What sort of Central Heating Boiler
Had our central heating boiler serviced today. Whilst it passed its inspection we were told that we should be thinking of replacing it in the next year or two which didn't surprise us as its 15 years old. The question is what sort to replace it with? Do we stick with the system with header tank and hot water cylinder or do we go for the Combi type which provides hot water on demand. There are only two of us so a couple of showers a day and a bit of hot water for rinsing dishes before they go in the dishwasher. What sort do people have and are they pleased with their choice?
David
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When we downsized a couple of years ago from a house with a header tank to the bungalow, it had a Combi- boiler already installed. My wife complained that the combi - boiler takes a bit longer to start to supply hot water to the taps, particularly for hand washing. I like it however, as I am only paying for the hot water being used at the time and not paying to keep a header tank continually heated. ---- If I have to replace this combi-boiler in the future it will be for another combi-boiler.
Regards K
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We replaced our old back boiler and tank in the loft and hot water cylinder 7years ago,with a condensing combi boiler(veisman),which is fine as long as you fit one near as possible to your taps,we have ours in the utility room which is just under the bathroom,and to the left of the kitchen so quite short pipe runs,as this time of year,when the heating is on hot water to the taps is quick,in the summer the heat exchanger needs to heat up before it heats the water,
some of our neighbours have fitted them in their lofts above the bathroom and kitchen,but the lofts have to be boarded and decent loft ladder for them to be serviced,
Ps make sure the central heating is flushed as the exchangers can sludge up if not(ours is to be done again in the new year)
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We had our very old gas boiler and hot water tank taken out and replaced with a Combi boiler a few years ago. We use the shower, and only on rare occasions have a bath. We have been very pleased with our choice. We did replace all the radiators at the same time as they were a real mis match.
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We replaced a very old combi boiler last year. Much faster hot water delivery to the taps and radiators. We have electric showers so not affected by the boiler, we have a bath but don't use it. The bath used to take ages to fill with hot water so I presume it will be better.
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We had a combi boiler fitter about 3 years ago and have found it fine. It takes a little longer for the hot water to come through the tap (I think), but we have not found the difference that great. We tend to be using less gas overall. It seems to be more efficient and we are pleased with our choice.
David
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No good asking me, we had our glow worm installed in 1979 and still doing sterling work. During last service the engineer said a new boiler would be just over 10% more efficient but modern but they tend to have more technical breakdowns. Apart from bi annual service the only other problem has been to change electric timer.
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I had a pre-heat system fitted to my combi-boiler, which in theory heats up the incoming cold water and whilst boiler not firing up, will use the exhaust gas of the pilot light to capture some heat.
Regrettably, I have to take their word for it and have no scientific evidence of its efficacy.
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Our boiler is coming up on 30 years old, never had a thing wrong with it, a Potterton. They don't make them like they used to!
We had a chat with our heating engineer and he said....hang on to it till it dies!
There is more to go wrong with a combi, plus no modern boiler apparently lasts as long as the old ones. Yes, old ones are far less efficient, but it will take a long time to save the cost of a new boiler relying just on the new one using less gas. The "new" one will probably need replaced before you break even.
When our one does need to be replaced we will stick with a system boiler ( HW storage etc) and probably keep the present system of stored CW too as, although the pressurised systems are good for showers, we prefer to have some water available should the mains go down. Also, our old pipework might not stand up to a pressurised system.
Our daughter has a pressurised system with stored HW and it is very good, just not for us.
Would not have a combi, if it goes you have no HW, heating can be replaced, but not HW. Electric showers are pretty feeble, we do not really want one.
I think, other than that, combis work in a small house, but if you have 2 bathrooms, or long pipe runs they are not so suitable.
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We live in a 3bed house and the heating has been on for quite a few hours every day since this cold snap started ,so just to reasure myself of how much it is costing have this evening given duel fuel meter readings on line to our supplier, and we are £53.65 in credit on our £42 monthly payments
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The advantage of a smaller house, and a rather warmer climate overall than we get up here!
We try not to be too profligate, but we have a lot of floor area to heat, our own choice of course to continue living here.
We used to have MIL with us and she had her own little flat, so we could move into that area if we fall on hard times. At present we are heating mainly our bit, but do heat the "granny flat" for an hour or two per day if it is really cold.
Luckily we are south facing, so when we get sun we need no daytime heating at all, and the solar panels help with the electricity useage. The FIT will actually more than cover all the cuel bills once the cost of the installation is recouped, which will be another 3 years I think.
Looking forward to that!
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We cannot really compare as we were both working then, so the house was empty during the day mon-fri,it must be cheaper now in comparison as we have been asked by others how we only pay such a low figure for dual fuel each month,the house is we consider, well insulated with thick loft insulation and cavity wall insulation,and all but quite old double glazeing
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In 2016 our boiler broke down and we had to wait nearly two weeks for a repair, although we thought our boiler was a bit of a work horse and would last forever we were wrong.....and it was in the middle of winter that we discovered the truth.
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We replaced a combi (18 years old) with a new 'Ideal' combi last year. Efficiency is greatly improved, an annoyance with our old combi was the length of time for hot water to appear at the taps, this is greatly improved by the new combi. The new combi has a preheat switch if desired, it fires the boiler at a set interval for a few minutes to allow hot water to be drawn very quickly through the taps.
The central heating side is much the same other than being more efficient in its use, it is also a condensing boiler whereas the older combi was not, this gives greater efficiency using waste heat that would normally be extracted.
Ours is a three bed house, radiators in every room, combi used for shower room, combi rated at 28kW and easily handles whats asked of it.
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We went down the condensing combi boiler route when our old system gave up.If I remember correctly we were “given” a £400 allowance to change to this system under a boiler scrappage scheme.It is serviced once a year and touch wood no issues.
We do have to run off say one bowl of water to the kitchen sink as this is the longest run,but downstairs toilet and bathroom are no problem.
I am perplexed with KellNN comments saying electric showers are useless,again our triton has been faultless.
One issue though with condensing boilers is the run of the pipe work for the condensate can be prone to freezing meaning the condensate cannot flow away.I have pipelagging and a tee piece to disconnect the condensate pipe where it comes out of the wall.This did freeze on first installation until it was pipelagged.
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Our new system has a condensing combi boiler with a climate compensation device.
The hot water temperature is limited at 60C which I find ok but the OH complains is a bit cool for bathing. The bathroom taps are furthest away from the boiler but once the cold water has run off the hot water is ok.
As I understand it the climate compensation thingy enables the boiler to run at maximum efficiency, saving, it's claimed, 15% on the gas bill. This is achieved by the system reacting more quickly to changes in temperature than the room thermostats.
Our latest gas bill for the period since the system was fitted was slightly higher than the same period last year but we won't have been using electricity to heat water in the cylinder. We used to keep the electricity on full time on the understanding that it was better to keep the cylinder hot than heat it up from cold every day. I'm anticipating a much reduced lecky bill🤞
There's an added bonus, the cylinder cupboard is now much more spacious.
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We changed to a Combi boiler 6 years ago for all the reasons DK mentioned in his OP.
We have seen our bills go down over that time, we are on an LPG bulk tank so cost is important to us.
Another benefit we have now of this system is that we no longer have to worry about a tank leaking or burst pipes in the attic especially while we are away.
Our combi boiler has a pre heat setting so always hot water or when away we can switch it to 'Economy' which stops it from pre heating the water. We are very happy with our system and wouldn't want to go back to a tank again. The shower works from the boiler and is a very good pressure. We live in a 3 bedroom bungalow.
As we had a 5 year warranty with the boiler which is now out of that cover we have a yearly boiler and breakdown cover policy with the makers of the boiler so no worries on that account.
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Thanks for all the interesting comments. As with all things design and regulations move on. Our boiler is currently in our utility room and the flue exits into our next door neighbours property between the two houses. This apparently is no longer allowed. Originally their back gate was much further back but when we built our extension they moved their gate. Can't blame that as I would have done the same. It seems that we can't put a boiler anywhere else in the utility as the flue would be too close to a window. This leaves the loft which personally I would not be very happy about or our current airing cupboard. The airing cupboard seems the best solution as all the piping and controls are already there except for the gas supply. Margaret would not be happy about losing the space in the airing cupboard. One way round this would be to do away with the immersion heater tank in that cupboard (as well as the loft tanks). I appreciate that we would be putting all our eggs in one basket so to speak but is that such a bad thing? We always have the motorhome at the bottom of the garden!
David
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For 20 years now our house has had 'all eggs in one basket', and in that time our first combi broke down twice in the 18 years, we have never had a gas supply problem but have had many electric supply ones. Combis' are very reliable and sized correctly will give an abundance of hot water at 1.5 to 2.5 bar pressure, siting it can be difficult as the regulations dictate the condensate must go to drain, in a kitchen this can be done easily behind units to tap into the sink waste but elsewhere is slightly more problematic.
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Can the flue not have an extension pipe fitted to take the fumes upward away from the window?
This type of thing is often used these days as the "plume" from the boiler should not be allowed to cause nuisance to neighbours or exit too close to a window.
Our boiler is also close to the window in our utility room, it was permitted 30 years back as it has a "fanned flue". We have absolutely no alternative place to put the boiler as all the other outside wall is taken up by the window and the door to the garden.
Taking it upward would work for us as we have no windows above and have a 2 metre wide side path.
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Can the flue not have an extension pipe fitted to take the fumes upward away from the window?
It sounds like a possibility but I don't have the technical knowledge to say yes or no. However I do wonder if the stubby flues are designed to provide the boiler with oxygen as well as to expel waste fumes. Perhaps a longer extension flue might prevent this?
David
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When we had our boiler fitted we had the choice of putting it in the cylinder cupboard or a cubby hole under the stairs which was accessible from outside but would mean the flue exiting under the carport.
Taking the flue through the loft space would have been quite expensive and the back wall of the cubbyhole was in an ideal place to run the pipework from, so that's where the boiler is situated.
We had the header tank and the now redundant cylinder removed so there is now no worry about leaks, a problem we have had once in the past whilst away in the van. It's a nasty shock to come home from a fortnight away to find the house flooded from a dislodged overflow pipe.
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I don't think so, our daughter has a relatively new house with a condensing boiler with the stubby flue, it exits the back wall of the kitchen .
Her neighbour has put a conservatory on the back wall, over where the flue came out, so they have a pipe about a metre long fitted to it that goes up through the roof of the conservatory. So it must be OK.
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I have seen a few condensing extension flues on boilers around our town which lift the height a metre or so then come out horizontal as before. I did look into one for our boiler , ( as ours is prone to activating the outside light ) and found flue extension kits are only available for certain makes of boilers but sadly not ours.
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One important thing I forgot to mention about flues is that as well as not exiting into a neighbours garden or near a window they must also be within a certain distance from the edge of the house side which we seem to fail on all counts!!! So it seems that if we have a new boiler it will have to be moved from its current location in the utility room.
David
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