Hot Water Help!

raelill

I'm hoping there's someone rather clever out there who can work this out for me.

We have an LPG boiler (no mains gas in our area) - the heating works but the hot water died last year. The plumber has replaced one of the main boards which got the heating working again but thinks he needs to replace the other one to get the hot water working - probably about £180 plus labour. LPG cylinders are about £60 for a 47l tank.

In the meantime we've been using the electric shower to run shallow baths for the children but it takes about 10-15 minutes to do this.

The other option is that the house does have an electric immersion heater but we disconnected this when we installed the heating.

Does anyone know which would be the most economical way of getting hot water?

Do we (A) keep using the shower for a bath (B) re-connect the immersion heater or (C) bite the bullet and see if we can get the boiler working again? Are there any other solutions that we haven't thought about?

Any help and advice gratefully received.

Kind regards
Rachel

Cardew

The shower/bath solution and Immersion heater will cost exactly the same to heat the water.

It isn't possible to work out the difference in the cost of LPG and electricity produced hot water without knowing the efficiency of your boiler and the price you pay for Tier 2 electricity; at rough guess I would think electricity would cost about 30% more than LPG, so it would take a long time to recover the costs of a repair.

Incidentally it really doesn't sound plausible to me(a non-plumber) that another circuit board would be needed to produce hot water when heating is working. It is the same hot water produced by the boiler that is used for heating and hot water. This hot water is diverted to to a coil in the hot water tank and warms the water in the tank.

Somewhere you should be able to see a diverter valve that diverts water to heating or hot water and some of these can be diverted manually with a lever.


Perhaps some of the plumbers on this site might offer better advice.

cbrpaul

how old is the boiler ?

how old is the rest of the system ?

Initial thoughts are use electric shower for money saving , but its not really a long term solution is it ?

energysavingexp

Cardew wrote: »

The shower/bath solution and Immersion heater will cost exactly the same to heat the water.

It isn't possible to work out the difference in the cost of LPG and electricity produced hot water without knowing the efficiency of your boiler and the price you pay for Tier 2 electricity; at rough guess I would think electricity would cost about 30% more than LPG, so it would take a long time to recover the costs of a repair.

Incidentally it really doesn't sound plausible to me(a non-plumber) that another circuit board would be needed to produce hot water when heating is working. It is the same hot water produced by the boiler that is used for heating and hot water. This hot water is diverted to to a coil in the hot water tank and warms the water in the tank.

Somewhere you should be able to see a diverter valve that diverts water to heating or hot water and some of these can be diverted manually with a lever.


Perhaps some of the plumbers on this site might offer better advice.

if it is the diverter valve (more than likely) it will be the electric moter that operates it and you can buy them in B&Q for £19
i was looking at them yesterday
but first check the stat on the side of your hotwater tank to see if its set right.
and does your timer work ok

ps these diverter valves are called port valves

raelill

cbrpaul wrote: »

how old is the boiler ?

how old is the rest of the system ?

Initial thoughts are use electric shower for money saving , but its not really a long term solution is it ?

Boiler and system is only 6 years old but not a very good boiler. Its a Biasi. It was never intended to be a permanent solution ...

Its a combi boiler so no tank.

Our electric shower is 8.5 kw and the immersion heater is 2kw/3kw so does that make a difference.

Thanks for the replies so far!!

Kind regards
Rachel

Cardew

raelill wrote: »

Boiler and system is only 6 years old but not a very good boiler. Its a Biasi. It was never intended to be a permanent solution ...

Its a combi boiler so no tank.

Our electric shower is 8.5 kw and the immersion heater is 2kw/3kw so does that make a difference.

Thanks for the replies so far!!

Kind regards
Rachel

That fooled us;)

If you have no hot water tank, there will be no immersion heater.

An immersion heater is immersed(as the name suggests) in a Hot Water tank, rather like an electric kettle element.

energysavingexp

raelill wrote: »

Boiler and system is only 6 years old but not a very good boiler. Its a Biasi. It was never intended to be a permanent solution ...

Its a combi boiler so no tank.

Our electric shower is 8.5 kw and the immersion heater is 2kw/3kw so does that make a difference.

Thanks for the replies so far!!

Kind regards
Rachel

how can u have an immersion heater if it's a combi boiler?

biasi boliers only have one circuit board

it sounds like the diaphragm has split on the diverter that diverts the water round the heat exchanger

Pincher

raelill wrote: »

The other option is that the house does have an electric immersion heater but we disconnected this when we installed the heating.

You mean there is a hot water cylinder, with an immersion heating element inside, which is sitting in a closet. I am assumng this is an electric only DIRECT cylinder from a time when you did not have an LPG combi. I further assume this cylinder is physically disconnected from your pipe work, but it was only blocked off, and the pipework is in tact.

Reconnecting just means cold water in, and hot water out, which is very easy. You should already have at least an on/off switch (electricity) from before, but a 24 hour timer would be better.

This should get you back to normal bath routines with minimal cost.

Don't throw good money after bad. Start saving for an Intergas combi. No diverter in that one.:)

SYNERGY

biasi boliers only have one circuit board

A six year old one should have two, main and ignition.

it sounds like the diaphragm has split on the diverter that diverts the water round the heat exchanger

A six year old one should have an electrically operated, not water controlled diverter valve, via a main pcb controlled actuator.

The possibilities are

a) faulty actuator.

b) the diverter assembly internals partially siezed, ( spindles and seals stiff, worn, perished ), repair kits are available.

c) domestic hot water flow switch faulty.

d) faulty main pcb.

Hope this helps.