Alternative Energy

Where a property is to be fitted with alternative energy, be it solar thermal, heat pump or a solid fuel heat source then a new hot water cylinder will be required to make the alternative energy heat source work effectively. Don't believe anyone who tries to tell you otherwise!

Please see below for a description of the wide range of standard products on offer. If we do not have specifically what is required then we would be delighted to manufacture a special vented cylinder in copper to the exact customer requirements at one of our nationwide network of super depot manufacturing units.

The ultimate Alternative Energy cylinder

We would particularly recommend our Torrent range of thermal stores as the heart of an alternative energy system as these will take energy input from a wide variety of alternative energy sources, including solar panels, wood burning stoves and other uncontrolled heat sources and, if the system is configured appropriately, will make the energy available for both hot water AND heating. This is not possible with an unvented cylinder where you will only get an alternative energy contribution to the hot water.

The Torrent range comes with a full array of tappings as standard meaning, for example, that a wood burning stove or solar panels can be added as an upgrade to the property at a later stage and the hot water cylinder will be ready to work with it.

The Torrent range is manufactured from copper and made at one of our nationwide network of super depot manufacturing units meaning we are not shipping a heavy cylinder full of fresh air half way around the country! We think this makes perfect sense and makes the Torrent the lowest carbon-footprint alternative energy cylinder available in the UK. They are also fully recyclable at the end of their extensive working life.

Because the Torrent is a thermal store and the domestic hot water is heated via a heat exchanger (no stored domestic hot water) it has the added advantage of not needing any additional heating for legionella protection. As it is open vented there is no special requirement needed for an unvented discharge and the installer does not need to specially qualified to fit it.

For the above reasons we think the Torrent is the ultimate Alternative Energy cylinder!

If a cylinder manufactured from stainless steel is preferred then please see our Stainless Lite Triple Coil cylinder for an alternative solution.

Solar Thermal

 We offer a wide variety of cylinders in a choice of materials that are specially designed to make the most of solar thermal technology. These range from relatively simple vented cylinders for hot water only through to fully integrated thermal stores that allow the solar energy to be used for both hot water AND heating .  For traditional copper vented cylinders please see the Sunspeed range which has a high performance solar coil optimised for use with solar energy

For stainless steel unvented high performance mains pressure hot water cylinders please see the Stainless Lite Solar or Stainless Lite Slimline if space is restricted

For what we believe is the ultimate alternative energy solution providing solar energy input to both hot water AND heating see the Torrent MultiFuelStore Solar. This is a highly flexible thermal store option that provides high performance mains pressure hot water and which also comes with additional tappings for use with a wood burning stove. 

For apartments see the Pulsacoil BP Solar which has been specifically designed for this application and overcomes the requirement for unvented cylinder discharge which can be very onerous.

Heat Pump

We offer a range of tried and tested cylinders and buffer stores for use with heat pumps.

Stainless Lite Heat Pump is a stainless steel unvented cylinder specifically designed to have a larger heat exchanger for use with heat pumps. This will provide high performance mains pressure hot water using the heat pump as the primary heat source. An auxiliary immersion heater and thermostat pocket is provided to allow the installer to make provision to heat the water above 60 deg C to provide legionella protection.

The Torrent MultiFuelStore HP is an open vented copper thermal store that will also provide high performance mains pressure hot water. Because it is a thermal store and the domestic hot water is heated via a heat exchanger (no stored domestic hot water) it has the added advantage of not needing any additional heating for legionella protection.

Solid Fuel Wood burning

Designed to be the heart of an alternative energy system the Torrent range of thermal stores all come equipped with tappings for solid fuel / wood burning appliances.

Please note that we strongly advise against connecting uncontrolled solid fuel appliances such as wood burning stoves to unvented cylinders. Whilst it is theoretically possible to do so, and some cylinder manufacturers promote this approach, we believe that the control system requirements are too complex to be widely understood in the industry in which we operate.

In addition, the reality is that the typical householder does not have their unvented cylinder serviced and so the risk of explosion when used with an uncontrolled heat source remains a potential outcome if the control system fails, even if it has been installed correctly in the first place! For these reasons we believe that it is irresponsible to promote the use of uncontrolled heat sources with unvented cylinders. We therefore strongly recommend the use of open vented thermal stores such as the Torrent range for this application.

We have designed a specific brochure to incorporate our complete range of cylinders that are used in conjunction with alternative energy inputs. Either go to the Brochures and Manuals section of the website or click here to open the brochure.