Help needed again for London apartment - changing boiler

[esentziak]

Hello

We have been advised by the letting agent to change the central heating boiler but I am having difficulty understanding how the whole things works.

At present the hot water to the shower and bathroom sink is provided by a hot water cylinder situated next to the bathroom.

The plumber wants to remove this and install a combi boiler.

I think at the moment you have to leave the boiler on and switch off the radiators to get hot water to the kitchen sink in the summer.

Why can't we just leave heating the water for the bathroom as it is ? can't get a straight-forward reply from letting agent who is not too sure.

I wonder if it is because there's more money in it for the plumber but it also involves running new pipe through the lounge to the bathroom, etc.

Any advice ? thank you.

Dominique

[Hells Bells]

Do you have two boilers, one for the hot water tanks, and one for the central heating and kitchen water? A combi boiler should save you money. It only heats the water when you turn on a tap, so there is no need to leave it on all the time. You can turn off the heating in the summer, and still have hot water on demand.

[esentziak]

Hi Helen

No, we have one gas boiler which heats the radiators and the water for the kitchen sink and an immersion heater/cylinder to heat the water for the bathroom sink and shower.

This is doing my head in !

Dominique

[Hells Bells]

It would probably be more efficient to not have an immersion heater, from what I recall of ours they were expensive to run, and they took a while to heat up a tank full of water.

[esentziak]

Thanks Helen

After all that, we have decided to leave the immersion tank, as the other way involved running pipes all over the apartment and the plumber says it's find to do it like this.

It's also a lot cheaper.

There is no bath, only a shower, and a big tank so should be OK.

Thanks for your input, though.

Dominique

[Hells Bells]

No problem.