Electric central heating removal

[madmart]

Hi I am new here, I have recently purchased a house that needs a fair bit of work doing to it .
Part of the work needs doing is the central heating, when I first looked round the house I could see all of the provision for central heating but no boiler and it appears that the house was running the central heating through the electric boiler?
I have never seen anything like it , the whole of the ( plastic) pipework and electrics is a complete mess . When I turn on the water supply water shoots out of the overflow pipe at a rapid rate of knots . I want to isolate the water cylinder for the moment , it has 4 pipes going in and out how do I work out which pipe is which and could I end up causing more problems by doing this ?

 

[CBW]

Is there an electric boiler on site? If not you have a gas fed or oil fed boiler, could be a back boiler. Isolate the cylinder for what purpose? If water is shooting out if the overflow, I’d say it’s likely a failed float valve.

 

[madmart]

No the previous owner has set up the immersion heater to also heat the radiators !!

 

[CBW]

No the previous owner has set up the immersion heater to also heat the radiators !!

I find that hard to believe. You have a pump, 3 port valve and cylinder thermostat - all controlled via a wiring center, which in turn sends the demand to fire the boiler. You have a 27” immersion heater which is 3Kw and not enough to provide both.

 

[madmart]

I found it hard to believe as well !!
But it's definitely all running off of the immersion heater

 

[CBW]

So you turn the immersion switch on in the right if that photo, do you turn any other switches on, or does it use gravity?

 

[madmart]

I haven't tested it , it's a 3kw heater so I am not going to pay out £30 or £40 just to see if it works !! I am going to pull out the central heating part of the system for the moment, and install an LPG water heater temporarily,it's such a monumental bodge I am having difficulty getting my head around it

 

[CBW]

Ok well, thanks for sort of eventually answering what I asked in post #2. Is everything coming out in one hit?

 

[madmart]

Yes the water was coming out of the overflow very quickly indeed , it was like a hosepipe on full power.

As I said I haven't tried the hot water or central heating at all , I would if possible like to link it to a wood burning stove with a back boiler.
Radiators are in place but really need to be replaced with new ones.
I have temporarily fitted an LPG water heater just to get by while I compile a bit more information about what to do

 

[CBW]

Apologies, I’m going to have to bow out as I’m not feeling my best and this is extremely hard work. I’ll leave it for one of the pro’s or a diyer.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Part of the work needs doing is the central heating, when I first looked round the house I could see all of the provision for central heating but no boiler and it appears that the house was running the central heating through the electric boiler?
I have never seen anything like it , the whole of the ( plastic) pipework and electrics is a complete mess .

Looking at your photo, I find it very hard to believe it is such a mess, or that the heating runs/ran on the immersion heater. Somewhere, you have or had a boiler. Is this a tiny flat, or a house?

 

[RandomGrinch]

Have you looked in the loft?

 

[madmart]

Harry thanks for replying, yes unfortunately I spent a half a day looking for a boiler or any trace of a boiler !!
For the moment I have disconnected the water to the water tank and immersion heater and put an LPG water heater in the system, and yes they truly have been using the water tank and immersion heater to heat the radiators !! The water cylinder seems to have 2 inlets and 2 outlets one to water system and one to hot water system. So someone actually planned it like that , who I don't know

 

[RandomGrinch]

The water cylinder seems to have 2 inlets and 2 outlets one to water system and one to hot water system. So someone actually planned it like that

Yes, that's how hot water cylinders connected to a boiler tend to be setup...

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

The water cylinder seems to have 2 inlets and 2 outlets one to water system and one to hot water system.

Which is perfectly normal, that's how they work!