Thermal Stores

Thermal stores work on much the same basis as an unvented hot water cylinder. The difference being that instead of the central heating coil being the source of heat, it is reversed so that the hot water is actually passed through the coil or is stored in a 'tank-in-tank' design. Water passing through a coil is heated until it leaves the thermal store at a hot temperature. A tank in tank design is a hot water cylinder, inside another cylinder which is full of the central heating water. This allows heating through a much larger surface area than that of a standard unvented hot water cylinder coil. Picture right shows a tank in tank design thermal store.

It is on this basis that Solo Heating Installations will use thermal stores with nearly all of its renewable energy systems. These cylinders act as buffer tanks, which eliminate the cycling of an appliance (constant turning on and off). They also allow the connection of underfloor heating near the bottom of the cylinder where it is cooler, this saves on underfloor heating mixing manifolds being used.

But the greatest benefit of a thermal store is that you can connect many different heat sources to it. This may include a ground source heat pump coupled with a solar thermal panel set. Or it might be a air source heat pump docked with a wood burning stove.

A thermal store cylinder, in its design, will erase all forms of boiler cycling in your system, thus prolonging the life of your boiler significantly. Although thermal stores will cost around £1800 to buy and are therefore more expensive than a standard unvented hot water cylinder; they will save on future boiler expenses and will allow you to add or install renewable energies with absolute ease.