Cost to Remove Immersion Tank & Connect Water to Boiler

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PasturesNew
PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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in In my home (includes DIY) MoneySaving
Househunting .... so just wondering what the trouble/mess/cost would be of the following situation:

1st floor: immersion tank in a cupboard on landing. Tank provides household hot water.
Ground floor/kitchen: boiler provides gas central heating.

House is a standard 3 bed, 2-storey, detached 1980s/1990s house, for visualisation purposes.

If you didn't want the tank at all, what's the work involved, how long, what sort of cost, to remove the tank and get hot water from the boiler?

Or would one be wrong to even think this is a good idea? (Never liked tanks, creepy things).
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  • FreeBear
    FreeBear Posts: 14,628 Forumite
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    It will be a system boiler that does both central heating and the hot water tank. To lose the tank, you'd need to switch to a combi boiler - Ball park figure, £2,000.
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  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    edited 19 July 2019 at 10:30AM
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    FreeBear wrote: »
    It will be a system boiler that does both central heating and the hot water tank. To lose the tank, you'd need to switch to a combi boiler - Ball park figure, £2,000.

    Oh, so you're saying they are already one system?
    Seeing an immersion tank I assumed there were two separate systems, for different purposes..... I assumed that the boiler had nothing to do with getting hot water at all.

    I'm very confused now :)

    Trying to get my head around what your answer means.

    If I want to have a bath, I'd have expected to run upstairs, flick the switch for the immersion in the cupboard, run downstairs, wait and pace about while the tank of cold water heated up ... then run upstairs and have a bath (not forgetting to turn the immersion switch off before I had the bath as I don't need any more hot water today).

    Although that "hot water" thing is an issue. It costs about 50p to heat up a tank - but my washing up doesn't warrant that, so I'd be back to boiling the kettle to do the washing up, which is a bit archaic as a home owner. It's all right doing that when renting in a studio flat... not such a great look when a home owner of a detached house :)

    If I want the heating on I'd expect to twist a thermostat somewhere and hear the boiler firing up .. then the radiators would get warm.

    How are they "one system"?

    Thanks for the answer, I'm clearly too dim/inexperienced for the penny to drop at the moment :)
  • Niv
    Niv Posts: 2,468 Forumite
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    They 'may' be one system. The same boiler to heat both is done by use of a three way valve. So if you can have, heating on, hot water on or both. So turning the thermostat (assuming you mean room stat) will do nothing for your water as that thermostat is for the central heating.


    Does the boiler timer have two sets of timers / switches, one for CH (central water) and one for HW (hot water)?


    When i moved into my house my boiler was only for the central heating and only had a timer for that. The hot water was attached to an immersion heater and the aga. The aga didnt work so i had to switch the hot water to going through the boiler. I needed a new timer fo rthis and the set up of the three way valve etc. But it was doable
    YNWA

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  • Niv
    Niv Posts: 2,468 Forumite
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    Just to add, if the tank is connected to the boiler I would expect to see four pipes attached to the tank these are:


    Cold water in
    Hot water out
    Boiler pipe in and out
    YNWA

    Target: Mortgage free by 58.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    Niv wrote: »

    Does the boiler timer have two sets of timers / switches, one for CH (central water) and one for HW (hot water)?
    I don't know. It's a house I viewed over 2 months ago and the existence of an immersion was one of the things against it (TOP of budget, unknown/not liked, other things too).... and I guess I didn't ask that question of the agent because I didn't know to ask/how - and I bet he'd not know as they know SWA about anything really :)
    Niv wrote: »
    When i moved into my house my boiler was only for the central heating and only had a timer for that. The hot water was attached to an immersion heating and the aga. The aga didnt work so i had to switch the hot water to going through the boiler. I needed a new timer fo rthis and the set up of the three way valve etc. But it was doable

    Maybe I need to contact the agent, get a 2nd viewing and specifically get him to ask the owners that question if I am not still unsure about the other niggles I had :)

    Cheers.

    So, in short: It's hard to answer a question when the OP is utterly clueless :) I get that. I do feel a little more informed though, so thanks for that.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    edited 19 July 2019 at 10:49AM
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    Niv wrote: »
    Just to add, if the tank is connected to the boiler I would expect to see four pipes attached to the tank these are:


    Cold water in
    Hot water out
    Boiler pipe in and out

    OK... if I pluck up the desire to do a 2nd viewing, I'll specifically be looking for that. I can count to four. I can cope with that. :)

    I wanted a 2-3 bed bungalow, not a 3 detached house.... but, you can only buy what's available, in budget, when you're looking .... and 3 bed houses are so plentiful, but undesirable as they tend to be "kitted out for families and family requirements" and not "simple little dwellings ideal for one person to rattle around in". :)

    I wash up once a day as a rule - very few items, so the hot water's running for just 3-4 minutes. Not worth heating up a whole immersion for. Wasteful... so you just boil a kettle twice, which is a faff you're prepared to put up with if renting, but not if owning in a perfect world.
  • Niv
    Niv Posts: 2,468 Forumite
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    Glad to be of some help :). Its not clueless, clueless is not asking!


    One last thing to add, immersaion heaters are installed often as a backup for if the boiler were to breakdown, so the existance of one does not mean automatically that this is the only way to heat the water.
    YNWA

    Target: Mortgage free by 58.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    Niv wrote: »
    Glad to be of some help :). Its not clueless, clueless is not asking!


    One last thing to add, immersaion heaters are installed often as a backup for if the boiler were to breakdown, so the existance of one does not mean automatically that this is the only way to heat the water.

    Ah. I didn't know that.

    We had an immersion in a house I lived in in the 1960s, until I was 9. So no experience of them gained there.

    I then rented a studio flat 12 years ago for two years and it had an immersion heater for water and storage heaters for heating - and in all my time there I never flicked the immersion heater on once. It had a shower cubicle with an electric shower.
  • Niv
    Niv Posts: 2,468 Forumite
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    My first house was simialr to your flat, I had a water tank only heated by the immersion and individual wall mounted gas heaters on the wall for heating. I was obviously worse off than you as I couldnt afford the luxury of an electric shower so had to use the (expensive) immersion heater. The previous occupier had the electric on a key meter so for a while that made it doubly expensive!
    YNWA

    Target: Mortgage free by 58.
  • Dan-Dan
    Dan-Dan Posts: 5,272 Forumite
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    FreeBear wrote: »
    Ball park figure, £2,000.

    and the rest
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