Combi boiler?

frugglewump

Viewing a possible house yesterday the EA showed us the boiler and said it was a combi-boiler in the same tone as someone saying it's a 9 karat diamond.

I know nothing about boilers, but will be googling them shortly. Is having one of these really a plus point wrt gas bills ?

mariauk

Hi Frugglewump

With a combi boiler the water heats as you use it as opposed to heating a tank of water and it cooling down or running out. So basically you only heat the water you use, If that makes sense

Maria

ffym

Combi's should cost less to run as in theory you only heat what you need. Make sure though that the hot water you get through the taps is hot enough at high flow rates. They can be a right pain when filling a bath!

frugglewump

Yep that makes sense - and I have now googled and the diagrams etc make sense as well. I can see the advantages wrt storage - but no idea about gas bill.

Anyone on here switched from traditional to combi able to comment?

caveat_emptor

frugglewump wrote:

Yep that makes sense - and I have now googled and the diagrams etc make sense as well. I can see the advantages wrt storage - but no idea about gas bill.

Anyone on here switched from traditional to combi able to comment?

Sorry about that but hit the wrong button.
I switched from conventional (open system) to combi (closed system) some time ago because I found that with a loft room there was no space for the header tank so had to fit combi for loft radiator. But as posted, combi heats the domestic HW as you need it and saves hot water tank as well as header tank space. My Vokera combi is about 20 years old and still going strong. Oooops.

Xbigman

A combi is cheaper to run but my ex landlord was a plumber and told me a lot of people hate them. There is usually much less hot water pressure so (as already stated) if you want to fill a bath your best bet is to only turn the tap half on and let it fill up slowly. They can also be a pain to get the water temperature consistent when doing the washing up. Run it too little and you soon get only dribbles of near boiling water, turn it up and it runs cold until the boiler catches up. But to come back full circle, it is noticable cheaper.
Regards



X

Chad_2

combi boilers are just great cos you'll never run out of hot water.Just think if you've been out all day and just want to soak in a nice warm bath you can do at any time ! The water pressuer is not as high but no matter we find our very good and reliable ,Martin wouldn't like me to tell you our make just to say that the central heating has never been as good

moneysavingplumber

Chad wrote:

combi boilers are just great cos you'll never run out of hot water.Just think if you've been out all day and just want to soak in a nice warm bath you can do at any time !

Not strictly true. If the combi breaks down then you will be left with nothing, whereas with a conventional system you will usually have a back-up immersion heater for hot water should the boiler fail. Most modern, well designed conventional systems are timer controlled and so well insulated that you are unlikely to ever be short of hot water. Running a bath via an average 9 litre a minute combi (at a 35 degree temperature rise from an average incoming supply temperature of 12 degrees giving 47 degrees) will take twice as long as running one via an average gravity fed domestic hot water system, giving around 20 litres a minute at 60 degrees.

Combis are ok in the right situations but it's important you have accurate information about them before deciding if one is for you.

blossom30

Hi, I just recently changed from a traditional boiler to a combi and can say that it takes a wee while to get used to. I did a lot of research before going for the combi and found information which stated that combi boilers are perfect if you have a small household ie just 1 or 2 people but a bigger household would benefit more from a traditional boiler.
I do agree with previous poster that if the combi breaks down (and ours did recently) you are left without the back up immersor. Although I have to say that not much can go wrong with the combi, in our case the thermostat had overheated and the system automatically shuts down. I now know where the reset button is and could fix it myself if need be. The only other thing that happened with it was the pressure gauge and I know how to fix that also.
It does take longer to fill a bath but it is cheaper with your gas bills.

wigginsmum

We moved into our house with a combi boiler. It broke down in Year 2 (it was approx 10 years old); the replacement new Saunier Duval has broken down regularly every year for the past 4 years, leaving us without hot water or central heating until it's fixed. (Make sure the vent pipe to the outside is sited properly, as rain water blows into ours and knocks everything out). We had a new bathroom put in and now have a double electric shower unit instead of a bath, because it took ages to run a bath. The upside is we still get to shower whenever the combi breaks down!

Jules

viktory

I went from an immersion heater with a MST in the loft to a combi boiler and have never regretted it. I got rid of the MST as I had seen far too many develop nasty leaks..... :eek: All my water is now from the mains. My electric bills dropped amazingly.

I also have an electric shower and so if the boiler does break down at least I can keep clean!

I am on a pre-payment meter for the gas and spend about a tenner a week in the winter and about a fiver (or less) in summer.

I love my boiler :T