Installing a new boiler in loft... opinions please

[bikingdad90]

Hi, our boiler is on its lasts legs (17year old) and we need a new one. We are considering taking out the boiler from the kitchen and the water tank from the airing cupboard directly above the boiler and fitting a combi in the loft.

The loft is already boarded out and you can stand up in it. There is strip lighting, all I need to fit is a guard rail and fixed ladder.

The house is about 20 years old,has cavity wall insulation and meets current insulation regs in roof.

As there is a wall in the loft the flume will go through the wall instead of the roof.

The plumber also suggested wireless controls and a pressure gauge outside the loft so it can be programmed and monitored from outside.

Is this a silly place to locate a boiler or would it be ok as the plumber suggested the location?

 

[slowmotion]

A lot of plumbers like to run the gas supply on the outside of the wall so that they don't have to go through walls and floors. Personally, I think it looks pretty horrible but that's subjective.

 

[TVC]

If the plumber suggested it then why not, he's the one who knows the regs. I have a wireless controller and it works fine for me. Check where he intends to run the gas pipe though.

Edit: gas pipe mentioned above.

 

[bikingdad90]

Would the gas pipe running outside make it more likely to freeze up?

 

[ianrauk]

Mother in law has a boiler in the loft. No problems. And when it's serviced her plumber is happy to get up there and do the deed.

 

[Crackle]

Natural gas freezes at -296.7 F......so I think you'll be OK.

So does hell, so I reckon you're right.

My plumber wanted to put the pipe on the outside but I made him crawl under the floorboards. He was a big chap too.

 

[Hugh Manatee]

We did this exact thing although a good few years ago and in an older house. We have the timer controls downstairs but have to get the ladder out to alter the temperature the water and/or heating are set at. This generally doesn't get altered.

We noticed two things. First, the water seems a lot louder in the pipes. Think of it as a gentle roar! This is the same if either hot or cold water is running.

Secondly, the hot water with our system takes an age to come through. This would be a lot more serious if we were on a water meter. Both the above may well be connected to the pipes in the house. I'm sure they are old and narrow bore.

A couple of other minor things, the higher pressure will show up any weakness in the pipes. We had a couple of minor sea pages rather than leaks. We find that with our quite early combi, you get much hotter water if you don't run the taps at full knacker.

We're pretty happy we made the change.

 

[Fnaar]

Mother in law has a boiler in the loft. No problems. And when it's serviced her plumber is happy to get up there and do the deed.

Yes, Miss Goodbody's plumber is just the same. :-)

 

[slowmotion]

Good points by @Hugh Manatee. For brief hot water draw-offs, the efficiency of combis is pretty dreadful. I think that a summertime average of about 45% was mentioned in one report. The further the boiler is from the most used tap , probably the kitchen one, the less efficient the combi will be for DHW heating.

 

[TreeHuggery]

when we had our (combi) installed, plumber advised us to go for simple manual controls - less things to go wrong...

 

[screenman]

when we had our (combi) installed, plumber advised us to go for simple manual controls - less things to go wrong...

We had a plumber tell us not to have underfloor heating in this house, glad we did not listen to him. Some of them just do not go forward with the times.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Our old boiler was a beggar for letting air into the syatem, it had an air bleed on it but lived in the utility room downstairs so never collected the air. I wish it had been in the loft as I spent far too much of my life bleeding air out of the highest radiator in the house.

New boiler last year and it's been great and very airtight so far (jinxed that now), one of these days I'll have Mrs SBIB show me how the control panel in the living room works.

 

[raleighnut]

Ours is in the loft cos there was feck all other places to put it (I swiftly knocked down the idea of putting it in a bedroom. ) The reason that it takes so long to get hot water is simply the distance from the boiler to the kitchen tap, don't forget that you've to get rid of all the water that is past the boiler before the stuff that has been heated gets there, nearly a bowlful in our case.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Stick it in the loft and get the remote and pressure fill and gague in the airing cupboard.

the beauty of the remote is you can put it anywhere as thats the temp control stat. And you can sit in the armchair and programme it..

 

[Tin Pot]

Installing a new boiler... opinions please

The plumber ripped you off.

What was the question?