Gas Boilers; Are stocks in serious shortage?

[TheDecameron]

That's our new combi fitted, along with a Hive set-up. My wife is very happy with the extra loft and cupboard space with the hot and cold water tanks removed.

It'll be interesting to see what savings we get, however I expect being able to control the thermostat remotely will be useful.

Tanks are just a liability- you’ve now one less thing to worry about when the temperature drops below freezing. The Hive has a nice user interface but can drop out of its internet connection periodically. The challenge is rebooting it if you’re not there. Friends have theirs plugged into an internet controlled mains plug and periodically have to flip it off and on to get Hive working again.

 

[SteveG]

Tanks are just a liability- you’ve now one less thing to worry about when the temperature drops below freezing.

We had two cold water tanks in the loft so quite a bit of space has been freed up now, and in some of the more useful parts of the loft.

The Hive has a nice user interface but can drop out of its internet connection periodically. The challenge is rebooting it if you’re not there. Friends have theirs plugged into an internet controlled mains plug and periodically have to flip it off and on to get Hive working again.

I've got a few of those plugs spare so will do the same if I get connection issues with it.

 

[TheDecameron]

We discovered a redundant header tank big enough to fill a bath, sat above the bathroom in the place we moved to in Edinburgh, along with a tangle of old pipe work and existing drain pipes with putty bandage unions. The outflow had been cut off years ago when the elderly boiler had been installed but you could still hear the sound of drips from the old inlet shut off.! An accident waiting to happen.

 

[Mike Reed]

Tanks are just a liability- you’ve now one less thing to worry about when the temperature drops below freezing.

Since my first house I've had an airing cupboard. I agree that a combi does do away with 2 tanks and a cylinder, but there's no possibility of ours freezing as they're over the airing cupboard. Another point is that this system not only warms the bathroom (by gravity; terribly old-fashioned) but allows a power shower, although we don't use the 'power' bit.

As I'm coming up to a new boiler etc. I should weigh up the pros and cons but for us, the current system has many positives.

 

[SteveG]

Since my first house I've had an airing cupboard. I agree that a combi does do away with 2 tanks and a cylinder, but there's no possibility of ours freezing as they're over the airing cupboard. Another point is that this system not only warms the bathroom (by gravity; terribly old-fashioned) but allows a power shower, although we don't use the 'power' bit.

We had a power shower in one of our en-suites and the pump for that was removed as part of the fitting work for the new boiler. The change to a combi seems to have improved the water pressure to that bathroom though, and it now seems fine without the pump.

As I'm coming up to a new boiler etc. I should weigh up the pros and cons but for us, the current system has many positives.

One positive change that I noticed last night is that the house is much quieter at night. We used to get a fair bit of gurgling etc. from the pipes in the loft before the change, but last night was silent.

 

[TalYWaun]

That's our new combi fitted, along with a Hive set-up. My wife is very happy with the extra loft and cupboard space with the hot and cold water tanks removed.

I wonder about the wisdom of this if we all end up having to heat pumps installed and the storage tanks are required again. OK, with a new system you should be good for the next 10-20 years but longer term?

But what do I know? I recently moved the gravity fed hot water storage tank to another room (at the back of the house) where it could be hidden better. Only after having problems getting the hot water to flow to the new tank did I find that the room it was in is level across the front of the house (where it was) but drops by almost 2 inches through the room to the room the tank is in now (the perfect scenario for developing an air lock). Luckily I used compression fittings on the 28mm pipe so can easily release the trapped air but it is far from acceptable. The overriding consideration is making the house better for those who occupy it next using my 40 years experience here a little skill at DIY and a big dose of OCD, so it has to go back. Damn.

 

[SteveG]

I wonder about the wisdom of this if we all end up having to heat pumps installed and the storage tanks are required again. OK, with a new system you should be good for the next 10-20 years but longer term?

It would have cost me something like £50K to put an effective heat pump system into this house (most the cost of massively upgrading the insulation as well as putting in underfloor heating etc.) so it wasn't a reasonable option. Especially given I'm not expecting to own this house much longer as it's much, much too big for just my wife and I.