Unvented hot water cylinders in Norwich
Hot water that runs out, a weak shower upstairs or a cylinder on its last legs. AK Plumbing and Heating is G3 qualified for unvented hot water cylinders, so this is done in-house rather than passed on
The short version
- Qualification
- G3 qualified for unvented cylinders
- Servicing and repair
- Done in-house, no notification needed
- Annual service
- Keeps the manufacturer warranty valid
- Installations
- Notifiable under Part G3, so they go to Building Control
- Also covered
- Vented cylinders, pumps and immersions
- Covering
- Norwich, mid Norfolk and the north Norfolk coast
What we get called out to
The faults that make up most of the work, and what usually causes them
Hot water runs out mid-shower
Usually the cylinder is undersized for the house, or the coil has scaled up and reheats too slowly
Weak pressure upstairs
A gravity-fed tank in the loft gives you very little head on the first floor. A new shower head will not change it
Water discharging outside
The expansion vessel has lost its charge or a valve has failed. It is a safety device doing its job, and it needs looking at
Never been serviced
Unvented cylinders need an annual service. Most warranties require it and most people have never been told
Rumbling or banging cylinder
Scale on the coil or the immersion. Norfolk is hard water country and it builds up faster here than most places
Old vented tank in the loft
Swapping it for an unvented cylinder gives you mains pressure at every outlet and gets the loft back
What is G3 and why does it matter?
G3 is the qualification required to work on unvented hot water cylinders. They hold stored water above atmospheric pressure, which is why they carry expansion vessels, relief valves and a discharge route, and why not every plumber can touch one
AK Plumbing and Heating is G3 qualified, so servicing and repair of unvented cylinders is done in-house rather than passed to someone else. Servicing and repair need no notification and we do those freely
Installing an unvented cylinder is notifiable under Building Regulations Part G3, so a new installation goes to Building Control. That is the honest position and it is worth knowing before anyone quotes you
Why does my hot water run out?
Either the cylinder is too small for how the house is used, or it is reheating too slowly. Norfolk is hard water country, and scale on the coil is the usual reason a cylinder that used to cope no longer does
Adding a bathroom or an en suite without changing the cylinder is the other common cause. The stored volume that was fine for one bathroom does not stretch to two
Should I move to an unvented cylinder?
If your showers are weak upstairs and you have a tank in the loft, usually yes. An unvented cylinder runs at mains pressure, so every outlet in the house improves rather than just the one you were thinking about
It also frees the loft and gets rid of the cold water tank, which on older Norwich property is often the oldest and least loved thing in the building. Where it is not the right answer we will say so — a house on genuinely poor mains pressure will not benefit, and that gets checked before anything is quoted
How soon, and whereabouts?
The postcode is how we check we cover you
Where we cover
Hot water cylinders across 54 towns, villages and neighbourhoods — see the full list
Questions we get asked
Straight answers, including when the answer is not to book us
Worth reading first
Some of this you can sort out yourself, and we would rather you knew that
