Strange heating system....

Mar 31, 2005 4 Replies

Rate this thread:

pauljwilliams 21 years ago

I wonder if anyone can give me an insight into something.

My father has just bought a house, and he's thinking of converting a large walk-in airing cupboard upstairs into an en-suite. But there's something strange about the heating system.

In the cupboard is a standard HW tank, with an electronic timer for HW and CH. There's also a lot of pipework going off to the various radiators around the house. All well and good. But downstairs in the kitchen is a combi boiler.

Whenever you turn on the CH or run a HW tap, the combi fires up and provides hot water to the tap/radiators.

So whats the point of having a HW tank upstairs? As far as i can tell it doesnt actually acheive anything.

Or am i missing something?

Vote

Doctor Evil 21 years ago

It may be a thermal store for CH only. Check to see if the CH pipes run off it. It may have been a DHW and CH thermal store but maybe the coil was caked up and someone unwisely thought a combi would solve the problem rather than descaling. Is there a cold water tank in the loft? Do a bit more searching and let us know.

_________________________________________ Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server More than 120,000 groups Unlimited download

formatting link

to open account

Vote

Richard Conway 21 years ago

Could it just be a remnant of an old conventional heating system? Is the tank actually full of water?

Vote

Set Square 21 years ago

Does the boiler fire up for *all* hot water taps?

A perfectly acceptable use of a combi boiler is to use the HW side for (say) just the kitchen tap, and use the CH side to heat both the radiators and a tank of stored hot water - using a Y-Plan or S-Plan arrangement as for a conventional boiler. The stored hot water is then used for things which need a high delivery rate - like running a bath.

Maybe this is what your father has got?

Vote

Aaron 21 years ago

This is how it works in our, house. In the airing cupboard there is an insulated hot water tank which connects to hotwater taps around the house, when you run a tap, hot water comes from the tank. The boiler fires up to refill the tank. If the boiler does fail there is also an immersion heater.

Vote

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required