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Leaking Hot Water Cylinder - Do I Replace or Get A Combi?
Ms_Chocaholic
Posts: 12,703 Forumite
Hi
Noticed at 11.00 pm last night that hot water cylinder in airing cupboard was leaking ... put lots of towels down and called CIS Home Rescue, was told someone would contact me within the hour. After 1½ hours when not heard anything, rang them back, couldn't get anyone to come out to me last night but someone would ring me between 8 and 9 this morning.
Someone did ring and a very helpful plumber arrived at 10.15am. By that time however the walls in my lounge/diner covered in water and now have to make an expensive insurance claim whereas if someone had come out last night, could have prevented that. Rant over!
I have a conventional gas boiler (about 7-8 years old) and the plumber who visited suggested it was a good idea to replace the boiler with a combi and do away with the hot water cylinder, rather than just replace the cylinder.
I've been looking at various websites re which is the best way to go and there's lots of discussions re combi v conventional but I'm unsure what to do, given the reasonably "young" age of our boiler.
What do you think? All advice much appreciated.
We live in a 3 bed detached house, only me and OH, DS visits from Uni.
Thank you
Ms C x x
Noticed at 11.00 pm last night that hot water cylinder in airing cupboard was leaking ... put lots of towels down and called CIS Home Rescue, was told someone would contact me within the hour. After 1½ hours when not heard anything, rang them back, couldn't get anyone to come out to me last night but someone would ring me between 8 and 9 this morning.
Someone did ring and a very helpful plumber arrived at 10.15am. By that time however the walls in my lounge/diner covered in water and now have to make an expensive insurance claim whereas if someone had come out last night, could have prevented that. Rant over!
I have a conventional gas boiler (about 7-8 years old) and the plumber who visited suggested it was a good idea to replace the boiler with a combi and do away with the hot water cylinder, rather than just replace the cylinder.
I've been looking at various websites re which is the best way to go and there's lots of discussions re combi v conventional but I'm unsure what to do, given the reasonably "young" age of our boiler.
What do you think? All advice much appreciated.
We live in a 3 bed detached house, only me and OH, DS visits from Uni.
Thank you
Ms C x x
Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time
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Comments
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Personally I would say if your current boiler works fine then why not just replace the hot water tank... it'll be far cheaper i'm sure... are the insurance company going to pay for the hot water tank replacement? Did he give specific reasons for changing to a combi or was he just after creating more work/ a bigger bill for you or the insurance company?
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Thanks for your advice.
The insurance company won't pay for the replacement of the cylinder and I don't have cover (ie British Gas cover). Plumber said that it would cost around £600 to replace cylinder and only around £2k for a new combi boiler (both were approximate prices for supply + fit) and I may as well pay the extra and get a new combi boiler. I also wouldn't be in the same predicament of coping with a leaking cylinder again.
He knew someone who could fit a combi boiler for us for about £2k but I don't think this was the main reason for suggesting it as we may want to use a local plumber to do the work.
Is a boiler that 7-8 years old considered old? Also how long do cylinders usually last? The leak from ours was from the area around where the shower pipe meets the cylinder, but the plumber said this had been added on and was not a connection on the original hwc.
One more question, is £600 a good estimate of how much to supply and fit a new cylinder?
Thanks
Ms C x
PS Never had a problem with boiler we have, never broken down on us, apart from a thermacouple several years ago.Thrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time0 -
May sound a daft question but why can't they just repair the bit that was leaking? Personally I do not think 7-8 years is old for a conventional boiler...
(i'm sure some of the plumbers that are members of the site will be along soon to offer a bit more useful advice on costs and how long a hwc should last!) 0 -
Makes sense as it would be wear and tear (= old age) so not likely to be insured.Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »The insurance company won't pay for the replacement of the cylinder .....
Sounds about right.Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »Plumber said that it would cost around £600 to replace cylinder....
Whoa - hang on, the leak is on the "shower pipe"? Can you give some more details because it sounds like you have an Essex Flange that is leaking in which case it should be repairable.Ms_Chocaholic wrote: »....Also how long do cylinders usually last? The leak from ours was from the area around where the shower pipe meets the cylinder, but the plumber said this had been added on and was not a connection on the original hwc.
Hot water cylinders should last tens of years, there must be plenty about that are 30/40/50 years old. However, I have come across situations though where entire estates have been built on the cheap and low grade cylinders have been installed and they've failed within 5-10 years. They usually start leaking at the seams so although they theoretically can be repaired it is a lot of work and you could expect another leak somewhere else to start soon after you've repaired the last one.A house isn't a home without a cat.
Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.
I have writer's block - I can't begin to tell you about it.
You told me again you preferred handsome men but for me you would make an exception.
It's a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.0 -
£600, what a f**kin joke!
My parents had there's replaced when I was at uni (dates it between 99 and 02) and I recall it was only about £220 as I paid for it. Search for 'indirect cylinders' on screwfix.com and you'll see the copper ones are around £150-170. Leaks are often caused by if pipe fittings to the cylinder are of a different metal (not copper). Eg if you have a copper pipe coming in but it has some brass connector joining it to the copper cylinder then you get electrolysis going on and degradation of the copper.
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House was built in 1969 so probably not fitted with a shower. Previous owners (dont know how long ago) must have fitted a shower and connection separate on the cylinder. A piece of polystyrene foam lagging has been cut away and it's bene fitted there.
The connection is about six inches from the top straight section of the cylinder - the main connection to the cylinder looks like a seven sided screw, and the pipe is attached to that by some other sort of fixing. There's some green stuff on the cylinder, round the fixing but about 1/4" away, not right next to the seven sided thing. The pipe for the shower comes out and goes left horizontally.
Taken some photos of it but don't know how to attach them to this post, can email them to you Bob if it would help in your diagnosis.
Thanks for all your help
Ms C xThrifty Till 50 Then Spend Till the End
You can please some of the people some of the time, all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time but you can never please all of the people all of the time0 -
£600, what a f**kin joke!...Search for 'indirect cylinders' on screwfix.com and you'll see the copper ones are around £150-170.
I agree. £600 - £150 = £450 so perhaps that's for the labour. If so, what a price! I trust a Polish plumber could replace a water cyclinder for less than that or do it yourself. Easy!
BUT, there's no way I'd replace anything by the sound of it. I'd just drain the tank, loosen the Essex Flange and re-seat it or whatever is needed to stop it leaking. Even easier!
As for anyone suggesting you get a new boiler, they must have seen you coming, in financial terms.
Regards
George0 -
Neither you nor me have seen this job and don't know how large the cylinder is, whether the pipework will need adjusting, whether it is all in 3/4" pipe, whether there is no room to work etc. etc. Hot water cylinders are dead easy to replace when you can do a straight swap, exact like for like, in a classroom. All the ones I've had to deal with have had at least some of the problems I've mentioned and one of them would have cost a lot more than £600 at today's prices. I think £600 is on the high side but we don't know where the OP is or anything about the set up. It is also OK saying you can find a cylinder for £150 but there may be an immersion to add, fittings, 28mm and 22mm pipework etc and the 1" type fittings aren't cheap.George_Bray wrote: »I agree. £600 - £150 = £450 so perhaps that's for the labour. If so, what a price! I trust a Polish plumber could replace a water cyclinder for less than that or do it yourself. Easy!
It does sound like that is the problem, so doing the above would be my first option too.George_Bray wrote: »BUT, there's no way I'd replace anything by the sound of it. I'd just drain the tank, loosen the Essex Flange and re-seat it or whatever is needed to stop it leaking....A house isn't a home without a cat.
Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.
I have writer's block - I can't begin to tell you about it.
You told me again you preferred handsome men but for me you would make an exception.
It's a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.0 -
BobProperty wrote: »Neither you nor me have seen this job and don't know how large the cylinder is...
Thank you for putting forward a balanced and fair view from the professional's point of view, even if we don't entirely agree on the likely reasonableness of a potential £600 fee.
UPDATE:
.... I followed on with what I hoped were some further helpful suggestions but as several people got 'thanks' for the latest batch of posts - and mine was the only one which didn't - I assume these ideas were not very highly regarded or welcome, so I have removed them.
Regards
George0 -
Forgot, this job had the lure of an "insurance job" didn't it?George_Bray wrote: »Thank you for putting forward a balanced and fair view from the professional's point of view, even if we don't entirely agree on the likely reasonableness of a potential £600 fee.A house isn't a home without a cat.
Those are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.
I have writer's block - I can't begin to tell you about it.
You told me again you preferred handsome men but for me you would make an exception.
It's a recession when your neighbour loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours.0
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