Hot water from Combi Boiler

lindabea

I seem to be experiencing excessive lenght of time to get hot water from all of my taps. I have to run the tap for about 20 secs (full on) using about 20 litres of water before the hot water start coming out. I had a combi boiler fitted about 3 years ago, and I mention this to the engineer when he comes do the annual service, but he says this is normal, and there's nothing that can be done. However, my sister has just had a combi boiler fitted, and she gets hot water almost immediately she turns the tap on. Can someone please advise - am I being fobbed off by this company who originally installed my CH system, or is it normal. I understand that I may have to run the tap for a bit while the pipe empties and fills with hot water, but is my system somewhat excessive.

penrhyn

It depends how long the pipe run is from your boiler to the tap, this will be full of cold water that will have to run through first.
Suppose they may be a delay between turning on the tap and the boiler firing up but you could test this yourself.

rosalie-lavender

lindabea wrote: »

I seem to be experiencing excessive lenght of time to get hot water from all of my taps. I have to run the tap for about 20 secs (full on) using about 20 litres of water before the hot water start coming out. I had a combi boiler fitted about 3 years ago, and I mention this to the engineer when he comes do the annual service, but he says this is normal, and there's nothing that can be done. However, my sister has just had a combi boiler fitted, and she gets hot water almost immediately she turns the tap on. Can someone please advise - am I being fobbed off by this company who originally installed my CH system, or is it normal. I understand that I may have to run the tap for a bit while the pipe empties and fills with hot water, but is my system somewhat excessive.

We have a combi boiler and what you describe is what we experience too. I agree with the poster who said it depends how long the pipe is from the boiler to the tap. We get the water through much faster in the bathroom where the boiler is situated, than downstairs in the kitchen or the toilet.

I also find the water heats faster in the winter when the boiler is on than in the summer when it is off. We aren't on a water meter here so it isn't a problem moneywise but it is wasteful.

lindabea

I do accept that it depends on the distance between the boiler and the pipes, but I live in a bungalow, the boiler is in the loft, and I estimate the distance from the boiler and say the tap in the bathroom is about 30-40 ft at the most. Comparing this with the distance of my sister's who gets hot water within a few secs of opening the tap, mine is much shorter, as her boiler is in the adjoining garage. I'd be interested if other people on this forum experience the same length of time, but as I am on a wter meter, wasting water like this is like throwing money down the drain!!

cybergibbons

Some combi boilers have a pre-heat store in them - i.e. a reservoir of hot water in the primary circuit. This reduces the time that the water takes to heat up quite a lot.

I would say 10-20s is about normal though.