Archive for the ‘Water Boosting installations’ Category
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Our client had a delightful detached house in a secluded road in Oxted, Surrey.
The house had been extended into the loft, and had ended up with three luxury bathrooms. Unfortunately, the hot water storage cylinder was jammed under the stairs and was too small. And there were three separate shower pumps (each installed by plumbers with every new bathroom).
The shower pumps were noisy, one was a negative head type (so it suffered from running for short periods in the middle of the night), the hot water cylinder could not be sited anywhere else, and the water tanks took up valuable space in the eaves.
The boiler was an old Potterton Kingfisher light commercial 60Kw unit, mounted in an external boiler house. Our customer wanted to remove the water tanks and cylinder from the house, and relocate everything into the small outside boiler cupboard.
And she wanted the boiler flue of the new unit to go up the existing chimney.
With this set of rather onerous requirements, there were a shortage of heating and plumbing companies with suitable solutons.
Side of property showing chimney and boiler room beneath
The old boiler was from heat calculations, considered to be oversized at 60Kw. In fact, a 35Kw boiler would deliver a more than adequate heating performance for the property.
Potterton Kingfisher Mk1 – about to be scrapped! Powerflush machine outside.
New ACV Heatmaster 35TC installed
We estimated that the hot/cold water requirement would be circa 40 litres per minute. We choose the ACV Heatmaster combination boiler unit, because this can deliver this incredible flow rate into a domestic property.
Most unvented cylinders struggle to deliver this kind of performance, and here we have a combined boiler and hot water generator that can cover all the bases in one simple unit. Truth is, whilst the ACV is billed as a combination boiler, it is really a hybrid solution, being a croos between a heatstore and an unvented cylinder.
It uses the trusted ACV tank-in-tank technology, and can run in full condensing (high efficiency) mode even when producing hot water. The heatstore runs at 85C and directly heats the house and indirectly heats the hot water, in an enveloped tank.
The ACV was adapted to run ‘open flue’ up the chimney. Our customer needed some roof repairs so the scaffolding for the twin walled condensing smooth liner was shared between HWCH and their roofing contractor.
500 litre GAH accumulator fitted directly behind ACV boiler
Of course, running a mains fed water system to serve three bathrooms requires a good quality water main.
In common with most houses, our customer’s water main struggled to deliver 22 litres per minute, and we were looking for closer to 50 litres per minute when those three bathrooms were being used.
To improve the peak water flow rate, a GAH accumulator was fitted in the boiler plant room directly behind the ACV Heatmaster.
It was a tight fit in there, but what a performance punch we packed in!
Instantaneous hot water, fully condensing performance, boosted water flow, three bathroom showers at the same time, and no plant inside the house. On time, and on budget.
Scaffolding was used for roof repairs and for inserting new condensing liner in chimney
Posted in ACV Heatmaster fast flow combination boiler, Combination boiler installations, Pressurised hot water system installations, Water Boosting installations, Water boosting (accumulators) | No Comments »
Wednesday, December 3rd, 2008
Our client in Headley, Surrey had two large open tanks in their basement boiler room, equipped with two Stuart Turner whole house pumps.
Twin pumped hot and cold water via break tank
Like many houses in the UK, they had found that their pressurised hot and cold water system (using a pair of existing Megaflo cylinders) could not deliver two bathrooms worth of usable water at the same time.
So they installed the break tank system, which trickle fills an open tank from the mains, and when a tap is opened, one of the two pumps starts. This is the old fashioned way of doing things, and it has a few problems.
First problem is, when there is a power cut you don’t get any water. You have to go into the cellar and turn some valves to bypass the tank. When the power comes back on, it’s back down the cellar to turn the water supply via the tanks again.
Second problem is, the tank is atmospherically open, leading to potential contamination and stagnation issues. Particularly as the location tended to be quite warm most of the year.
HWCH were aproached for a better solution, even though the original had only been in place for a few years.
Break tank, and pumps, replaced with twin accumulators
We removed the break tanks and pumps, plus associated bypass valves, power wiring etc and replaced them with two 500 litre accumulators. These devices store water at static pressure and them provide high flowrates when needed.
Our customer was sceptical that the two unpowered, unpumped accumulators could be anywhere near as effective as their two large noisy pumps and the tanks.
So we offered to fit them at our risk, and remove them if they didn’t work, at no cost!
Our customer thanks that the new system works at least as well as the break tank solution. But importantly, it takes up less room, works regardless in a power cut, is completely silent, needs virtaully no maintenance, and the water is clean and pure (being sealed to the atmosphere).
Another problem solved.
If you have a low pressure or flow problem, break tanks and pumps are not usually the ideal solution. Call us for free advice.
Posted in Pressurised hot water system installations, Water Boosting installations, Water boosting (accumulators) | No Comments »
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
Our client, a farm near Tadworth, Surrey, had an older boiler running two gravity hot water cylinders.
 Our customer in Tadworth - not the dog! The spacious house had a fully equipped annexe with its own hot water provision.
We specifified two DualStream accumulator fed systems, which would replace the old noisy shower pumps and provide a silent, fast flow fresh water service to all outlets.
In the main house we relocated the hot and cold water services into an attic room, to liberate more room downstairs for a bedroom enlargement.
 DualStream No 1 in attic room The other DualStream was sited in the annexe.
 DualStream unvented No2 in annexe The whole system was powered by a new Grant 36-46Kw Vortex condensing oil boiler (with a 3yr warranty) located in the garage.
 Grant Vortex condensing oil boiler in the garage We then converted every radiator to Hometronic using the HR80 valve;
 Hometronic radiator valve - remote control your heating! this, combined with the Hometronic Manager controller, gave our customer the ability to control the heating in the house in 16 completely addressable zones.
 Dean commissioning the new Hometronic system In addition, they can also control the hot water storage cylinders independently, all from the Hometronic Manager (see picture above).
Dean has given them ‘lifestyle buttons’ programmed to allow for guests, the entire heating map and hot water provision can be changed to accommodate any scenario with one simple button press.
Every room in the house is now thermostatically controlled, and the boiler only fires when necessary. You won’t read about this system under ‘energy saving’ in Good Housekeeping; we are years ahead of the game in energy conservation.
Posted in Grant oil boilers, Hometronic energy management, Oil boiler installations, Pressurised hot water system installations, Standard (heat only) boiler installations, Water Boosting installations, Water boosting (accumulators) | No Comments »
Sunday, October 19th, 2008
 Outwood, Surrey
Our customer, in Outwood, Surrey, owns a large house that has recently been comprehensively extended.
In 2006 HWCH fitted a DualStream accumulator boosted unvented hot and cold water system, to make all the baths and showers deliver a hotel-type performance. At the same time we fitted the latest Grant Vortex 46Kw oil fired condensing boiler plant in the cellar.
In 2008, following the building extension works, we were invited back to upgrade the installation with our Hometronic domestic heating controls. This innovative product allows our customer to divide his property into 16 separate zones of heating, each individually monitored and controlled by radio links.
The Hometronic controller was fitted in a utility room, out of the way.
 Hometronic Controller Outwood 2008 From this unit the customer has full control of all 16 areas, plus hot water timings. As there are usually only three occupants to the house (which now includes a granny annexe), the heating levels can be phased during the day to follow the occupants, rather than heating the house in its’ entirety.
 Radiators adapted to Hometronic - Rear Hallway In fact, up to 1600 different temperature set points can be programmed in for a week. No customer has yet managed to schedule that many changes!
All radiators are adapted to take the Hometronic hardware, even the towel rails, which can now be scheduled to warm up in the summer! On their own! No pipework or flooring adaptations are usually needed.
 A towel rail being adapted for Hometronic, warm towels in the summer! At the same time we made a few alterations while the system was being converted. Here is a radiator being added to a previously unheated WC.
 While we were there, we added a radiator in one of the WCs. Much more comfortable. Finally, the system HWCH installed in the cellar back in 2006 was updated by our in house electrical specialist, and the system was filled with Fernox inhibitor and tested.
 Dualstream OSO 500/300 litre and Grant Vortex condensing oil boiler Our customer will now have warmer rooms when and where he wants them, whilst saving energy everywhere else in the property. We believe Hometronic is the future for heating larger houses….
Posted in Grant oil boilers, Hometronic energy management, Oil boiler installations, Pressurised hot water system installations, Standard (heat only) boiler installations, Water Boosting installations, Water boosting (accumulators) | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
The Kidd boiler was very popular in the early years (1982 onwards) with people in the music industry, many of whom were pioneers of environmental awareness. Abba, Peter Gabriel and the Alan Parsons Project are some notable customers of Kidd Boilers over the years.
Inside a Kidd Model 260 – stripped down, preparing for lifting
In a recently completed installation in Oxted, Surrey, we had to lower a Kidd Model 260 into an internal boiler room of a large private house.
There was no space for a conventional crane, and to install a lifting hoist would have required some quite complex scaffolding.
So we used a Genie tower lift, more often used in the rock and roll event lighting industry (where I used to work, many years ago), to lower the 350kg boiler into the cellar and lift the old boilersout. There were three old boilers in the cellar, two operational and one from a bygone era which was obviously to heavy to remove when it died.
Going down! the Kidd Boiler is winched into the cellar through a very tight opening (stairs removed)
The boiler flue will emit large quantities of plume and steam, being a high efficiency condensing boiler. A new Kidd alumimium flue liner was inserted into the boiler room chimney.
 Going up -one of the old boilers being lifted out This installation also involved HWCH in the removal and refurbishment of 26 cast iron radiators, which were shotblasted and reconfigured in new sizes by our contractor. Finished in a mixture of white and metallic bronze, they look truly stunning.
 refurbished School radiator and custom coloured Hometronic valve
The house was completely replumbed in a mixture of steel barrel and copper tubing.
Interestingly, only one electrical pump is used for the whole installation. HWCH and Kidd Boilers believe that pumps waste heat and electrical energy, and many larger houses can have 4 or 5 pumps all working to raise the electricity bill and contribute heat losses.
The Kidd Boiler uses an internal Grundfos pump, inside all the boiler insulation. Any heat losses from the pump (both from electrical and latent heat) are thus recycled back into the boier jacket proper. As Mr Kidd says, it is foolish to waste heat. Mr Kidd always expects a Kidd Boiler room to be a cool one.
Finally, we fitted the Honeywell Hometronic building management system to the house, enabling 16 homeowner-configured heating zones to be controlled completely separately.
Each radiator was fitted with a Honeywell radio linked motorised valve (those fitted to the bronze radiators were specially colour matched), 42 in total.
 School radiator fitted with Hometronic valve
 Another example, this time with a bronze Hometronic valve (special order from Hot Water & Central Heating)
The house is also equipped with two DualStream accumulator pressurised hot/cold water systems. One covers the main house, the other, the guest bathrooms.
The Honeywell Hometronic energy management system is furnished with 10 configurable ‘Lifestyle’ buttons. When our customer has guests staying, they simply press the corresponding button and the heating adapts to encompass guest bedrooms, upper hallway temperatures rise, reception rooms are heating for longer periods, and the second DualStream hot water system is energised.
All clever stuff, but with an end game. With an older house, there is a limit to how much you can insulate against heat loss. Although we fitted one of the most efficient boilers available, further savings can be achieved by using your heat more productively, when and where it is needed. Hometronic takes it to the next level.
With oil pushing 60p a litre, you simply can’t afford to waste it.
Posted in Hometronic energy management, Kidd Boilers, Oil boiler installations, Pressurised hot water system installations, School (iron) radiators, Standard (heat only) boiler installations, Water Boosting installations, Water boosting (accumulators) | No Comments »
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New ACV Heatmaster 35TC installed
500 litre GAH accumulator fitted directly behind ACV boiler
Scaffolding was used for roof repairs and for inserting new condensing liner in chimney
