Upgrading my heating

Bibliophile_2

I have an old system where I have to have the hot water on for the central heating to work. Otherwise I have to use the immersion heater, which i understand is expensive.

My plumber has recommended a couple of options to me.

[FONT=&quot]option 1 £450 is to just replace your hot water thermostats on your tanks. That should give you hot water in every tap but you will still need your heating on for hot water or switch the immmersions on [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]option 2 £1300 is to make it a sealed system which involves removing the tanks that feed the system and using mains cold water to fill it, run a wire from that room back to the boiler so we could put a thermostat on it and replace the hot water thermostats on the tanks and inserting a diverter valve enabling the hot water to be on without the heating
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[FONT=&quot]As I'm strapped for cash at the moment I was wondering whether the 1st option would be acceptable. I can scrape up the money for the 2nd option but dont want to do it if it doesnt pay back quickly.[/FONT]

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[FONT=&quot]Your help and advice much appreciated
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cbrpaul

if your going to spend £1300 anyway , rather than update the old system , your actually not that far off having a new install for alittle more than the £1300 , and in the long term it maybe a better investment !!

Also there is the bioler replacement scheme £400 cashback, if its still running that is ?

I have a 25+ year old back boiler system , x2 tanks in the roof and x2 seperate pumps , its basic , but does the job , im very reluctant to change it to be honest !!

Bibliophile_2

Anyone else???

ormus

get a new combi boiler installed for 1500/3000 quid. and get rid of all your water tanks inc the HW cylinder.
never mind that very expensive "upgrade".

Prince12

ormus wrote: »

get a new combi boiler installed for 1500/3000 quid. and get rid of all your water tanks inc the HW cylinder.
never mind that very expensive "upgrade".

Will doing that save enough on gas bills to be a worthy investment? i ask because i am considering doing just that but finding it hard to justify it as my old boiler is still kicking fine....

adviceforall

We had a new combi put in Oct 09, this winter with it being so cold the heating was on a LOT more than previous years but when we got the bills in 2010 our monthly payment has gone down by around £30 a month. A lot of difference..:)

RX-78

I'm no expert but we asked a British gas engineer for the same advice. We have a condensing boiler for central heating and emersion tank for hot water.

Because we live in 5 bed house, he said replacing the central heating boilder with combi boiler will not give us enough hot water for central heating and shower. Apparantly most boilers will have preferance and they'll compromise either one of them. He also didn't think it will deliver enough pressure for 2 showers (we have en suit & main bathroom).

So the solution recommended by him was to go for a pressurized hot water tank upstairs or have a different tank (not sure of the name) which the boiler thinks is part of the central heating system - thus getting hot water via central heating rather then emersion heater heating up the water. Well, actually he said I'll be better off leaving things as it is as the efficiency is not great enough to offset the cost.....

Owain_Moneysaver

Bibliophile wrote: »

I have an old system where I have to have the hot water on for the central heating to work. Otherwise I have to use the immersion heater, which i understand is expensive.

Are you sure that's the right way around? Usually it's the other way around (hot water on all the time, heating when timed). But anyway, regardless of the problem the solution's the same.

My plumber has recommended a couple of options to me.

Bibliophile wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]option 1 £450 is to just replace your hot water thermostats on your tanks. That should give you hot water in every tap but you will still need your heating on for hot water or switch the immmersions on [/FONT]

well that's bollox isn't it. £450 and the problem's not solved.

Bibliophile wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]option 2 £1300 is to make it a sealed system which involves removing the tanks that feed the system and using mains cold water to fill it, run a wire from that room back to the boiler so we could put a thermostat on it and replace the hot water thermostats on the tanks and inserting a diverter valve enabling the hot water to be on without the heating

You do not need to make it a sealed system, and there can be good reason for not doing so. [/FONT]

What you want is your system replumbed and your programmer replaced to give you what is called S-plan (two 2-port valves) or Y-plan (a mid-position 3-port valves). You do not want a W-plan (hot water priority) unless you have a fast recovery cylinder.

So ask your plumber for a quote to convert the system to S-plan and if he doesn't understand, find a heating engineer instead.