What sort of Central Heating Boiler
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Is it minimum 30cmfrom a corner? Some places are saying 30-60cm, so may vary from boiler to boiler.
I presume your utility room is in one corner of the house? Even so, by the time the thickness of the outside walls are taken into account, you would be at least 30 cm from the outside corner?
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I find the delay of my combi boiler in supplying hot water one of the most frustrating aspects. I'd go back to the "old fashioned" system tomorrow.
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The only time we have a "delay" in getting hot water is during the times when the central heating is not running, as the heat exchanger needs to be hot first ,but as it is mostly during the times we are away in the caravan it is rare we notice
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Yes, our son, unwisely in my opinion, when he got a new (oil fired) boiler decided to get a combi as that was what they had in their previous house.
However, they now live in a sprawling old farmhouse with the kitchen away one end , the boiler about halfway along , and 2 of the 3 bathrooms away almost at the other end of the house, so trying to get HW even in the kitchen takes ages.
They are also planning to install another shower room when the children get bigger, it will be right at the far end of the house, so even worse.
The 2 showers they currently have are electric, so at least they get HW quickly, but they are old and do not produce a decent amount of HW in the winter.
Trying to fill the bath means running off a tremendous amount of cold water first, and being in an agricultural property they apparently have a water meter.
Add to that the fact that the pipework and radiators were from the 60s so the advice was they might not be able to take the water pressure. So in the end they pretty much had to pay for a completely new CH system.
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We had the old boiler removed and a new combi fitted and not looked back on efficiency. The only problem is the boiler is in the garage (as was the original) and it is a long way for the hot water to get to the shower upstairs and we do run off a lot of cold water before the hot arrives! We did consider having the combi moved when we were having some building work done but the cost didn't make economic sense so we grin and bear it!
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One point no-one has mentioned yet, is that boiler manufacturers will guarantee the availability of spare parts for "only 10 years" after a boiler model goes out of production and is replaced by a new model. We were unlucky and two years after installation Glow worm stopped production of my model, so now after only 12 years some necessary replacement parts are no longer available.
So the lesson of my story is, if having a new boiler fitted, try to find out how long it has been in production, also try to assess how long production will continue, but the manufacturers probably don't want you to know that.
A good friend of mine also had a new boiler fitted at the same time I did and his is still being made, so his 10 year time limit hasn't started yet.
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Nuggy
I get a warning at every service that some parts are no longer available!!!
David
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David, are you with British Gas? I am and at the last service this is the warning I was given. I wonder if other repairers would use or have access to different stocks of spare parts. How hard would BG try to search, as they would no doubt prefer me to invest in a new boiler. It is just another dilemma with no real answer.
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Me too, as well, also.
On the positive side (I think), my dishwasher and clothes washing machine are both 'cold fill' (aren't they all these days?) so no losses there as there as they don't have to wait for the hot water to arrive and there isn't any hot water left cooling down in the supply pipework. Not sure how costly the electricity is to heat up the cold water though.
When I were now't but a lad we had an instantaneous Ascot gas water heater over the sink that worked a treat.
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Nuggy
I am with British Gas. I suppose their policy is to only source parts direct from the product manufacturer. A private contractor might be willing to look at other sources, an example might be a printed circuit board which would probably be available on e-bay for a fraction of the manufacturers cost.
The boiler will be 16 years old by the time of the next service so it's likely that it will have to be replace in the next few years anyway. I know its not popular but I will likely get BG to do it. The last boiler was installed by private installers and I was not particularly impressed with the standard of work. Two or three years ago I eventually succumbed to a Power Flush which cost around £700 which BG did. initially thought the price was a rip off but when they actually came to do the job I changed my mind. The guy was there all day and not only did he flush the system he redid some of the central heating pipework and installed a new pump. After all that it didn't seem so expensive. I also have the advantage that I won't need it done again if and when we change boilers.
David
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David, we’ve had experience of all three major systems, combi, tank in loft and hot cylinder sealed, and all seem to have their merits - but, the combi requires water to be delivered direct from the boiler, which is likely to be more distant than a HW cylinder. There are also issues with managing water temperature at the tap. Tank in the loft systems seem to work well and last for decades with their simple controls. Sealed systems are builder’s favourites for now and that’s what we are currently using, without complaint. I’m not convinced that energy wastage through using today’s well insulated cylinders is a significant loss. Certainly, unnecessary water heating is easy to manage through on line management systems such as Nest or Hive, which you might find to be a boon as a motorhome user. Many women, will appreciate the facility of an airing cupboard, however tepid. So a cylinder wins out on that front. As an engineer, I’m guessing that you’ll probably find that a sealed system fed by a condensing boiler will be your final choice for its running cost efficiency despite the longevity of old fashioned cast iron heat exchangers and basic control systems. Heaven help you and me if it fails though, fault diagnosis is through parts substitution in most cases.
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JennyC
The reason the Combi has some attraction to us is that it's likely that it will be installed in our current airing cupboard which is next door to our shower room and the main bathroom is next to that so the distance hot water will travel is relatively short. OK we do use some hot water downstairs but this is mainly for rinsing plates off before they go in the dishwasher which is cold fill as is our washing machine. So as you can see the demand for hot water is contained in a relatively small area. I suppose we won't make up our minds until we have all the facts in front of us but its good to have all the advice offered here.
David
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Our insulated hot water cylinder was taken out of the airing cupboard and went to the scrap yard, the boiler was put in it's place and is smaller. The boiler it'self gives off heat so the cupboard is still a warm place for bedding, towels etc.
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David, it looks as if you’ve fallen on your feet regarding boiler, end user locations. Proximity potentially saves filling long lengths of supply pipes, as you know. Our own airing cupboard doesn’t have an outside wall, so balanced flues and condensing boiler waste pipes don’t stand much of a chance. Nonetheless, we own another house with a combi boiler, which we let out, and most certainly have to visit for a fiddle at least once a year. That’s not going to be a problem if the boiler is in your own residence. Which is probably true of numerous minor repairs at home.
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That was one element that worried Margaret as its a hot cupboard at the moment and she was concerned that without the water tank it would no longer air things. I could get over that by installing a small radiator as the pipes from the bathroom one are in the cupboard. From what you say it would be best to try it first before going to that bother.
David
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Large house conventional,small house combi,the hot water lag on a combi is now reduced to almost instant on a new type boiler, swings and roundabouts your choice, but if you want to choke on your coco get a quote from British gas , oh and do not get conned by power flushing....my advice would go with a local guy that is recommended by someone and stick to Bosch. Valiant. or Viessmann bit like caravans really stick to European not English and you will be fine👍
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David we did just that when we bought this house five years ago and virtually re-built it. All the original plumbing (microbore) was ripped out and replaced with conventional copper and a pressurised hot water system installed. Because the super-insulated hot water tank completely filled the existing airing cupboard, the plumbers installed a small radiator in a large cupboard in the guest bedroom en-suite which now serves as the airing cupboard. The existing one year old combi was re-plumbed as a 'conventional' boiler and running it for less than an hour in the morning gives us hot water for the following 24 hrs. The other big advantage over the combi boiler system is that the hot water pressure is now almost the same as the cold water pressure.
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