While combi boilers remain a popular choice, depending on the hot water demand of a new build property, a cylinder could be a requirement. George Linder, Product Manager at Heatrae Sadia, explains how merchant teams can help to recommend hot water cylinder products.
Different customers will require varying heating set-ups, dependent on the needs of the end user. In developments likely to have a high hot water demand, a hot water cylinder is often considered essential. Merchant teams are in an excellent position to add-value if asked about hot water cylinders in order to help customers working on new build projects to avoid over- or under sizing.
Hot water requirements
If merchant teams are involved in the early stages of product specification to meet the building brief, it is useful to understand the number of bathrooms there will be. These plans can be used to determine which cylinder is recommended.
An unvented cylinder option should be suggested for homes with multiple bathrooms as it uses mains pressure, providing a more stable and even flow of hot water. This allows a greater variety of terminal fittings to be chosen and the ability to run different outlets at the same time
While the size of cylinder can already be determined before the merchant is asked to fulfil the order, there can be cases where a merchant is asked to recommend the most appropriately sized cylinder. Sizing should be based on the number of bathrooms — for example, a cylinder size of 210 litres would be best for a two-bathroom house. With the average wet room using 60 litres of water, the expected recovery period of 70% of the volume for this cylinder is 30 minutes, when a heat input of approximately 15kW is used. This will ensure wait times for the end user are kept to a minimum.
For larger homes, with more than two bathrooms, a bigger cylinder should be suggested by merchants to provide the hot water required while avoiding a 30-minute wait time for the hot water to replenish.
Sales simplified
To help with recommendations, hot water cylinder manufacturers can support merchant teams with technical and general sales support. So, while it is important that merchants have an awareness of how different sized cylinders will perform, manufacturers can always help with more complex product or even installation queries.
Cylinders such as the Megaflo Eco SystemFit are designed with new-build developers in mind. Arriving pre-wired and plumbed from the factory floor, the unvented cylinder provides developers with a consistently neat appearance across their plots. With factory-fitted plumbing and wiring, developers can save a considerable amount of time on the cylinder installation — keeping costs low and returns high.
It is also important for merchants to be aware of the full package of product benefits to help customers make a decision. For example, a quality product such as the Megaflo Eco comes with a warranty that provides extra peace of mind that the system being promoted is covered for years to come.
To keep a product in warranty, merchants should remind their customers that a cylinder service should take place once every 12 months. With a yearly service increasingly becoming a condition of the manufacturers’ warranty, it’s important that merchants can pass this information on to their customers.
Merchants can also work closely with manufacturers to ensure they are prepared to meet customer demand for parts and appliances.
Overall, a knowledgeable merchant team will make it easier to sell cylinders. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when it comes to hot water cylinders. However, merchants do have a breadth of product choice and information at their disposal to help customers make the right decisions. Manufacturers, such as Heatrae Sadia, have a full range of hot water solutions to help ensure that no matter the requirement, there is always a product to suit.
For more information on the Heatrae Sadia range of hot water cylinders and other hot water solutions, go to: www.heatraesadia.com/products/cylinders-and-hot-water
