Should I replace the cylinder and pump to release space and reduce noise, is it practical?

J41721

Hi

A 1900 terrace house and the cylinder and pump are sitting in the small box room on first floor.  I guess the pump is for water in the first floor bathroom and loft bathroom
The pump is noisy and the cylinder is taking a lot of space.
How much would it take to convert ?  boiler is on ground floor.

Is the gas company, e.g. British gas could give a quote or advice?  

J

tacpot12

The pump would normally be the pump for the central heating system. Replacing the pump with a quieter one should be an easy job - they are normally installed with valves either side of the pump to allow the pump to be changed if they go wrong. Changing the pump will probably save you a bit on electricity cost as well. 

The cylinder and pump could be replaced by chaning to a Combi-boiler. The best time to do this is when the old boiler needs replacing. A local heating engineer would be the best source of advice.  

Bendy_House

J41721 said:

Hi

A 1900 terrace house and the cylinder and pump are sitting in the small box room on first floor.  I guess the pump is for water in the first floor bathroom and loft bathroom
The pump is noisy and the cylinder is taking a lot of space.
How much would it take to convert ?  boiler is on ground floor.

Is the gas company, e.g. British gas could give a quote or advice?  

J

Hi J4.

I'm quite astute at this sort of thing. I'm guessing - on balance - that you haven't a bludy clue about CH systems :-)

As Tac says, the pump is likely to be for the whole system - it circulates the hot water from the boiler to go to both the hot cylinder and the radiators (and sometimes both at the same time).

You want to lose the hot cylinder 'cos it takes up space? Depending on how big your house is, I guess your options are to go for a smaller cylinder, or go full 'combi' (ie, no cylinder).

To swap to a combi will likely cost you £3k+. To swap for a smaller cylinder will be, ooh, £350+? Vented cylinders start in size from around 100 litres, and cost about £180. If you don't have a large hot water demand, then this could be a good option, and the boiler will re-heat it quickly. They will also be very well insulated, so should stay hot for days if not used, but will still give you a nice background heat for a nice dry 'airing' cupboard.

Pumps should not be noisy. Yours is probably on the way ootski. A new one will be 'Smart', and will adjust its speed to suit demand. This will cost less to run (save you, oooh, a few squid each year...), but also be much quieter; you shouldn't hear the pump. New pumps cost from around £110 upwards, and are a piece of piddle to fit - as Tac says, they should be 'standard'.

Q: How old is your current boiler? Make and model? If it's running fine, then you'd be completely INSANE* to spend £ks replacing it.

*('Insane' as per MSE guidelines, which is not to throw good money away...)

If you could post photos of the cylinder and pump and all the surrounding paraphernalia, that would help.

Rodders53

Pictures of the existing would help.

Some places do have HW pumps for 'power shower' type use... But would only run when HW taps are opened... quite frequently located in the airing cupboard HW tank area.  

CH circulating pumps are more often built into the boiler nowadays than located in an airing cupboard - but it was a common location in the olden days for them .

plumb1_2

Rodders53 said:

the olden days for them .

Is that pre 2000 ?

fenwick458

J41721 said:

Is the gas company, e.g. British gas could give a quote or advice?  

this is a money saving site, using British Gas is the polar opposite of that!  get a few local plumbing & heating companies to give you quotes/advice. the quality of work I've seen from BG is poor and the prices paid are way too high

J41721

Thanks all, yes, I have no idea how it works.  Let me take some pic