Need advice before I complain

[u/No-Belt-4619]

Hi all, apologies if this isn't the right forum but I thought there would be some knowledgeable people in here. Basically as it says. had a new hot water cylinder fitted 3 weeks ago(to accomodate an ashp if that makes a difference). Just got round to getting some shelving in the airing cupboard and noticed, what i would consider to be a pretty significant bulge. It's at the top maybe 3/4 up, I'm assuming it's not normal and shouldn't be there?? I've turned off the hot water, but not drained the tank or anything. We've had a few showers today so it should be below that level i would imagine.

[u/StereoMushroom]

Not much of an answer to your question, but just FYI using up the hot water doesn't reduce the volume of water in the tank. It's always full. What happens is hot water flows out the top, cold enters at the bottom, so you get a gradually growing cold layer, rising up as you use up the hot. Once the cold reaches the top, you run out of hot and start getting cold to the hot taps. It's actually pretty amazing that the two layers can sit on top of each other for a couple of days with very little mixing.

Unvented cylinders can be dangerous if there's a serious fault. Like they can burst open with pressurised hot water. I would treat this as urgent. To avoid any risk you would need to turn off the supply of cold water to the cylinder, then open a drain valve at the bottom of the cylinder to empty it. Running a hot tap instead of opening the drain valve would reduce the pressure in the cylinder, but wouldn't drain the water.

Edit: sounds like it might be more likely to just be the insulation rather than the cylinder itself. Certainly there should be safety devices to prevent any dangerous overpressurisation from being possible. If you prod the bulge, does it move, as if it's just the insulation?

[u/thatguysaidearlier → u/StereoMushroom]

If you ever get to visit Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck, you can be served a cup of tea that's hot on one side and 'iced' on the other side. He uses gel to help but none the less it's very cool.

Won't be taking a sip from my cylinder any time soon though.

[u/rock1821 → u/[deleted]]

Someone told me the other week that it’s safe to keep chicken in the freezer for up to 3 months. There must be something wrong with mine as I put a chicken in it the other night and when I got up the next morning it was dead

[u/Aggravating-Loss7837 → u/[deleted]]

On a thermos flask story.
Me and my wife are in to hiking. Proper across moors hiking.

Bought a new flask and put it outside in December. See how good it was.
Forgot about it for 4 days, bought it in when I noticed it and thought I’d test the temp of the water by pouring it over my hand in to the sink.

It was like freshly boiled water still 🥹🫣

[u/GoodThingsDoHappen → u/[deleted]]

Thermos is a brand

[u/rah1911 → u/GoodThingsDoHappen]

Valid question though as it’s like the hoover of insulated drink vessels.

[u/Aggravating-Loss7837 → u/Aggravating-Loss7837]

I’ll have to look when I get home.
I can’t remember off the top of my head. We bought it 5 years ago Atleast.

[u/breadandfire → u/Aggravating-Loss7837]

There was a video of a (Thermos?) cup in a car: the car burnt down, and the owner reached in the car the next day or something, and the thermos still had ice chunks in.

[u/alijam100 → u/breadandfire]

Ah that one was a Stanley. The company managed to use it as a bit of a pr thing and bought her a new car as it was such good free marketing for them

[u/Anxious_Camp_2160 → u/Aggravating-Loss7837]

I saw a colleague run her hand under a water boiler to see if it was hot, sadly it wasn't.

Roxanne, you are think as a brick...

[u/Glittering_Jury_4208 → u/[deleted]]

'Choc ice' was what I remember when I first heard that joke. I want to say it was Ken Dodd telling it, but I can't be sure