Fed up with this bloody old boiler :(

[Scud14]

I've got an old Ideal Standard boiler which is floor standing in the kitchen.
It width is 36cm X 96cm hight.

It has pilot flame ON all the time. There is a kind of tall cylinder in the bathroom which holds the hot water - i guess and not sure -.
There is kind of a pump or a machine near that cylinder in the bathroom that makes the water comes faster from the shower head.

The problem happened today when I was taking shower in this new house....
The shower stopped giving hot water after just less than 5 minutes of turning it ON although the water still comes hot from the bathtub tap!

After this incident I decided to get rid of that "Beast" boiler that people keep complementing and saying how good is it and lasts forever!

The question is how possible to install new combi boiler without a tank!
If I go for the new ones, will be possible to fit it at the same place of the current boiler or installer will need to knock walls off and expose pipes...etc?

I have never had an old boiler replaced or even modern one so I wish if you can advise regard that.

Many thank

 

[Tibbot]

Your boiler is not the cause of the problem.

 

[petit_pablo]

Sounds like an ideal mexico. The boiler is not the problem.

 

[Scud14]

Thanks for clearing the issue guys.... where is the problem then?!
but I thought always of changing it as i see it consumes too much gas and heats water in time we don't need it and once the hot water from the tank finishes, you are helpless under the shower!

 

[Whitespirit66]

As said before, if the hot water still goes to the bath, then ithe boiler is fine. If you have hw, the boiler is doing its job.

The problem is in the supply of HW to the shower, so I would start by investigating the shower pump if you have one. Either broken, or poss blocked filter.

These type of boilers and systems are far more reliable than combis.

 

[Scud14]

As said before, if the hot water still goes to the bath, then ithe boiler is fine. If you have hw, the boiler is doing its job.

The problem is in the supply of HW to the shower, so I would start by investigating the shower pump if you have one. Either broken, or poss blocked filter.

There is a shower pump. and it pumps water fine but it went cold in short time.
Is there any tank other than that cylinder? because I saw some pipes going and coming from the loft.
In case I went for a combi, will I need that pump?

These type of boilers and systems are far more reliable than combis.

They might be, but I used the combi ones and they were good as they heated the central heating on temp. and heats the water with another temp. and shuts down when nobody at the house and not like this one that works all the time and force you to finish the shower quickly before the hot water reserve runs out!

 

[Hugh Jaleak]

May use more gas but it'll take a while to recoup savings on gas against cost of fitting a new boiler. Properly serviced and looked after, those things will go on for a few years yet. May be worth upgrading the cylinder if you've the older type with a red jacket to retain the heat in the water.

Check as Whitespirit has suggested regarding shower. If the tank is full of hot water then problem is its not getting to the shower! There will probably be 2 tanks in the loft. Small tank is central heating, this is completely seperate to the hot supply, it should be approx 1/3rd full.

Larger tank will supply hot cylinder. check its fairly full, ballvalve is working correctly and there no crud in the bottom blocking the outlets. Also check filters in the inlets to the shower pump, if there's crud in the system it'll collect here and block water supply to the pump.

If you swap to a combi, pump will be redundant. If combi breaks down, shower will be redundant.

 

[Agile]

As explained your problem is NOT your boiler.

Your boiler is old and not efficient but it is reliable.

A combi may not be your best solution!

In fact it probably is NOT the best solution.

Its too difficult to cover all the aspects but if you telephoned me about 1030 in the morning I could ask a few questions and tell you the most likely solution.

Otherwise get your problem sorted and leave the old boiler alone.

Tony