Confused!! - Combi or cylinder boiler??

matelodave

The plumbing frequently comes out of different places - is yours a floor standing or wall mounting and where is your pump and any motorised valves are they co-located with the boiler or installed remotely (like in the airing cupboard).

Crossing over gas & water pipes is not impossible but not everso pretty if they are visible and not everso easy in the back of a fitted cupboard.

As Cardew says the condensate drain has to either go out the wall to a drain or be plumbed to a drain within the kitchen - again not hard but if it's internal and the sink is on a different wall then how are you going to route it. Likewise an external one could end up with several metres of plastic pipe snaking along the wall to access a drain. Sometimes difficult if the back door is in the way.
As said you can have a condensate drain pump for difficult situations but it's got to be housed, powered and plumbed so it needs to be considered

26fin

Thats a good idea about running the condensation pipe internally to avoid freezing. Hadnt thought of that

26fin

Weve got a wall mounted boiler in the kitchen. The hot water cylinder is upstairs in the airing cupboard and we have a shower pump there as well to help with the pressure ( any other pumps would also be in the airing cupboard i think) There is a cold water tank in the loft.

C_Mababejive

OK lets try and clear things up. First thing is,,whats the make and model of existing boiler?

The other is that NEW boilers have to be high efficiency condensing boilers.

Having said that they come in a number of flavours broadly speaking, combi and heating only/system boilers.

Typically a combi when fitted ditches the hot water cylinder. It takes water direct from the cold main,slows it a little, pumps lots of heat into it and squirts it out to the hot water taps.

In some situations of high demand ,it may be found that hot water output is inadequate or disappointing. This needs some design input from heating engineer.


Just to further muddy the waters it is quite possible to fit a combi and retain the cyclinder but this is rarely done.
System/heating only boiler..also available and will be high efficiency..retains existing cylinder so lots of hot water.


My first thoughts are,,if existing boiler is ok, keep it.

If having a new boiler, put a heat only/system boiler in and keep your nice hot water tank assuming its in good condition. Upgrade heating controls as necessary.

Do you know if existing system has gravity hot water or fully pumped?

26fin

Sorry for the delay, wanted to wait until I got home to check the model. I've just checked and it's an Ideal FF280 and was fitted in 2000.
With regards to bring gravity fed it pumped I think gravity fed buy I'm not certain. How would I know that?

26fin

Also just checked the results of the last service we had and it was running at 90.5% 3 years ago.

C_Mababejive

Well your boiler is relatively simple technology and therefore should be easily fixable if it breaks down. Is it an eyesore in the kitchen or is it in a cupboard? I wouldnt pay too much heed to efficiency ratings as the efficiency often talked about is actual combustion efficiency rather than overall efficiency. Essentially,a lot of it is marketing hype.

http://idealboilers.com/installer/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2013/08/156643_2.pdf

Your boiler is regular non condensing but dont let that worry you. It has a cast iron heat exchanger and a natural draught burner with fanned flue.. its all good, its all proven reliable technology. The hot water and heating circuits will be fully pumped (good) as that is the only possibility for this boiler. If it were mine, id keep it.

The important thing is to invest in insulation and modern controls and making your home as energy efficient as possible

26fin

Ok that's brilliant, thanks for your advice.

Im thinking we may well keep it but will check how much disruption a new boiler would be if we did need it in a few years.

Does seem wasteful getting rid of something that works, and whilst s new one will probably be more efficient it's not going to recoup the cost of a new boiler!!

C_Mababejive

26fin wrote: »

Ok that's brilliant, thanks for your advice.

Im thinking we may well keep it but will check how much disruption a new boiler would be if we did need it in a few years.

Does seem wasteful getting rid of something that works, and whilst s new one will probably be more efficient it's not going to recoup the cost of a new boiler!!

When it needs swapping in future it should be straightforward in terms of technical and plumbing issues. The only issue would be one of touching up decor etc. I suspect your boiler will plod on for some years yet

26fin

Fingers crossed!! Thanks for your help