Deciding on a new c/h boiler.

Galaxy66

Galaxy66

Jeremy Beadle
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My name is Mal not Jeremy :)
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Currently I have a dual central heating system, solid fuel, and because of having no mains gas supply an LPG boiler fed via an outside tank. I mainly use the solid fuel system which burns logs and sea coal.

The gas boiler is quite dated and runs at about 70% efficiency but I have so far been loathe to change it to a modern system because the existing boiler is simply a finned cast iron water tank heated by the gas and circulated by a pump and never goes wrong apart from changing the thermocouple. If I were to have a more efficient gas boiler fitted I believe it would have to be an entirely different plumbing system based around a combi boiler as my old boiler type is no longer allowed under current building regulations.

Tanked gas is a horrendous price compared to mains gas and I also have to pay a quarterly charge for the gas tank which Calor supplied.

For various reasons I need a dual c/h system one reason being it is not always easy for others to operate the solid fuel boiler safely and also there are many an occasion I just like to just flick a switch rather than mess about lighting and feeding the boiler.

This has brought me round to considering having an Electric C/H boiler fitted which I believe will require little alteration to the current pipework and I will be able to keep the hot water storage tank. I am hoping also the electric boiler can run dually with the solid fuel boiler (not at the same time of course).

The installation costs for me do not come into the equation as I am only interested in the running costs after that which I believe will be cheaper to run than my present outdated boiler running on LPG, the electric boiler may be cheaper to install anyway.

Compared to having a new gas boiler fitted, on the face of it I see enough plus points to go for an electric boiler so has anyone any experience of these ?

This is what I have been looking at so far.

 
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I had lpg in my last place horrendous bills
This one has an oil boiler so much cheaper to run
I have also fitted an old wood burner and associated plumbing system and it is a task to get them going compared with the on switch
 
How many kw/h of heat do you need? Electric boilers are going to be criminally expensive even compared to lpg. To get any decent amount of oomph you'll need 3 phase power as they only go up to 12 kw on single phase. That's the lowest setting on my gas boiler.

Also check out intergas. They make simple boilers. Also worcester Bosch have deals on at the moment. I'd also look at ground source heat pumps for background heating and look at something else for top up and extra heat.

There's also pellet stoves and you can get oil boilers converted to run on waste oil. I think an electric boiler is the worst solution of all ones available :)

I think you can have a non condensing boiler if you insist. I know someone that did just that.
 
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glastogibbo said:
Have you considered oil? Can get external ones too.
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Not as yet Dale but I'd rather not as we have had oil thefts in the area and would rather not have another tank outside.



Rebel t3i said:
I had lpg in my last place horrendous bills
This one has an oil boiler so much cheaper to run
I have also fitted an old wood burner and associated plumbing system and it is a task to get them going compared with the on switch
Click to expand...

I can get my solid fuel boiler going full steam easily Tony, there is a knack to doing it, getting it hot and adding the sea coal, using just logs it needs more attention to prevent it going out.

srichards said:
How many kw/h of heat do you need? Electric boilers are going to be criminally expensive even compared to lpg. To get any decent amount of oomph you'll need 3 phase power as they only go up to 12 kw on single phase. That's the lowest setting on my gas boiler.

Also check out intergas. They make simple boilers. Also worcester Bosch have deals on at the moment. I'd also look at ground source heat pumps for background heating and look at something else for top up and extra heat.

There's also pellet stoves and you can get oil boilers converted to run on waste oil. I think an electric boiler is the worst solution of all ones available :)

I think you can have a non condensing boiler if you insist. I know someone that did just that.
Click to expand...

Just looked at the gas boiler I have at present and the output of that is 17kw but I fitted that years ago and probably over estimated the output needed, however I accept you may have a point there so need to get expert advice on what size I need. The present gas boiler heats up the rads in a very short time.
I do not wish to tie myself down buying pellets I have my own supply of logs, and imagine it would be costly to run a pellet boiler anyway.

I was unaware you could insist on a non condensing boiler, so thanks for that tip as I am sure a modern non condensing boiler will be more efficient than my 30year old boiler which is an
Ideal Mexico RS 60P
I will look into that posssibility.
 
How are you controlling the water flow round the boiler on the wood burner
I installed a ladamat and a centraliser when I installed mine
It all got very complicated and very expensive
feeding my wood burner is hard work uses a huge amount of logs my woodland will soon be a garden at this rate lol
what with the chainsawing and log splitting I think I am just going to switch that switch soon
 
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Rebel t3i said:
How are you controlling the water flow round the boiler on the wood burner
I installed a ladamat and a centraliser when I installed mine
It all got very complicated and very expensive
feeding my wood burner is hard work uses a huge amount of logs my woodland will soon be a garden at this rate lol
what with the chainsawing and log splitting I think I am just going to switch that switch soon
Click to expand...

The cottage is single storey, it is quite simple really, I have two circulation pumps, one for each system, I also have to switch valves over for each system.

I will never run out of logs as the trees grow faster than I can burn them :)
 
Galaxy66 said:
This is an interesting read which convinces me I do not need a modern combi boiler.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/.../Are-condensing-boilers-a-waste-of-money.html
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If the outlet pipe freezes that's an installation fault.


You don't have to have a combi boiler, you can keep your hot water tank, but a new boiler must be condensing.


The argument about not replacing an existing working but ageing boiler and running it until it is beyond economic repair is a valid one, and it applies equally well to cars. But lots of people replace their car after three years from new, or even if they don't replace it long before it is only fit for scrapping, and new cars are much more expensive than boilers.
 
Our new boiler isn't a combi - that would have required a replumb. It is a condensing type though. It was a fairly straight swap, with the only major mod needed being a different sized hole through the ouside wall to suit the changed flue. There's also a small drain pipe (for the condensate) which runs straight down from the boiler, through the worksurface and into the washing machine drain.
The old boiler was the original fitted when the house was built about 30 years ago (slightly over I think) and was definitely on its last legs (heat exchanger clogged up and reducing flow). Can't tell you what the new one's consumption is yet - not been in for a full billing period yet.
 
Nod said:
Our new boiler isn't a combi - that would have required a replumb. It is a condensing type though. It was a fairly straight swap, with the only major mod needed being a different sized hole through the ouside wall to suit the changed flue. There's also a small drain pipe (for the condensate) which runs straight down from the boiler, through the worksurface and into the washing machine drain.
The old boiler was the original fitted when the house was built about 30 years ago (slightly over I think) and was definitely on its last legs (heat exchanger clogged up and reducing flow). Can't tell you what the new one's consumption is yet - not been in for a full billing period yet.
Click to expand...

Somehow I thought all new installations had to be a combination type without a storage tank and requiring a major re plumb. I need to look into the pros and cons between my present non condensing boiler and the newer condensing boilers.
 
onomatopoeia said:
If the outlet pipe freezes that's an installation fault.


You don't have to have a combi boiler, you can keep your hot water tank, but a new boiler must be condensing.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that information.
 
Brand new instalations may well have to be combination boilers but ours (and yours) are replacements so we are allowed to replace with what we have (in terms of combi/storage.

If non-combis were no longer allowed, they wouldn't be available!
 
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