Unvented Cylinder Service & Installation
G3 qualified unvented cylinder servicing and installation across Folkestone. Keeps your manufacturer warranty valid and your safety devices working, covering Megaflo, Telford, Gledhill, Heatrae Sadia and others.
Unvented cylinder servicing and installation in Folkestone
An unvented cylinder gives you mains pressure hot water at every outlet in the house. Proper showers upstairs, no loft tank, no pump humming in the airing cupboard.
It does that by storing a large volume of water under pressure and above 60 degrees, which is also why every aspect of the work is regulated. This is not a job where the qualifications are a nice-to-have.
The G3 qualification, and why you should ask to see it
Installing, servicing or working on an unvented hot water system requires a G3 qualification under Building Regulations Part G. It is a legal requirement, not a trade preference.
Anyone offering to service your unvented cylinder without holding it is working outside the regulations. If something goes wrong afterwards, your insurer will want to know who carried out the work and whether they were competent to do it.
We hold it, and we will show you the card without being asked.
Why the annual service is not optional
Two separate reasons, and both matter.
Your warranty depends on it. Every major manufacturer makes annual servicing a condition. Miss one and a claim can be refused outright, which turns something that should have been covered into a bill for several hundred pounds.
The safety devices are mechanical. A pressure vessel with failed relief valves is a genuinely dangerous object. The service exists to confirm those devices still work, not to tick a box.
What our service actually covers
Expansion vessel checked and recharged to the correct pressure
Temperature and pressure relief valve tested
Expansion relief valve tested
Tundish and discharge pipework checked for correct fall and safe termination
Both thermostats and the thermal cut-out verified
Incoming pressure reducing valve checked
Immersion heater and wiring inspected
Cylinder and connections inspected for scale and corrosion
It takes around an hour. We issue a certificate and update the benchmark record, which is the document your manufacturer will ask for if you ever need to claim.
The fault we find most often, by a distance
Water running from the discharge pipe outside.
Almost every time, this is an expansion vessel that has lost its air charge. The vessel exists to absorb the expansion as water heats. Once the charge has bled away, there is nowhere for that expansion to go, so the pressure relief valve opens and discharges instead.
People often ignore it because the system still produces hot water. It should not be ignored. You are wasting heated water continuously, the relief valve is being cycled far beyond what it was designed for, and the valve itself will eventually fail to reseat.
Recharging the vessel is part of the annual service. That is precisely why the annual service exists.
Other faults we see
Reduced flow across the whole house. Usually the pressure reducing valve or a scaled strainer rather than anything wrong with the cylinder.
No hot water on a cylinder that was fine last week. Thermostat, thermal cut-out or immersion element. The thermal cut-out trips for a reason, so resetting it without finding out why is not a repair.
Banging or knocking as it heats. Scale on the coil. The supply across Folkestone and Hythe is hard, and harder still in the chalk valley villages around Elham and Lyminge.
Lukewarm water. Check the thermostat is at 60 degrees before assuming the worst.
Weeping tundish. Something upstream is passing, and it needs finding rather than mopping.
"We've used this company several times and they've been fantastic. They're incredibly responsive and always take the time to explain different options, making sure we understand what's best for our home and budget."
Max Rowe, Google review
New installations start with a flow test
An unvented cylinder is only as good as the mains supply feeding it, and this is where installations go wrong.
We test your incoming flow rate before quoting, not after fitting. If the supply cannot deliver, no cylinder will fix that, and you would be paying a considerable sum for showers no better than the ones you have now. Where the flow is inadequate, the real answer is often replacing an old or undersized incoming main first.
That is a particular consideration on the older properties around Dover and the Folkestone terraces, where lead or narrow-bore supply pipes are still in place. See what causes low water pressure at home.
What a proper installation includes
Correct cylinder sizing for the household, not for whatever was there before. Discharge pipework run and terminated safely, which is the part most commonly done badly. The pressure reducing valve and expansion vessel matched to the system. Building Control notification. Full benchmark documentation completed and left with you. Warranty registered on your behalf. And your first annual service booked twelve months ahead.
A straight cylinder swap is usually a day. Converting from a vented system takes longer, because the loft tank and its feeds come out and the discharge pipework goes in.
Is it right for your property
Unvented suits households with more than one bathroom, anyone frustrated by weak upstairs showers, and properties where losing the loft tank frees up useful space.
It is a strong fit for the larger detached houses around Saltwood, the newer estates at Hawkinge and Ashford, and the tall Victorian properties along the Leas and up the hill in Sandgate, where the top floor sits barely below the loft tank and gravity pressure is hopeless.
It suits you less well if your mains flow is poor and cannot economically be improved, or if a simpler vented cylinder plus a shower pump would get you most of the benefit for considerably less. We will tell you which situation you are in.
"He explains all the options, pricing etc and doesn't just go straight for the usual 'Mmm, you're going to need a new one of those' line but instead will try and repair what you've got if he can."
Tim Hack, Google review
Landlords
An expired unvented service on a let property is a compliance gap as well as a warranty problem. We schedule these alongside gas safety certificates and boiler servicing so everything falls on one visit and one reminder. See landlord and commercial services.
Stored water above 20 and below 60 degrees is also the Legionella risk zone, which is another reason the thermostat setting is checked at every service.
Related
If you have no hot water at all, start with hot water repairs, since the fault may sit on the boiler side. See also how to improve hot water reliability and when to replace a hot water cylinder.
Where we work
Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate, Seabrook, Saltwood, Hawkinge, Capel-le-Ferne, Lympne, Lyminge, Elham, Sellindge, Dymchurch, New Romney, Dover and Ashford.
Common questions
What happens if I have missed a few services? Book one. We will service it, recharge the vessel and check the safety devices. Whether the warranty can be reinstated depends on the manufacturer, but the safety side is worth doing regardless.
Water is dripping from a pipe outside. Is it urgent? Not an emergency, but do not leave it. It almost always means the expansion vessel has lost its charge, and the relief valve is being worked far harder than it should be.
Can any plumber service an unvented cylinder? No. It legally requires a G3 qualification. Ask to see the card.
How long do unvented cylinders last? A stainless steel cylinder commonly runs 20 to 25 years with annual servicing. Without servicing, the components fail long before the cylinder does.
Will it improve my shower? If you are currently on a gravity fed system, considerably. If you are already on a combi or good mains pressure, less so.
Do I need Building Control involved? For a new installation yes, and we notify on your behalf.
Call +44 7915 255984 to book your annual G3 service in Folkestone.
