Need a new electric boiler advice

htra148

Hi,

My flat is using a Elson Coral E electric boiler storage. It had a leaks and the plumber told me that it needs replacing urgently.

This boiler provides hot water for the bath and sink and provides heat for 2 radiators in my flat. The problem I find with my current boiler is that there is no timer so I do not know when the boiler kicks in and there is no control to set how hot to heat the water. There is not much hot water in the evening.

My flat is small with 500sq feet. It has a double bedroom, a study room, living room and kitchen. The bedroom and study room uses normal heater i.e using standard electric rates.

I am a girld and do not know anything about boiler. Could you please advice if I should use a electric storage boiler or not? What are the other options. If I should use electric storage boiler what brands are good?

Thank you in advance.

jalexa

htra148 wrote: »

I ... do not know anything about boiler. Could you please advice if I should use a electric storage boiler or not? What are the other options. If I should use electric storage boiler what brands are good?

Normally the most cost effective approach is to replace/repair the faulty item. Can you say more about the leak and the plumbers estimate to replace.

I take it you own the flat and intend to stay for some time?

htra148

Water leaks from the bottom of the tank. The plumber said he suspected the tank rusted and water leaked. The boiler is 15 yrs old.
He suggested to replace with the same storage boiler either Ariston unvented cylinder or Megaflow unvented cylinder for £1,200 including labor.
My flat has 4 radiator only 2 is heated by the bricks linked to the boiler (I think) the other 2 are heated using the standard rates and are used more often. Therefore I wonder if using the storage boiler is an economical oftion? I have E7 tariff.

jalexa

htra148 wrote: »

My flat has 4 radiator only 2 is heated by the bricks linked to the boiler (I think)

Anything like here?

http://www.elsonhotwater.co.uk/documents/Elson_Electric_HW_and_Htg_12pp.pdf

No mention of "bricks". When you say "boiler", do you mean the storage tank or do you have a seperate boiler?

Very difficult to give advice without knowing the details.

htra148

Thanks Jalexa. I think my heater is not a wet heater. It is heated up by bricks. I have read on the internet and it seems that the heaters are heated independently of the boiler. is it correct?

jalexa

htra148 wrote: »

I think my heater is not a wet heater. It is heated up by bricks. I have read on the internet and it seems that the heaters are heated independently of the boiler. is it correct?

Without an answer to "when you say "boiler", do you mean the storage tank or do you have a seperate boiler?" I'm not sure.

Going by the document I linked to there is an electric "boiler" which only heats the two wet radiators. If that is what you have, then that is seperate from the hot water store (or cylinder), which I understand is what is leaking.

Again I can only go on the linked document for the "Elson Coral E", the name you mentioned in your first post. It describes a "thermal store" for supplying hot water. There is a very important difference between a "thermal store" and the unvented hot water cylinders suggested by your plumber. An unvented hot water cylinder requires regular inspection, say annually, to ensure all the safety devices are serviceable. Unless you know what you are doing you might be better with a replacement "thermal store".

Ask your plumber and if he(she) does not give a convincing explanation of the differences between "thermal store" and "unvented cylinder" think about finding one who can.

You have a quite a complex system, and we haven't even got around to tariffs. Think very carefully whether or not you want to spend money recreating such a complex system.

Pincher

If I interpret this correctly, this means you can insulate the bricks permanently (no faffing around with the output) and extract the heat using a heat exchanger. This overcomes the heat loss problem of conventional storage heaters, so you can have the heat when you want it. Brilliant.

If this was true, anything else is a retrograde.

Richie-from-the-Boro

Elson Coral E is an E7 - E10 product as is their Elson Coral E Boiler Package.

htra148

Jalexa,

I used the wrong terminology. I meant it is a thermal store that my flat has.

Thank you for pointing out about the difference between a thermal store and the unvented hot water cylinder. I have 2 plumbers coming to give quote: one said to replace with an unvented hot water cylinder; and one said to replace with a different thermal store. The second one said that my flat does not have a discharge pipe so it is possible to install unvented hot water cylinder. It seems that the second one knows what he is talking about.

However, the replacement thermal store that he showed me ( Albion and Gledhill) is much bigger than the Elson Coral E, it will take up all the storage space I have. On the internet I can only find a few brands manufacturing the thermal store: Albion , Gledhill, Heastrade but they all have big sizes. I have found vented hot water cylinder. They are of smaller size and tend to be cheaper than thermal store. What is the difference between thermal store and vented hot water cylinder? What are advantages and disadvantages with using the vented hot water cylinder.

Thanks,
Tra

htra148

One of the plumber said that thermal store is not popular nowadays hence there are not many options. As the new flats use electricity I thought that there should be many solutions for hot water supply. What is the common/popular hot water heating solution used in modern flats?

Thanks,
Tra

jalexa

htra148 wrote: »

Jalexa,

I used the wrong terminology. I meant it is a thermal store that my flat has.

The second one said that my flat does not have a discharge pipe so it is possible to install unvented hot water cylinder. It seems that the second one knows what he is talking about.

I presume there is a typo there and you meant to say "not possible", or more accurately the discharge pipe would have to be installed which may or may not be straightforward.

Will respond later to the other questions if nobody else has.