This property had an old HarcoPak, which is an integrated hot water cylinder and cold water storage tank, mounted in a frame on the 1st floor.

It was heated by an old Potterton Kingfisher 100BF floorstanding boiler, which had been installed with a flue a couple of inches from the rear door and an undersized gas pipe;  both of which were contrary to the gas regs at the time the house was constructed, and still are.

We removed the Potty boiler, leaving a large hole for the on site building team of Mizon Builders to brick up.

We relocated the new boiler into the garage at the other end of the building.  We suggested a Worcester-Bosch 30CDi conventional.  This is a 102,000BTu boiler based on a Junkers design (a German part of the Bosch Group), a rugged wall hung boiler compatible with UK open vented radiator systems. 

Due to the proximity of the neighbouring property at this point in the building, we proposed a vertical flue solution, and our customer was happy to agree.  We used the services of our professional roofing subcontractor, to make the aperture and weatherseal the flue terminal.  We always use our skilled roofing specialists because the work has to last the lifetime of the roof.

Next, the hot and cold water.  We converted the systems to an unvented cylinder, where water is at mains pressure to all outlets.  Wherever possible it is best to site the hot water storage where there is a relatively short pipe run to most points of use, so the original airing cupboard was retained and a new 300 litre cylinder shoehorned in.

In 2011 the UK Government are committed to provide ‘feed in tariffs’ for solar generated hot water.  This means the end of cash grants towards the installation of solar hot water, but heralds the beginning of an annual rebate for new, accredited solar installations (it isn’t retrospective).  In preparation for this, we installed an unvented cylinder that has a solar coil – making the addition of solar panels much simpler at a later date.

The Range Tribune HE Solar is a well made unit from the Kingspan Group, which is very similar to the Worcester-Bosch branded Greenskies unvented unit.   It is reasonably common knowledge that they all come from Kingspan, the ones for Worcester get silver paint. 

On to the underfloor heating.  Our customer had a large conservatory area, and a kitchen and utility into which he rather liked the idea of installing underfloor heating.  The problem he had was the finished floor level; using conventional water underfloor heating the floor level is typically going to rise by around 75mm.  The alternative is an electric blanket – these are cheap to buy, cheap to fit, and around 300% more expensive to run than a gas fired UFH system.  Also, if the small element fails, digging the floor up is the only option.

As the floor already had insulation fitted when the building was constructed around 17 yrs ago, we specified the Velta MiniTEC system.  This unique underfloor system uses a 9.9mm pipe and a special polymer screed system, resulting in a floor uplift of only 15mm.

The floor is levelled and then a plastic castellated support sheet is glued to the floor.

Over a period of a few hours the rest of the support system was laid and the pipework grid overlaid.

The existing radiators were prepared by Powerflushing, and separate heating zones set up to enable timed, programmable temperature areas.

Most of the new pipework was conveniently hidden and insulated within voids in the eaves.  A 28mm water supply pipe was installed for the new unvented cylinder supply, to obtain the best performance from the existing water main.

8 days later the works were completed, I look forward to seeing the finished kitchen area!

Posted in Pressurised hot water system installations, Solar, Standard (heat only) boiler installations, Worcester Bosch boilers, underfloor heating

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