Boilermate - "efficient"? Reprise.

[BenBag]

My last thread was locked after it descended into a bit of a bun-fight. At the risk of kicking off again I wanted to put up a conclusion in case anyone comes across it in a search. Here's my original question:

As per title, I have a Boilermate in my flat which works well and provides oodles of hot water 24 hours a day.

However, I'm a sad single bloke, I don't use all that much hot water (I shower, honestly) and my gas bills are huge. The manual for the boilermate states a number of times that it is "most efficient" not allowing the heat store to cool down.

So, 2 questions,:
1. The boilermate seems to be internally insulated, but still gives off a fair amount of heat. Is it worthwhile putting an external jacket on it?

2. The manual also shows me how I can wire in a timer to shut the hot water function off (e.g. overnight or while I'm at work), making it a lot more like a conventional system. Again, this comes with a warning about efficiency. Has anyone tried this, or is there any hard information about what "more efficient" actually means?

I'm probably going to add the timer then watch my gas usage at the meter over a couple of weeks, just hoping to get some other people's experiences.

B.

Well, I fitted the timer, and my gas usage has plummeted. Furthermore, I haven't actually noticed any loss of utility; the boiler now fires up the heat store for an hour twice a day and I have as much hot water as I can use.

Additionally:
I fitted extra insulation to the various pipes exiting the boiler. They had some fitted from the initial installation but sloppily. This has helped a lot with the heat emanating from the hall cupboard. Now my socks don't dry as quickly

The Boilermate did not enjoy having it's power turned off at all. When I powered it on again, the relays on the two control boards started buzzing. Luckily the search feature on here came up with the solution - replacing the very cheap capacitors on the boards.

So, great success all around, thanks to everyone who contributed!

Ben.

 

[Paul Barker]

Useful info, thanks for the feedback.

 

[Boilerman2]

I quite agree, I only hope that someone at gledhill is looking at this and taking notes HW 24/7 is only economic if the householder NEEDS HW 24/7!
it ain't rocket science after all!

 

[Agile]

I quite agree, I only hope that someone at gledhill is looking at this and taking notes HW 24/7 is only economic if the householder NEEDS HW 24/7!

I think that most of Gledhill has closed down!

Thats what happens if you produce bad products!

Tony

 

[BenBag]

Update:

It's cold, so let's put on the heating!

Or rather, let's not. The suggested modification in the Boilermate manual means that the boiler does not get any demand for heat except from the hot water controls, which now of course happens only intermittently with the timer fitted.

Meaning: with demand from the CH thermostat, it sits happily pumping the water from the heat store around the rads until it gets cold!

During the darker months, it seems, you have to have the HW and CH timed "on" periods synchronised (there's another thread on here with someone with the same problem). This is British design at it's very best.

Of course, I had the thing in bits again trying to figure out what I'd done wrong until I'd figured it out

Ben.