tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post5196002859205184977..comments2024-03-28T13:00:45.457+00:00Comments on An English Homestead: Boiler - Repair Or Replace?Kev Alvitihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-75614403847816992062017-02-09T15:12:15.306+00:002017-02-09T15:12:15.306+00:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Sarah Jacbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04808548257222989033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-8748449270724160042017-01-07T03:27:39.708+00:002017-01-07T03:27:39.708+00:00I would replace the boiler, it sounds like it has ...I would replace the boiler, it sounds like it has run it's course. Check out the costs associated to getting a new boiler.Davehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08354627604002337911noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-78720497175259527482016-08-04T10:25:01.108+01:002016-08-04T10:25:01.108+01:00Try not to reject some type of electric warming. V...Try not to reject some type of electric warming. Verifiably it was viewed as a costly alternative however combined with legitimately fitted current protection and a pressurized boiling point water tank, it's presently more than feasible. Modest to introduce, no intrusive pipework, no waste amid warmth change like there is with oil and gas. 1kWh in, 1kWh out. I think the entire thought of "focal" warming is obsolete at this point. It was alright when vitality was moderately shabby. Making boiling hot water go all around a house in inadequately protected channels is an unfortunate propensity we have into.<br />Also Know more: <a href="http://www.hinchliffeheating.co.uk" rel="nofollow">Boiler repair service</a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12144462154694809776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-88065259260785461792015-09-05T06:06:47.261+01:002015-09-05T06:06:47.261+01:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13338280280410537833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-441441725988174762015-09-05T06:05:25.036+01:002015-09-05T06:05:25.036+01:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13338280280410537833noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-42540145959679727372014-11-17T11:58:29.737+00:002014-11-17T11:58:29.737+00:00We have an outside oil fired boiler for our centra...We have an outside oil fired boiler for our central heating and hot water, although once we have the solar panels and extra water storage tanks installed we will switch to our own generated electricity for the water.<br /><br />At the moment it has been disconnected as we rather thoughtlessly installed it in just the place the steel uprights to hold up the new slated conservatory roof will be. It has been really efficient and we chose it over a biomass boiler due to the cost of the pellets potentially rising and the storage space needed for them, also as someone else pointed out there are not that many repairers for them at the moment.<br /><br />I'm sure you'll have already have made the right decision for you and your family by the time I send this comment, but I thought I'd put my opinion into the pot ;-)Suehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04177854521955532744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-62077175520578962822014-11-17T11:09:28.783+00:002014-11-17T11:09:28.783+00:00I suppose there must be one with a back boiler.
B...I suppose there must be one with a back boiler.<br /><br />But yes I also am hoping for a rosie in the next house. When I was researching before for one, there was a company on the boarder with Wales somewhere that sold them and fitted them. I seem to have lost the link. Solhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10518631542782309728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-61848753637436211932014-11-13T23:10:21.954+00:002014-11-13T23:10:21.954+00:00No your comments were really helpful - I hadn'...No your comments were really helpful - I hadn't really thought about creating the space to store it all in - that has huge cost implications as well. Thanks again for your help.Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-35424845976086285632014-11-13T23:08:59.665+00:002014-11-13T23:08:59.665+00:00That youtube video looks like what I was thinking ...That youtube video looks like what I was thinking of until I saw Dani's! thats what I want! Does it heat water as well?Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-1016942577294110352014-11-13T11:08:41.624+00:002014-11-13T11:08:41.624+00:00https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tSgTQf6-vM
you c...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tSgTQf6-vM<br /><br />you can add soap stone to this one to cook on the top.<br /><br />or I am currently lusting after the stove in Dani's kitchen. Rosie! sigh<br /><br />http://ecofootprintsa.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/stocked-up-for-winter.html<br /><br />I have that on my dream board for the next house. Solhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10518631542782309728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-66530326016243412902014-11-13T08:54:23.138+00:002014-11-13T08:54:23.138+00:00Hi again. It's definitely much cheaper to buy ...Hi again. It's definitely much cheaper to buy the pellets in bulk compared with buying them by the bag and feeding the boiler manually. We currently pay around £830 for 4 tonnes. We need to order 4 tonnes 'blown delivery' to qualify for free delivery. If we order 3 tonnes we pay £50 delivery, and if we order 2 tonnes we pay £100 delivery charge. So obviously it's cheaper to have a silo compared with buying smaller bags, but they are absolutely huge and must be kept in a dry area or the pellets will get damp. We live in rural NE Scotland and there is only one biomass engineer in our area. Fortunately, he seems to know what he's doing compared with the cowboy who installed the system in the first place. Hope I haven't put you off but it is a huge expense if you're not sure that it's going to be installed and maintained professionally. If you get a dodgy engineer and there are no others in your area, then you're stuck, the way we were. If you have to build a storage outhouse or shed for the pellets, that is an added expense too. SusanMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09622557936441532144noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-55659447467224577562014-11-12T23:18:01.741+00:002014-11-12T23:18:01.741+00:00So much space in your basement! You're right a...So much space in your basement! You're right about my boiler it's meant to be an under counter one and I doubt it could handle the winters you have to endure! Lately I've been using the immersion heater (electric element in the hot water tank) as it must be more efficient that our old boiler pumping the water all the way up there to indirectly heat it. It was taking ages to heat the tank, where as the immersion would do it in under an hour.<br />The ondemand system you talk about is called a "combi" over here and I'm in two minds as to go for this or not. It would mean altering a lot of pipework in the house but it would mean that it was a whole new system- much easier for me to understand and fix with no hidden surprises!Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-44419432585866380262014-11-12T23:11:49.494+00:002014-11-12T23:11:49.494+00:00I'd like to be using wood most of the time, an...I'd like to be using wood most of the time, and hopefully we will be when the extension is built, it's just heating upstairs that the problem, but when the house is warm it holds it's heat.Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-16332872350319183522014-11-12T23:10:49.379+00:002014-11-12T23:10:49.379+00:00I think you're right, with the cost of oil now...I think you're right, with the cost of oil now it's sensible to use it in the most effeicent way possibleKev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-65788029232573800552014-11-12T23:09:34.005+00:002014-11-12T23:09:34.005+00:00It;s always good to have a backup. With the oil, w...It;s always good to have a backup. With the oil, wood and some electric heaters I'd feel pretty good that we had it covered. Over here to have Propane you need to have a tank that is leased from the gas company, another bill and not a contract I'd want to enter into at the moment.Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-2445249061277704012014-11-12T23:07:24.814+00:002014-11-12T23:07:24.814+00:00Gill, hopefully there will be no plumbers involved...Gill, hopefully there will be no plumbers involved but don't tell anyone! I have the means!<br />And Susan thanks for your comment, really helpful and makes me think that around here there wouldn't be many that could fix or maintain it currently. We haven't got the under cover storage for the biomass fuel either so that would be added expense and work! I think I've been swayed towards keeping an oil system going so far!Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-13354570040921971722014-11-12T23:03:44.369+00:002014-11-12T23:03:44.369+00:00I won't have to site it twice as the idea is t...I won't have to site it twice as the idea is to have it outside, hopefully it will be out of the way there and give us more room inside. Hopefully to get ti running again now I've just got to do a bit of up keep. It would be nice not to have to change it straight away and do it when we want to!Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-80611025618672881332014-11-12T22:58:06.079+00:002014-11-12T22:58:06.079+00:00I've fixed quite a few appliances in the past ...I've fixed quite a few appliances in the past and the trouble is you can end up spending £100 pounds or more and you've still got an old washing machine/dishwasher etc. I think we're heading towards replacing the boiler. Trouble is I've got to do a bit of drainage where I want it to sit first and any holes I dig will fill up pretty quick in this weather!Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-26890658720025620572014-11-12T22:55:34.126+00:002014-11-12T22:55:34.126+00:00We ahve el;ectrice heaters stored in the loft as a...We ahve el;ectrice heaters stored in the loft as a backups but they're quite expensive to run. If our house was better insulated (to modern standards) then you're quite right - central heating isn't needed. In fact light bulbs can heat small rooms. We worked it all out when I was at college - but over here you won;t sell a new house without central heating!Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-45491992324914261472014-11-12T22:53:25.373+00:002014-11-12T22:53:25.373+00:00I've been told that the only way to run those ...I've been told that the only way to run those heat pumps in a cost effective way is with solar - we just couldn't afford both at the moment. <br />The stove I want to get for the extension doesn't exist I think - I want to see the flames, heat water, be efficient and have an oven to cook on! let me know if you know of one!Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-65585155632995842332014-11-12T22:51:10.329+00:002014-11-12T22:51:10.329+00:00I think doing it now would make it much easier whe...I think doing it now would make it much easier when we do the extension - one less thing to worry about and organise. We changed our gas boiler about 2 months before moving from our old place so never got to experience what it was like to have a super efficient boiler!Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-12348495858153343862014-11-12T22:49:01.036+00:002014-11-12T22:49:01.036+00:00We've got a relativly new oil tank so that als...We've got a relativly new oil tank so that also swings me in favour of keeping with an oil boiler. And I agree with you simon about throwing £200 on a repair is money that could be put towards a new one.<br />I agree with you as well, miss Tulip, I think that soon the fuel for biomass will become more expensive. Oil will always go up in price but at least we burn a lot of wood that we have a fairly constant supply of it, keeping the cost down (and even more when we fit a second wood burner). I think it needs to be looked at without the subsidies to get a honest picture of it really.Kev Alvitihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04992625860900617194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-16856575521053461812014-11-12T14:22:09.804+00:002014-11-12T14:22:09.804+00:00Clearly your boiler is quite different than what w...Clearly your boiler is quite different than what we typically have over here and your conditions are no where near as harsh as here, so caveat emptor. Yours appears to be more like an under the counter kitchen appliance while ours is just an ugly oil fired furnace with a noisy Becket burner and two loops one for domestic hot water and one for the baseboard radiators. Its the gray unit to the right in this photo. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0B4TrA15Wc8/VEwtp47RwuI/AAAAAAAAE0s/wwb8GFat998/s1600/P1060343.JPG<br />As we heat the house principally with a much more efficient direct vent propane fired Rinai unit located in the kitchen, the heat loop on the oil fired furnace hardly sees any use. Currently we only use the boiler for the domestic hot water and thus is not the most efficient set up for that task as it always tries to maintain a reserve of hot water at temperature, and fires up as the temp drops whether you use it or not. Given this experience I think that separate dedicated units for each task is better. An on-demand propane or electric water heater for the domestic hot water, and a separate unit for the household heat gives you more flexibility, and redundancy. Right now US crude production has surpassed that of all nations but Saudi-Arabia, and we currently produce more oil than we import. The cost of oil is at an all time low nearing 70U$ a barrel, and continues dropping, and around here heating oil is at 2.70 U$ a gallon. But there is no telling what will happen in a few years time when megalomaniacal tyrants with whacked-out "good intentions" and perverted aspirations decide that its convenient to put the kibosh on that one and shut off the valves. So over here, right now I still favor propane which is a oil refining waste byproduct and I can buy in bulk 400 gallons at a time, for less than 2 U$ a gallon. As for GVT subsidies I have only found them to be false economy as the come with too many restrictions, covenants and conditions.Mike Silviushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10406468736304441962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-10194172572024542512014-11-12T14:10:02.073+00:002014-11-12T14:10:02.073+00:00I switched to all wood all the time completely abo...I switched to all wood all the time completely about 3 years ago but then my circumstances are much different than yours. Backups are always nice though!!!<br />PioneerPreppyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09269878017447335944noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3078806588853616263.post-33714473682646623122014-11-12T12:59:06.495+00:002014-11-12T12:59:06.495+00:00We had a biomass boiler installed 6 years ago. It ...We had a biomass boiler installed 6 years ago. It cost us £11k and that was with the government grant of around £3,500. The company who installed it went out of business shortly after this. By this time we were having major problems with it. We have had a plumber's bill every year to replace the pump (we learned to replace it ourselves this year) and because a buffer tank hadn't been installed, we have never had a particularly warm house. This month we have had to spend another £3,100 to install a buffer tank and replace various bits of equipment which have worn out due to not being installed properly. Hopefully, it is now working properly but if it had been left up to me I would have had the entire system ripped out and installed oil heating as there are more folk who know what they are doing with oil heating. (We're not on the gas here).<br /><br />Having said that, biomass boilers (when working well) are much cheaper on fuel than oil, gas or electricity. We think our fuel bill each year will come in at around £700 and we live in the north of Scotland which is pretty cold. <br /><br />Would I recommend it? Maybe I'm the wrong person to ask after our bad experience. If you can find an experienced engineer who has been dealing successfully with these for a few years, then it may be worth looking into. I think the government grants have now stopped but you can claim RHI payments through ofgem. I know someone who is claiming £600 a quarter due to using biomass and solar panels.<br /><br />Also, make sure you actually see the size of a biomass boiler, the buffer tank, and the silo for storing the pellets if you intend having one. This lot takes up half of our garage - it isn't small!<br />Good luck!SusanMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09622557936441532144noreply@blogger.com