A relative has a gas central heating system which has been fine for the last 25 years but is starting to play up now. The immediate problem is that the boiler is sometimes failing to light. It's a Potterton Netaheat 16/22 F Mk II, and the plumber called to fix it has advised that it's too old to be worth repairing. It's an old boiler and stands to reason that it won't last forever so that seems quite reasonable.
The problem is that the plumber is also saying that it isn't possible to simply replace the boiler. I would have thought that apart from moving a few pipes around and a bit of rewiring the new boiler would effectively be a like for like replacement leaving the rest of the system alone. However, we're being told that because the installation doesn't meet "the new regulations" it will be necessary to rip out the whole existing central heating system and install everything from scratch: pipework, radiators, the lot. This is likely to take weeks and cost many thousands of pounds.
The existing system has a gas boiler, pumped circuit feeding radiators and the hot water tank with a three port valve to control both flows. One potential problem is that most of the CH is on a twin pipe system but part of it is on a single pipe system. Another potential problem is that most of the pipes on the ground floor were cast into the concrete raft when the house was built. I don't see any technical reason why the single pipe part shouldn't be upgraded to twin pipe (leaving the rest of the system alone) but apparently this isn't permitted because of "the new regulations". The plumber has also said that he wouldn't be able to make use of any of the buried pipes and would have to run new pipes everywhere, but gave the impression this was because the buried pipes were too old to be relied on not because of any explicit regulation forbidding them.
Can any of the experienced plumbers here shed any light on the situation - can you guess what "new regulations" he might have been referring to and is it likely that the regulations do actually require the whole system to be replaced?
The problem is that the plumber is also saying that it isn't possible to simply replace the boiler. I would have thought that apart from moving a few pipes around and a bit of rewiring the new boiler would effectively be a like for like replacement leaving the rest of the system alone. However, we're being told that because the installation doesn't meet "the new regulations" it will be necessary to rip out the whole existing central heating system and install everything from scratch: pipework, radiators, the lot. This is likely to take weeks and cost many thousands of pounds.
The existing system has a gas boiler, pumped circuit feeding radiators and the hot water tank with a three port valve to control both flows. One potential problem is that most of the CH is on a twin pipe system but part of it is on a single pipe system. Another potential problem is that most of the pipes on the ground floor were cast into the concrete raft when the house was built. I don't see any technical reason why the single pipe part shouldn't be upgraded to twin pipe (leaving the rest of the system alone) but apparently this isn't permitted because of "the new regulations". The plumber has also said that he wouldn't be able to make use of any of the buried pipes and would have to run new pipes everywhere, but gave the impression this was because the buried pipes were too old to be relied on not because of any explicit regulation forbidding them.
Can any of the experienced plumbers here shed any light on the situation - can you guess what "new regulations" he might have been referring to and is it likely that the regulations do actually require the whole system to be replaced?
