and connect it with a contactor. the timing range can be set.

[chariot]

so this would be a separate unit that would sit between the mains supply and the geyser controller?

[AndyD]

so this would be a separate unit that would sit between the mains supply and the geyser controller?

Yes, it would. Could be mounted at/in the DB or at the geyser itself.