Our customer had an old Glowworm boiler which was in a position preventing a planned extension to the house.

The object of our works, on the Purley/Coulsdon borders

HWCH Ltd were recommended by another customer, and we suggested replacing the boiler with a modern Vaillant ecoTEC 630 system boiler.

The Vaillant ecoTEC+ 630 is a 30Kw boiler (102,000 BTu output) with an integral 2 speed pump, all mounted in a modern near-silent enclosure.

We give 5 year warranties on our Vaillant boilers, which, along with the recommendation, no doubt helped win us this contract.

New Vaillant boiler in utility room

The customer had originally carried his own central heating installation over 20 years ago, and a very fine job he had made of it.  In fact, it looked nothing like a typical DIY installation, we were very impressed.

We relocated the boiler from a WC to a utility room, and provided modern programmable Honeywell thermostatic controls, which enabled the house to be zoned into two areas.

Wiring up the new Honeywell zone valves

The boiler will be covered by a 5yr parts and labour warranty until 2013.  If your Vaillant boiler installer does not give you this, perhaps you should be calling us for a quote!

ºOur customer has a large 3 storey Victorian detached property in Dulwich.

In common with many houses in this area, an old gravity fed hot and cold water system using loft tanks was employed. 

Our customer wished to gradually update his house to new mains pressure fed bathrooms, using European high pressure taps, and wisely didn’t fancy the prospect of shower pumps.

He also wanted to make use of the loft space currently occupied by the large water tanks, and remove the old copper hot water storage cylinder on the 1st floor to make room for another shower.

Our brief was to design the plant to deliver his requirements, all within a cellar a little under 6 feet tall.

In the cellar we found a venerable Kidd Boiler, dating from 1990, so this was retained as it probably has a good few years of life left in it.   Launched in 1982, it was an early condensing high efficiency design that remarkably few ‘heating engineers’ have heard of to this day, even though it was probably the first commercial British condensing boiler.  Still made today, we still fit them!

Kidd Boiler Model 2 Gas (now available in white!)

I commonly hear ‘how reliable’ someone’s old Potterton has been……….  if they had fitted a Kidd instead 20 years ago it would have been just as reliable but burnt just over half the fuel in the intervening 20 years.  Notables including the Highgrove Estate and Peter Gabriel were savvy enough to understand the importance of not wasting fuel back then, but that’s another story….

We had to boost the water flow rate from the 20 litres a minute provided by Thames Water to in excess of 40 litres per minute.  We did this with a stored water pressure vessel.

We then needed a hot water storage system that could fit below the low ceiling, but have a fast recovery time in the event of concerted use.  We looked into a heatstore, but the costs of having a special unit fabricated to meet the space restrictions were very high.  Also the Kidd Boiler does not modulate, so ideally we would need a heatstore with a 46Kw plate heat exchanger to enable the boiler to discharge its power in a long burn, rather than a protracted series of short cycles, which wastes energy needlessly.

We ended up specifying the ACV Smartline tank in tank ‘unvented’ cylinder instead.  To those of you who think of a Megaflo when unvented cylinders are mentioned, this is a World apart.

ACV cylinder cutaway

The stainless steel water cylinder containing your hot water is suspended within another steel cylinder containing the boiler heated water.  When the water is heated it is surrounded 360° by the boiler water, resulting in a very fast warm up time indeed. 

So our Kidd Boiler can discharge it’s full output of 46Kw into the ACV cylinder, resulting in a quick heat recovery period.

The ACV cylinder has another trick;  although it is an unvented cylinder, it is designed to store water at 80ºC, rather than the 60ºC usually used.  The reason we normally store hot water at 60C is that at temperatures above this, limescale is precipitated from the water and deposits scale.  The ACV inner cylinder is ribbed, and every water draw off causes a movement, this prevents scale from building up.  The electrical immersion heater is fitted to the other jacket, so never scales up.

The result is that we can store more hot water energy in an ACV cylinder than an equivalent sized alternative, and most boilers will work more efficiently when driving them. 

Water Boosting Vessel and ACV Smartline hot water unvented cylinder

The equipment was all mounted well below drainage level, so a Drainmaster high temperature compatible pumpset was fitted.  The Kidd Boiler used to disharge its condense into a plastic 2 gallon drum (nobody manufactured condensate pumps in the 80s and 90s, so this was a common bodge), but now it can use the Drainmaster, along with a soon to be fitted sink, washing machine and of course the emergency discharge from the unvented system.  The Drainmaster is a pump in a vented sump, and is hot water rated for these types of application.

The outside Kidd flue had been damaged by builders, so we commissioned a new hand welded item from Kidd Boilers  (Mr Kidd, as usual, had the original installation drawings on file)

Finally, the latest Honeywell programmable room heating controller (CM927) was added to the installation to bring it up to date.

Honeywell Programmable room thermostst

We think the showers are now almost too painful to get under……..  but some of our customers like them like that!

Period house in Warlingham, Surrey

Our client has a woodworking business and was constructing an imaginative barn type conversion for their property, with lots of oak beams in an unusual semi circular design.

Firstly, we installed a Heritage Cooker in the existing kitchen.  Fitted with brass trim and a Jade Green enamelled finish, it was also specified with body colour hotplate covers.

Heritage Cooker

This particular Heritage Cooker was a gas fired unit, most of the Heritages we fit are oil fired in very rural locations.

In common with all 3 oven Heritage units, the control panel concealed behind the upper left hand door enables the unit to be timed according to the user requirements. 

Showing hidden control panel

From cold, the Heritage is ready for cooking in as little as 25 minutes.  Try telling this to an AGA owner and they start getting very defensive.  Especially in the summer when their cooker is making the kichen intolerably hot and using completely unnecessary amounts of fuel!

An old Potterton boiler and associated hot water cylinder was removed, and a new Vaillant ecoTEC+ 937 hybrid combination boiler was installed in the extension, together with a new water main.

Vaillant 937

We have fitted lots of this model over the past 18 months.  ecoTEC937 uses a buffer store of preheated hot water, to give a performance of around 200 litres of hot in the first 10 minutes, all from a (large) wall hung boiler.  This is a boiler that is a viable alternative for a small unvented cylinder installation for water delivery, if there is only 25 litres per minute coming in the property.

Separate circuits were installed for the underfloor heating system in the extension and the main radiators in the house.

Underfloor heating and radio controls

The underfloor heating manifold (and electrical consumer unit above) will be concealed inside a larder kitchen unit later in the project.

The underfloor heating is fitted with the OJ electronics radio thermostat system, so our customer has 4 zones of independently controllable underfloor heating, plus a separately timed and programmable radiator system, giving 5 addressable zones of heating in the house.

All ready for Christmas 2008, and the floor tiler!

Our customer had an old warm air unit, using an open flue chimney system.

The subject of our works

This was removed and a new Johnson & Starley ‘Economaire’ unit installed in the same position, complete with an internal water heater.

New warm air unit in position

The Johnson and Starley standard product has an inbuilt mechanical programmer for central heating and hot water timing. 

At our customer’s request, we fitted a remote digital 7 day timer to the Economaire, for more flexibility in control.

New Horstmann digital programmer fitted in alternative location

Our customer premises

Our client, an independent church ministry, occupy a building in the Nutfield region of Surrey, near Redhill.

Their original boiler was a Potterton Suprima, a model which enjoyed high sales between approximately 1995 and 2004.  Unfortunately, it also featured regularly on BBC’s Watchdog programme, due to some alleged design defects which result in the circuit boards needing frequent replacement.

This unit failed for a diffferent reason.  The Suprima can have a long flue run, if the optional Potterton twin pipe system is employed.  Our customer had such an installation, running from the airing cupboard mounted boiler, through a large loft space, to a vertical flue terminal on the rear side of the pitched roof.

Condensation had formed inside the flue (which a Potterton Suprima is not constructed to deal with, as it is a non condensing boiler), which had run back down the pipe inside the combustion area of the boiler, where it was trapped, and rotted the casing.  Result, a total write off. 

Having checked our Potterton archive, the flue was installed correctly by the original builder, so this appears to be another Suprima instance of an under developed and tested product being introduced to market.  Luckily, very few Suprimas were equipped with this type of twin pipe flue system, but if yours was, you may want to get it checked over before a dangerous situation develops.

We recommended that the new boiler, a Vaillant ecoTEC+ 624, was sited in the roof space.  The new boiler is a high efficiency condensing type, and needs a drain attached, which was not available in the airing cupboard.

Vaillant system boiler in loft space

The installed system of radiators used microbore plumbing, so was unable to be Powerflushed clean due to the frictional resistance of the pencil thin pipe.  Heating companies have been known to connect their powerflush machines to microbore, but it is utterly pointless, because the flow of water through the radiators is so small it does not have an agitating or cleansing effect.

To help protect the boiler from dirt and rust contamination in the old pipework, we fitted the latest ‘TwinTech’ from Adey systems, this captures ferrous material with a magnetic rod, and non ferrous detritus in a filter.  This unit, seen in purple underneath the boiler, is the new upgraded version of the old Adey ‘Magnaclean’ filter.

The flue was run through the loft space (shown temporarily supported here) to a new vertical terminal on the roof. 

Vaillant flue inside loft area

Scaffolding was needed here due to the roof having no apex but a hidden flat top, so roof ladders could not be used.

The neatest jobs are the ones you can't see

New Honeywell 907 thermostat in hall

Inside a Vaillant 6 series ecoTEC+

View with control panel down

HWCH’s customer had a rather ugly old boiler mounted in a cupboard in the kitchen.

Old boiler in kitchen

This unit had to go, as a refurbishment was imminent.  We recommended fitting a Vaillant boiler in the utility room.

New Vaillant boiler in utility room

The Vaillant 428 is a small open vented boiler which is designed especially for the UK market, where we often have a small radiator tank in the loft.

The boiler flue from a modern high efficiency unit discharges plume, a condensation laden steam effect rather like an old train.  Building Regulations and good neighbour relations mean that we have to be mindful in which direction this discharges.

We used the Vaillant ‘Variable Flue termination kit’ accessory to run the steam output all the way up the side of the house and discharge it safely and aesthetically, vertically next to the roof.

It was an awkward site next to a window and a gutter

The flue matches the rainwater goods in size and colour.

Spot the boiler flue

Finished job

Our client has bought a 1960s house in the well regarded village of Woldingham, Surrey, and embarked on a major remodelling of all services and interiors.

When finished, the building will incorporate a modern kitchen, and comprehensively remodelled interiors.

We have assisted our customer in the selection of the heating system, but they have also contributed much to the specification, including the innovative Jaga Strada ‘low H20′ high efficiency radiators.

HWCH will be fitting a large underfloor heating grid on the ground floor, a 46Kw Viessmann 200 series light commercial boiler, accumulator boosted DualStream hot and cold water system, all controlled by the Honeywell Hometronic radiator and underfloor control system.

The industrial gas meter has been moved as part of the works, and our commercial gas engineer will be installing a new underground service to the house and swimming pool boilers.

Work is expected to finish in early 2009, but for now,here are some photographs;

Viessmann 46Kw boiler in utility room

Part of the underfloor heating grid just installed

Cylinder cupboard 35mm pipework under test

We were asked to replace some microbore radiators on a Potterton boiler.

Our customer also complained that the boiler regularly ‘locked out’ and never seemed to stop.  We found that the wiring centre had been thrown behind the hot water cylinder, there was no room thermostat, and no pump bypass fitted.  This device if missing, would cause the boiler to overheat.

We cured these faults and then the customer pointed out the drain attached to their Potterton boiler.  this is nemant to discharge into the main sewerage system, and any external pipework is meant to be insulated.

This is what we found;

No trouble taken

If you receive a boiler quote that seems cheaper than most, there is usually a reason, and this installation was a typical example of what to expect.  Faulty wiring, incorrect system design and shoddy workmanship.

The next example is from a pensioner’s house in Kingston, Surrey.  She has a warm air unit that was originally commissioned by her late husband (who had no formal gas training).

She was at pains to describe how there was nothing wrong with it;  however even a cursory glance showed us that the installation was in serious danger of setting the house alight and the flue design would be spilling products of combustion inside the house.

Unfortunately, when I appraised her (being as respectful as possible to her late husband) of these facts, she explained that she had been receiving hospital treatment for carbon monoxide in her bloodstream, but that the doctor had said it was naturally occurring and could not have been caused by her boiler…..!

I tried to explain the problem but she asked me to leave and locked the door behind me.  The only picture I could get was of her flue outlet…

 Hopefully she has now had a new unit fitted.

40 people die from carbon monoxide poisioning due to poorly installed or maintained appliances every year.  No one likes regulations, but unfortunately in our industry it is only too necessary.

This job was in a large house which had two open flued water heaters on the 1st floor providing hot water to the bathrooms.

Our customer wanted the old gas appliances removed for safety reasons, and also desired a mains pressure system to feed his new baths and showers, instead of the noisy and unreliable pumped system.

We recommended a DualStream accumulator fed unvented system.  The accumulator (which boosts the available water flow rate in the house) was fitted in one airing cupboard, and a 300 litre unvented cylinder was fitted in the other.

DualStream accumulator in one airing cupboard

The accumulator fed system discharges water at an enormous flow rate into the showers and baths. 

Shaun puts the finishing touches to the DualStream unvented HW cylinder

In fact, it quickly exposed a faulty plastic pipe joint fitted by another bathroom installer.  After a quick pop up the system was fully operational.

Vaillant EcoMax Pros in basement

The new system was adapted to run off a pair of existing Vaillant open vented Ecomax Pros in the basement.  One of these was not working but it was a simple arcing electrode fault. 

We rewired these units to work with the Honeywell Hometronic radiator management system, now our customer has full control of 16 different zones of heating.

From the kitchen...........

This customer was having a large extension fitted on the rear of the property, in the form of a wooden Amdega conservatory.

We suggested that water based underfloor heating would be far cheaper to run, and more effective than the electric matting recommended by the conservatory builder.

New Amdega conservatory - underfloor heating by HWCH

The old 50Kw Potterton commercial boiler was removed and replaced with a top quality Viessmann 300 49Kw system boiler with KM bus varispeed pump.

Viessmann 300 49Kw in utility room

The house suffered from inadequate heating in the triple aspect bedroom and lounge, and also the large number of rooms meant that heat was being wasted during the day when some of the family were at school.

Repiping the areas into separately controllable zones was not a practical option, so we fitted the Hometronic radiator/UFH management system.  This allows the customer to set temperatures differently throughout the house in up to 16 separate zones, throughout the day/week.

Radiator fitted with Hometronic valve (a bit blurred!)

The lounge is treated as a separate zone, so if the customer has set the temperature to 20C for the evening, the radiators will come on as frequently as necessary, without affecting the rest of the house. 

Hometronic controller for heating and hot water

The conservatory is now lovely and warm, and the Viessmann boiler is saving lots of gas compared to the old inefficient Potterton unit.