What sort of Central Heating Boiler

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

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.

Yes, repair men rarely actually repair anything these days, they just change out (usually large and expensive) parts until it works.

And when it doesn't then they tell you your appliance is obsolete!

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

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.

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.

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

All I can suggest is to ask round your relatives, friends and neighbours, one might have a boiler in the airing cupboard and you can feel how much warmth is given off from the boiler. We have no need for a small rad. 

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👍

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.