Hot water dead leg

[dmcg14]

I suspected i had a problem with my boiler as my hot water takes 3-4 mins to become warm. I've since been told that since my bathroom is downstair and the boiler upstairs, that the boiler is fine, it is infact a dead leg.

My main pipe comes into the bathroom, through to the kitchen, then upstairs, up to the loft, over the width of the house and back down to my boiler.

I'm getting a mixer shower installed next week to replace my old electric one as i've been advised they are far better, but i'm worried that i don't have a good enough hot water supply for it.

Is my only option to reduce the pipe run?

Thanks

 

[dmcg14]

anyone?

 

[alan999]

Hi
My understanding of a dead leg is a length of pipe which goes nowhere and is capped off. You say you have one but your description does not explain where it is. Do you mean instead that you have a long length of hot water pipe that could be reduced in length?
I would not say that mixer showers are better than electric showers regardless of circumstances. Could you not have a chat with your installer before the shower is purchased and fitted and gauge his opinion.
You might get more responses if you state the make and type of boiler you have and how the other hot water appliances in your bathroom eg the bath function and what the flow and eventual temperature of the water is like.
Good luck with it all.

 

[dmcg14]

My boiler is a Worcester 24LE, but as i said Scottish Hydro were out and looked at the boiler and said it was fine. I had an old storage tank in the loft which has since been removed, although the pipe run still goes up into the loft before entering the boiler meaning i have a 20-25 metre run of pipe filled with stagnent water. When i run a hot tap, i'm assuming all this stagnet water must run out before i receive the hot water being produced by the boiler.

I know i'm probably not explaing myself very clearly, so i apologise.

Regards

 

[alan999]

No need to apologise. It is not always easy to get your head around these things.
This means that you have a combi boiler so the hot water in the bathroom will be at more or less mains pressure. However it has to push 20-25 meters of cold (I doubt stagnant) water out of the way and then heat 20-25 meters of pipework when a hot tap in the bathroom is opened. This is why it takes so long for hot water to eventually arrive. I imagine after this time the shower would be fine. If the pipework can be reduced in length the warm up time will be proportionately shortened along with your gas bill.
An electric shower would also be at more or less mains pressure and would heat the water more quickly. I would question the person who said the new shower would be far better and ask why that would be so in your case. Then you can be reassured that you have made the right decision.

 

[ianniann]

An electric shower would also be at more or less mains pressure and would heat the water more quickly. I would question the person who said the new shower would be far better and ask why that would be so in your case. Then you can be reassured that you have made the right decision.

The most powerful electric showers I've seen are about half the power of a small combi, and less than a third the power of a large combi. That's a half or a third as much hot water you'll have to play with. In other words, especially in winter you'll be standing under a light drizzle at best if you want a hot shower. Electric showers are just awful!

 

[alan999]

Im sure youre right about the power ianniann. That may be the basis for the advice that has been offered. Yet many people are happy with electric showers as sales figures prove. In this case there may be a preference for an (almost) instantaineous supply of hot water to the bathroom without the need to wait 3-4 minutes. The point is that there are pros and cons relevant to the circumstances.