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Cheapo calorifiers?


MtB

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5 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

About a year ago someone posted a link to a firm selling cheap and cheerful calorifiers. Sub £200 for a simple one IIRC.

Does anyone remember? Or better, still have the link?

Many thanks...

In 2015 you yourself posted a link to cheapo calorifiers.  It didn't work directly, but led me to http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/180916701070?clk_rvr_id=1338539717492&vectorid=229508&lgeo=1&item=180916701070&rmvSB=true

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41 minutes ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

In 2015 you yourself posted a link to cheapo calorifiers.  It didn't work directly, but led me to http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/180916701070?clk_rvr_id=1338539717492&vectorid=229508&lgeo=1&item=180916701070&rmvSB=true

I'm on the lookout for a new calorifier, and that e-Bay advert shows the pitfalls involved.

Unless I'm missing something, it is seriously lacking in good information

1) Dimensions for each size
2) Bore of heating coils

3) Size of connections

4) Max tested pressure / recommended PRV pressure value.

It is at least different from the relatively few types that otherwise actually seem to now be being sold.

Many places are only offering the pre-plumbed models by Surejust/Surecal, (although some, like ASAP supplies seem to be branding these "Hotpot").  These are the shiny bright blue "wrappered" ones.

What I found was that although several places sell a non pre-plumbed model, this time in a dull light blue, not "wrappered", it looks from the apparently identical pictures used that they may all be from the same source, even though prices being asked differ substantially.

This example from Kuranda's web site....

calorifier-300x300.png

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19 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

4) Max tested pressure / recommended PRV pressure value.

 

From the photo they look to me like plain low-tech open vented cylinders. Not designed or tested for use as unvented.

1 hour ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

In 2015 you yourself posted a link to cheapo calorifiers.  It didn't work directly, but led me to http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/180916701070?clk_rvr_id=1338539717492&vectorid=229508&lgeo=1&item=180916701070&rmvSB=true

 

Thank you. Not sure that is the link I was looking for but as my application is vented and very low pressure, one of those will do fine!

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I had a domestic copper cylinder made to measure by Newark Copper Cylinders. Very good service and no more expensive than an off-the-shelf size from my local plumbers merchant.

Their standard marine calorifiers are at https://shop.newarkcoppercylinder.co.uk/marine-calorifiers . A big range of sizes, horizontal/vertical, single/twin coil etc. 

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4 hours ago, hilandnick said:

Seems to be exactly what multiple places are selling at widely differing prices.

It says they are "own brand" but also says they are made by Mannley Cylinders in West Yorkshire, so it looks like "Copper Cylinder" are not the actual maker.

I will check this out to see which is cheapest, but interesting you can specify a lot of options, (albeit at a lot of cost in some cases).

Mannly Cyliders also have a web-site, but each time I try to Navigate it, it completely freezes up Firefox.......

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5 hours ago, hilandnick said:

Actually these don't seem to be very cheap at all.

Example: Fairly typical 50 gallon vertical with twin coil and no modifications.

Price £344.48

I think this is probably the same thing at Limekiln

Linky.

Price £320

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On 10/18/2017 at 16:20, hilandnick said:

 

On 10/18/2017 at 19:22, Neil Smith said:

I bought mine for under £200 from coppercylinder on ebay.

Neil


I am deep in calorifier research at the moment, (did I hear someone say "get a life!").

My quest is actually to find, (or have something made), that has a wider bore coil, as, (if possible), I would like to try and get water circulating without necessarily having to pump it all the time - it may not succeed, but it would be a great gain if it could be made to work, so worth the effort experimenting, I think.

If anyone has a suggestion for a supplier for a calorifier that will heat on gravity alone then I would be very interested.

However, back to the quoted posts......  Unless someone knows otherwise, I think coppercylinder on eBay is not the same outfit as the one in hilandnick's link (above).  The former has a Manchester phone number, whereas the latter has a Leeds phone number.

I currently have a query raised with the latter, and am awaiting a call back.

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10 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

 


I am deep in calorifier research at the moment, (did I hear someone say "get a life!").

My quest is actually to find, (or have something made), that has a wider bore coil, as, (if possible), I would like to try and get water circulating without necessarily having to pump it all the time - it may not succeed, but it would be a great gain if it could be made to work, so worth the effort experimenting, I think.

If anyone has a suggestion for a supplier for a calorifier that will heat on gravity alone then I would be very interested.

However, back to the quoted posts......  Unless someone knows otherwise, I think coppercylinder on eBay is not the same outfit as the one in hilandnick's link (above).  The former has a Manchester phone number, whereas the latter has a Leeds phone number.

I currently have a query raised with the latter, and am awaiting a call back.

My old cauliflower had 22mm connections to the heating coil which appeared to have no reduction in diameter in the coil itself which I suspect might help your quest, unfortunately it wasn't labeled so no real help, sorry :)

The new one had 15mm conections which I didn't notice when buying it, this went a long way towards my screaming abb dabs during the fitting process

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1 minute ago, tree monkey said:

My old cauliflower had 22mm connections to the heating coil which appeared to have no reduction in diameter in the coil itself which I suspect might help your quest, unfortunately it wasn't labeled so no real help, sorry :)

The new one had 15mm conections which I didn't notice when buying it, this went a long way towards my screaming abb dabs during the fitting process

It seems that some outfits like the second of the two "coppercylinders" above will sell you one where you specify what connectors you want.


However I'm getting the impression that specifying 3/4" BSP instead of 1/2" BSP wll not actually mean the internal bore of the coil is bigger, (but maybe I'm wrong).

They have just rung me to say they have failed to get an answer from the manufacturer today, so I'll have to wait longer to know how it all works!

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1 hour ago, alan_fincher said:

I can find no obvious evidence that they do.  Do you know otherwise?

 

After your response I used the contact form on the Surecal site as I could not find the encouragement to consult on requirements that I remember from years ago.

I got this reply:

Hi,

Yes we can do both, largest cool is 22mm. 
What do you have in mind? 
 
Kind Regards 
 
Matthew Battle 
 
Surejust Ltd 

On 23 Oct 2017, at 15:33, Surejust <sales@surejust.co.uk> wrote:
 
From: ********

1. Do you do any calorifiers with a wide bore coil (so that it could be used with an unpumped system) ?
2. Do you do any bespoke calorifiers?
TIA
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1 minute ago, system 4-50 said:

After your response I used the contact form on the Surecal site as I could not find the encouragement to consult on requirements that I remember from years ago.

I got this reply:

Hi,

Yes we can do both, largest cool is 22mm. 
What do you have in mind? 
 
Kind Regards 
 
Matthew Battle 
 
Surejust Ltd 

On 23 Oct 2017, at 15:33, Surejust <sales@surejust.co.uk> wrote:
 
From: ********

1. Do you do any calorifiers with a wide bore coil (so that it could be used with an unpumped system) ?
2. Do you do any bespoke calorifiers?
TIA

Thank you - that's really, really helpful.

"copper cylinder" have just confirmed they can also do one for me - an extra £60 over normal cost.  (Maximum possible is 22mm, and would have 1" BSP connectors).

I quite like the idea of Surejust/Surecal, though, because of all the pre-plumbing.  I know you pay extra for that, but it absolves me from having to fit immersion heater and fittings into a very expensive tank, made of very thin copper. I'm scared stiff of spannering too hard, and ripping it apart!  I will now investigate comparative costs of each option tomorrow.

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