System Conversion from Gravity to Pressurised Combi Boiler - Mrs Palmer From Colchester

Mrs Palmer had recently moved into a property with an ageing inefficient boiler and poor water pressure throughout the home. We decided a combi boiler was the best solution to help with the issues present.

How we decided if a combi boiler system conversion would work

We checked the incoming mains water pressure which was adequate and the gas pipework. It would have been impossible to run a new gas pipe to the new boiler because of the flooring in property so we calculated the maximum sized boiler possible using the existing gas pipe. This calculated to be a 24kw including the existing gas cooker.

The boiler we installed was a 24kw ideal logic MAX with an omega brass sludge filter giving a guarantee for 10 years. The boiler was positioned in the same location as existing boiler by the back door in the kitchen. After installation we discovered the water pressure was massively improved throughout the house apart from the hot tap on bath. Everywhere else now had good pressure it must be an isolated issue with the bath. We found some kinked flexi pipework for the hot tap so we repiped this in copper and the hot side was improved.

A scaleout inline limescale reducer was fitting to protect the new boiler from limescale build up and also to not void the warranty.

The external condense pipework required upgrading because the original was installed in 22mm which could easily freeze in winter so we upgraded this to 40mm waste pipe as per manufactures instructions.

The tanks in loft were decommissioned and the airing cupboard was cleared of the old cylinder and associated pipework leaving a nice new area of storage.

We tested the central heating water and used a thermal imaging camera to check for any cold spots on the radiators throughout the house, this came back satisfactory so we decided a chemical treatment and cold flush was adequate for the new boiler installation.

There was some nice tiled boxing around the old boiler so we positioned the new boilers height to reuse the boxing making the installation very neat and tidy.

We decided to wire the programmer using opentherm technology, with new modulating boilers the programmer can talk to the boiler in a way to reduce wear and tear plus making it more efficient. Old on/off thermostats would give a simple on or off demand to the boiler meaning it would often turn on and off throughout the day but with an opentherm set up the boiler is able to go into "simmer mode" meaning where it would normally turn off it can ramp down the gas supply making it condense for longer making it more efficient but also protecting the parts from constantly turning on and off like a traditional thermostat.

All documentation was filed and registered with ideal and gas safe.