Dual fuel gas fire connected to central heating

[petegibbo72]

Hi, I'm new to the forum so please bear with me.

I've just bought my first home and it doesnt have a boiler. The water to the only bathroom and kitchen is heated via a very small electric water heater.

There is what I'm told is a dual fuel gas fire in the living room and that also heats the radiators.

I'm having the bathroom re-done and have been told a combi is the way to go? Would it be possible to keep the fire where it is, and just disconnect it from the central heating system so I could have the new combi heating my hot water and doing the radiators as well?

I had a plumber look at everything but he didnt look very sure so I thought I'd check the process on here before he gives me a quote.

He said he could just 'tee' into the gas line that's going to the fire and run that to the new combi and then just cap off the heating pipes coming out of the fire and connect those pipes onto the combi.

But like a say, he didnt sound very confident so please could someone let me know this is all going to run smoothly.

Many thanks
Pete

 

[denso13]

could someone let me know this is all going to run smoothly.

Impossible to tell without looking at it. Get several quotes from Gas Safe installers, preferably someone friends/family have been happy with.

 

[petegibbo72]

Yeah ok I will do.

Is it not that straight forward then? To move the central heating pipes from the gas fire (or whatever it is...it's in a fire place) over to a new combi?

I would have thought it was a simple enough job. The gas fire could just be a gas fire and the combi could do the heating and hot water right?

 

[denso13]

Is it not that straight forward then?....I would have thought it was a simple enough job. The gas fire could just be a gas fire and the combi could do the heating and hot water right?

It might be really straight forward but that couldn't be confirmed without looking at it. On the face of it the only thing that is a problem in your first post is the gas supply. It is highly unlikely you will be able to use the existing supply to the fire at all.

 

[petegibbo72]

Yeah I understand it's not easy without actually having a look at it.

The plumber showed me which pipe was the gas. It's in 22mm he said, which was fine (again...according to him) and that would be ok.

I've got another plunber coming round tomorrow so hopefully he'll know what he's doing.

Thanks for the advice