Combi-Boiler Management During Extension Rebuild

[VDubDan]

Hi All,

I live in a 30's house, that has an awful old, cold, coal bunker esque utility room attached to the back of the kitchen. We renovated the house and it was always the plan to eventually "sort it" somehow and that's where we are.

Plan is basically that I'm going to rip it down and rebuild it, but larger and to modern standards of course.*

Right now, my only stumbling block is that the boiler is currently in there, situated on what would have been the external wall of the house.

One obvious answer is to pay somebody to move it into the house - this annoys me in several ways. Firstly, the rest of the house is complete and finished to a high standard so I'm really keen to avoid trashing the place just for a temporary solution. Plus, the boiler is actually fine where it is (even once rebuilt) so I'm going to wind up paying for it to be moved twice, plus the making good, and it'll be in the same place in the end.

So, lateral thinking....! Would I be absolutely insane in building some kind of waterproof housing around it? It's one of those ideas that seems okay when I stand in front of it and visualise building it, but I walk away and it sounds insane.

What would the normal approach be - suck up the cost and move it (twice)? Are there any (legit) shortcuts I can take, especially with the temporary location?

 

[ivixor]

Why would a housing be insane? It's standard practice to place boilers outside in a suitable housing. Of course you may well be bending/breaking the regs if you make a DIY housing, but I would.

 

[Hot&Cold]

VDubDan,what does your heating/plumbing technician recommended. They would have seen the installation and advise on the best practice available. we are at arms length and do not have the opportunity of seeing the installation or future proposals

 

[VDubDan]

Why would a housing be insane? It's standard practice to place boilers outside in a suitable housing. Of course you may well be bending/breaking the regs if you make a DIY housing, but I would.

Well, it just sounded like the kind of idea that I would get strongly mocked for!

VDubDan,what does your heating/plumbing technician recommended. They would have seen the installation and advise on the best practice available. we are at arms length and do not have the opportunity of seeing the installation or future proposals

Who now?! Seriously though, this thread actually got moved but I don't have one is the short answer. The boiler was in-situ when we moved in so I haven't had cause to mess with it, save changing the thermostat and re-plumbing.

If I need to get someone out for a chat that's fine, I just hate wasting peoples time without doing my own research first.

 

[Notch7]

do it in the middle of the summer and live without hot water for a while -might be alright if you have an electric shower?

without pics we dont know what the situation is -a temporary housing with boiler sounds like it would be in the way of foundations and wall building.

 

[VDubDan]

Thought I'd update the thread for anyone else in future. Firstly I got a gas engineer around who said I didn't really have huge amounts of choice but to try and house it, so along with the thread, I committed to going that route.

Made the decision to knock down the extension this weekend and obviously, it's only been like it for a couple of days so the proof is very much to come!

The first thing I did was move all the electrics to proper IP Rated boxes. I picked up a big IP55 Junction Box to put the Nest in, and an IP66 FCU*. It should be noted that everything is RCD protected in this house and the install is nearly brand new - if not, I'd be a LOT less happy about it. The boiler is also on its own spur/MCB.

I then made a very simple "frame" around the boiler - just a piece of CLS timber across the width at the top, two pieces of CLS down the sides and used plywood to create side panels. Foamed the crap out of it, along with the holes in the wall which are now external and finally used roofing breathable vapour barrier** to cover the boiler. At the top this wraps underneath the timber, and on the sides I used little strips of wood (akin to felt on a shed roof) to attach it. This creates a kind of "skirt" over the boiler, and hopefully the breathable nature will reduce any issues with condensation etc.

Next, I covered the entire wall with a large sheet of Damp Proof Membrane, using the existing lead flashing from the old roof line.

*Just as a side item, it should be noted that you get the best IP rating only when using the bottom knockouts and correct glands.

**The type approved for temporary weatherproofing

I'm not great at taking photos while working, but I did get some to show you (I forgot to take one of the vapour barrier): https://imgur.com/a/YJOsY

 

[ivixor]

A thing of beauty, to be sure