Boiler in outhouse - anyone have experience of this?

Calleja

Hi all,


Just had a guy round to quote for a new combi boiler. He has suggested putting it in my outhouse. Its connected to the house but cannot be accessed via the house, you have to go outside (this doesn't bother me, my freezer is out there as well). The outhouse is brick but not well insulated and just has a cheap wooden door.


My main concern with this is the very cold winters we get these days and whether this is going to cause problems with the boiler functioning? This guy doesn't seem to think it will, nor will it invalidate the warranty according to him.


I don't distrust him - but never seen a boiler in an outhouse before. Anyone out there have one outside and can tell me how they are getting on? Or any gas engineers who reckon this is/isn't a good idea?


Thanks!

F_Bear

my house is a new(ish) build, 2001, and the boliers in the garage. theres a frost stat so the cold doesnt affect it.

id be more bothered about theft if its not connected to the house and where the pipes etc are goin to go?

daveyjp

This is very common in mainland Europe, particularly Germany. You will probably need to keep hot water on comfort heating which means higher gas bills, otherwise in winter you could be waiting a long time for hot water.

Jonesya

It should have some frost protection and presumably, well insulated pipework to and from the boiler.

You might want to check exactly what frost protection he proposes to fit and ensure there's a pipe thermostat. My boiler is in the garage and originally only had a room stat, so during cold winters the boiler would fire up even when it and the pipework were hot, until it had warmed up the garage above freezing.

Lobsta

Our 5 yr old combi is in the outhouse (single brick etc) when it is really cold it fires up a lot so oil consumption is high even though the heating is only on low due to using a woodburner to keep us warm. Due to the distance , it takes a while for the hot water to come through, especially upstairs , so the shower is running for a long time before it reaches temp. But, as far as the boiler is concerned it has never had any major problems, it's serviced annually and all it ever has is a new nozzle. So other than slightly higher fuel bills during winter there is no issue, in our case anyway.
oh and worcester bosch have been out to fix a faulty pump under warranty and made no comment about its position.

hth

southcoastrgi

no no no, get this cowboy out of your house, it will cost a fortune in gas as in winter it will be on nearly all the time, even if you don't have it set to come on

phoebe1989seb

When we bought our house in 2011 the boiler for the newly fitted oil fired central heating (put in by the PO during 2010) was sited in a dilapidated, but attached outbuilding. As soon as we'd built our new kitchen and utility extension we had it moved into the latter as it didn't seem practical or economical to have it in an un-insulated outhouse......and as the previous poster says, it was on almost continuously.

carebabe

unless you want to free up space where the existing boiler is there does not seem any point in changing the boiler location. it will obviously cost more to install in a new location due to extra pipework required. i would be getting a quote from someone else as well to hear what they suggest.

Calleja

Appreciate all the help everyone. I do want the boiler moved and locations aren't plentiful in my house, so I reckon that's why he suggested the outhouse. He reckons he has fit a fair few in outhouses before and he did recommend insulating the outhouse as an added precaution.


But it firing up more in winter and the extra gas consumption associated with this is a bit worrying. The pipe thermostat mentioned by Jonesya - will that prevent this from happening? Or will it have to come on anyway regardless, if it gets too cold?

newbutold

My combi boiler is in the garage. It is an integral garage but with no access door from the house. There was no gas at the house when I moved in, so need all new pipe work, so extra pipe work wasn't a consideration. I don't believe it has added to my gas bills by having it in the garage.

Yes if I need to access it! I have to go outside and into the garage via the up & over garage door but how often do you need to access your boiler.

I do have a Honeywell wireless room thermostat.

southcoastrgi

Calleja wrote: »

But it firing up more in winter and the extra gas consumption associated with this is a bit worrying. The pipe thermostat mentioned by Jonesya - will that prevent this from happening? Or will it have to come on anyway regardless, if it gets too cold?

modern boilers have built in frost stats to protect themselves, any boiler fitted in an unheated space should have a seperate frost stat wired with a low limit pipe stat fitted on the return heating pipe, in either case the boiler will fire when the temp drops below 7d, it will then switch off cool down & do the same again, so in winter it will be on & off all night, not necessarly heating your house (if you have it set to come on through the night) but to stop the boiler & pipes (if you have a pipe stat) from freezing

newbutold wrote: »

I don't believe it has added to my gas bills by having it in the garage.

So I'm guessing you swapped an old boiler with prob about 70% efficiency for a new boiler with 90%+ efficiency & your gas bills remained the same, ummmm I wonder why that is ? (see above)