Can someone explain this hot water system for me? (potential house purchase)

[Mmcgar]

Hi all
I am planning on putting a bid in on a house tomorrow. The market is crazy round my way at the moment, houses are literally on for days before they're sold and we've missed out on a few because of dawdling. I viewed 1 on Friday and liked it, I have just received the home report and the hot water section doesn't really make sense to me, ideally I'd get another viewing for a good look at it but I'm almost certain I won't be able to do this as I know there are other interested parties ready to make an offer so I don't want dawdle again.
I will copy some text from the home report below, basically the way I'm reading it is the house has a boiler for heating only and an electrically heater hot water storage tank, it seems this tank does not have a thermostat tho, this makes no sense to me, is it basically saying the element will be permanently on until you manually switch it off somewhere, surely this would cause pressure /overheating issues? I don't know much about heating systems tbh, iv only ever had combi boilers. Anyway I'll copy some of the text below, id really appreciate if someone could confirm if the hot water is from the gas boiler or from an electric storage tank. I remember my parents had an immersion heater years ago and it was a nightmare if anybody had a bath and used all the hot water. The surveyor has also marked the hot water efficiency as only 2 stars.

Heating and hot water Heating is provided by way of a Baxi gas regular boiler located within the Hall cupboard. There is a foam lagged hot water tank also located within
this cupboard.


Heating and hot water
Repair category 2
Notes A gas fired central heating system has been installed. The gas boiler was noted to be of an older vintage.

Main heating: Boiler and radiators, mains gas

Main heating controls: Programmer, room thermostat and TRVs

Hot water: From main system, no cylinder thermostat

 

[flameport]

Gas boiler which heats radiators and the hot water cylinder. Totally standard setup as found in millions of homes.
Likely the hot water cylinder is supplied from cold storage in the loft, which does mean lower pressure at hot taps. Not a problem unless you want to fit a mixer shower, and even a pump can be fitted to increase pressure.
No cylinder thermostat is somewhat unlikely, but even if missing it's a simple job to fit one and probably less than £100 including installation.

Efficiency stars and home energy reports are generally a load of tosh, and are often only fit for use as toilet paper.

 

[flameport]

.

 

[Mmcgar]

Thanks for the reply! Can I just clarify a few points for my own understanding of the system.
The hot water cylinder is heated by the boiler land not from an immersion heater from the mains electricity)?

Is this still classed as a combi boiler?

Is this setup any less efficient than a "normal" combi boiler setup where hot water is direct from the boiler?

Also, finally, does this setup generally lead to issues where all the hot water is used up from someone having a bath for example, like the issue my parents used to have? I know that's probably a subjective question but I just mean generally is it likely to be an issue

Thanks again

 

[Doggit]

As the heating and hot water system is so old, It'd be better to budget for their replacement, and try haggling the price down because of it.

Depending on your requirements, you'll either go for a combi boiler (cheapest option), or a system boiler with an unvented hot water tank.

 

[Doggit]

The boiler heats the hot water tank in the cupboard, and the immersion heater is there as a backup in case the boiler stops working.

A combi boiler heats the rads, or the hot water at mains pressure, but not both at once. You get rid of the hot water tank in the cupboard, and get a bit more space.

A hot water tank can only hold so much hot water, so yes, a bath will use virtually all of it up, as as flameport said, you won't get a decent shower unless you fit a shower pump - which is just really adding another unnecessary part to an old and inefficient system.

 

[Mmcgar]

Cheers for the replies.

The hot water tank is likely to be an issue for my wife, she can't function without an unnecessarily massive bath every day, add to that a couple of toddlers needing baths aswell and it's likely to be a pain.
The home report has mentioned that the boiler is old anyway, if it's going to need replacing anyway and since the hot water cylinder is in the same cupboard as the boiler, how big a deal would it be to just remove the cylinder, fit a new combi boiler and re route a little bit of pipework so the hot water is fed from the boiler? I'm guessing it wouldn't be too much more expensive than just fitting a new boiler (especially if I removed the old cylinder myself)? I could be totally wrong tho.

In terms of the showery, we will probably just fit an electric shower fed from the mains

 

[JohnD]

A hot-water cylinder can fill a bath faster and hotter than the average combi, especially in winter. A gas boiler can heat a cylinder fuller and much faster than an immersion heater, though the immersion heater is useful when the boiler breaks down. When a combi breaks down, you have no hot water at all.

You will need to find out how many litres per minute the watermain delivers to your house.

Post some photos.

 

[Doggit]

Johns right in terms of combi boilers being slow to fill baths. With everyone preferring baths to showers, I'd go for an unvented cylinder - which would also supply a shower as well. You've got a space problem, but the cylinder could go up in the loft (assuming you can fit adequate support up there) and the boiler can then go in the cupboard.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Not having a cylinder thermostat (which is typical on vented systems installed more than maybe 15 - 20 years ago) means that the hot water temperature is (crudely) controlled by the boiler thermostat, which can be less economical to use, or that the radiators have to be too hot for the hot water to be an adequate temperature or vice versa.

 

[muggles]

As above, don't switch to a combi, if you want more hot water then get a bigger cylinder

 

[bernardgreen]

As above, don't switch to a combi, if you want more hot water then get a bigger cylinder

I agree with that,

 

[DaveHerns]

Surely this is only a few £K worth of work, not a major structural issue and not worth losing a house over?

 

[Mmcgar]

Hi all, thanks for all the replies. My wife was down at the house today I asked her to take a few pictures, sorry they aren't great but they might help clarify the setup.

 

[muggles]

We already knew what setup you have, although your pictures have confirmed it. Standard boiler and vented cylinder setup a seen all across the country