I have an oil fired instantaneous boiler. I would like to plumb in an electric heater into the hot water circuit as a standby unit or for summer use. Is it allowable or possible to plumb one of these directly into the hot water supply from the boiler?
Standby Device
- Thread starter royheath
- Start date
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The instant water heater is probably about 24 kW whereas the electric one is likely to be only about 3 kW.
It will heat so little water that you will need to do something else.
There are some little electric over the sink heaters which give a trickle of hot water for hand washing but not much use for anything else!
Tony
It will heat so little water that you will need to do something else.
There are some little electric over the sink heaters which give a trickle of hot water for hand washing but not much use for anything else!
Tony
It's often suggested as an obvious thing to do, but when you come down to it there's nothing ideal for the purpose.
Instantaneous heaters limit the flow and need an open end, and a big cable if to be much good.
You could install an unvented undersink storage heater, 3kW 15 litres say, but not in series with the oil heater. It would need a couple of valves to change over.
Instantaneous heaters limit the flow and need an open end, and a big cable if to be much good.
You could install an unvented undersink storage heater, 3kW 15 litres say, but not in series with the oil heater. It would need a couple of valves to change over.
Hooray for hot cylinders!
You might consider an elecric shower, but it needs a new circuit so is not a cheap option.
those under-counter 15L units are quite handy for washing up or a bathroom basin, but take up a fair bit of room.
You might consider an elecric shower, but it needs a new circuit so is not a cheap option.
those under-counter 15L units are quite handy for washing up or a bathroom basin, but take up a fair bit of room.
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There have been a couple of times when the boiler went off line and I just wanted to supply hot water to my shower. So, enough to operate a single shower would be sufficient. If I could plumb a heater inline and leave it switched on, presumably the thermostat when set to a lower level than the boiler supply temperature would kick in if the boiler was off but remain off when the boiler was operating.
I have a good feed direct through the boiler but would an inline heater tend to restrict the flow noticeably?
I have a good feed direct through the boiler but would an inline heater tend to restrict the flow noticeably?
Yes it would restrict the flow. An "inline heater" is eg a shower, which would reduce the flow to about 4 litres/minute, in order to get the water hot enough with 8 kW or so of power.
A 15 litre storage thing wouldn't, but wouldn't give you a shower either.
As I said, there is no simple answer!
A 15 litre storage thing wouldn't, but wouldn't give you a shower either.
As I said, there is no simple answer!
If you have the room, you might consider having a "downstairs shower" using an electric shower off the cold main, or a cloakroom with a 15l heater for the basin. This will get you through a short-term problem when the boiler goes wrong.
Hot cylinders are wonderful things
Hot cylinders are wonderful things
In principle an oil combi could be equipped with an electrical immersion in the heat store.
It's not a bad idea and would be a unique selling point.
However in practice the heat store would not normally be large enough to fill a bath or run a shower for very long.
In case you should misinterpret me, I am not suggesting anyone tries this at home
It's not a bad idea and would be a unique selling point.
However in practice the heat store would not normally be large enough to fill a bath or run a shower for very long.
In case you should misinterpret me, I am not suggesting anyone tries this at home
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