Megaflo Solar - Limited Hot Water from Boiler

[be11aml]

Hi,

I've just moved house and have a Megaflo solar 210l cylinder connected to a Wocester Bosch Greenstar 24i junior boiler. I have noticed that we sometimes run out of hot water, when there is a high demand (2 adults and 2 kids). We had a similar setup at our old house, but without the solar option and never had any issues with hot water running out.

I have discovered that the inclusion of the solar heating coil in the megaflo means that the boiler is only heating the top 120 l of water, which explains why we sometime run out.

My question - Is there any reason that the boiler can not be connected to the lower heating coil, which would then heat the full cylinder?

I have some plans to get some work done with moving radiators, so I would add this to the job and make sure I engage a G3 registered engineer.

Solar does interest me, but I am guessing that the cost will be prohibitive. If anyone has a ballpark figure for installation in Hertfordshire, this may be an option.

Thanks

Luke

 

[flameport]

Is there any reason that the boiler can not be connected to the lower heating coil, which would then heat the full cylinder?

No, and if you don't have any solar panels then it should be connected there.

Solar does interest me, but I am guessing that the cost will be prohibitive

Solar hot water is a colossal waste of money.
Thousands to install for savings of perhaps £50 per year.

 

[gassymark]

Just connect up the solar coil in series better in fact as there is a volume of water not heated to sterilisation temp.

Cheers mark

 

[be11aml]

Just to temporarily revive this thread........

Heatrae Sadia have advised against connecting the boiler to the solar heating coil, as it goes against their standard installation and would invalidate the warranty.

Other than invalidating the warranty (which is a risk I am willing to take, rather than replacing the unit for a non-solar cylinder) are there any safety or performance concerns about making this change.

For simplicity, I am planning to request that the return outlet from the upper coil is connected to flow of the lower coil, then back to the boiler. This will allow lower part of the cylinder to be heated and hopefully avoid me having cold showers (last in queue behind the wife and 2 kids!).

Many thanks for any input

 

[Dan Robinson]

There is no reason to not do it. The fact that they will cancel your warranty for it shows what a schit company they are and precisely why I won't supply and fit their products.

 

[be11aml]

Thanks for the response Dan Robinson!

I reckon I'll carry on with getting this modified. A couple of the G3 registered engineers that have looked at the job have said that they wanted to check with the manufacturer before making any changes. So I'm sure they will get the same feedback as me.

The cylinder that I have seems a bit uncommon. It is labelled as a Megaflo Solar CL210 and has an external expansion vessel, although it does not appear on the discontinued list on the Heatrae Sadia website.

 

[dilalio]

Sometimes you have to ignore the bloody legal dept of a manufacturer and trust a good old engineer to adapt and overcome