In my experience of forums, this is either going to attract screams of outrage and much wringing of hands or one or two understanding and informative replies from people who know. Which forum is this? 
Some thirty-five or more years ago, when 'er indoors and I couldn't afford christmas presents for our family and made them home made sweets, I installed our central heating system and wired the house from the ground up. I wasn't then and am not now either an electrician nor a plumber - much less a registered gas fitter. So, what made me think I could do such a thing?
Because I was then and am now, an MRI and CT Scanner engineer. That means I deal with 3 phase power, 'ordinary' power, low voltage and electronics, computers, image processing, hydraulics, mechanical drives and mechanisms, plumbing, cryogenics (handling fluids and systems at close to absolute zero), enormous magnetic fields, radio frequency amplifiers, power amplifiers and so on - you get the picture? I do stuff.
Anyway, a heating and ventilating engineer friend mapped out a design for me, I grafted after getting home from work for weeks and weeks, then another friend - a gas fitter - came, checked the boiler and commissioned it, while yet another mate - a sparks - came to check my work and change over the tails for me. Since then the system has worked tirelessly while three children grew into their thirties. I've replaced about three pilot light sensors, a boiler thermostat bulb, a couple of radiator valves and the header tank ball valve. That's it.
About six years ago we took out a British Gas service contract. They weren't happy with the open area behind the gas fire and around the back boiler, nor the ventilation. I fitted profiled aluminium panels over the back boiler and installed a floor vent to the void under the wooden floor. They were happy with that and took on the contract. They even replaced the back boiler after about a year, because the original was 'ticking'. I think we let the contract lapse when it went up to something astronomical.
Yesterday, a man came to redirect the gas piping to feed the gas hob in our new kitchen - being contructed as we speak. I got calls at work from 'er indoors to say he'd turned off the back boiler and condemned it! He didn't like the flues, apparently. I spoke with him and struggled to get him to talk technical with me. I guess since most of your customers haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about, you've got out of the habit of explaining exactly what you have done. Try as I might, I couldn't understand why he had condemned my very, very old, but effective boiler. I asked him to leave a detailed report, but what he left merely said it was dead - he done it - nobody can argue with that - and 'Flues'. Not very enlightening.
Needless to say, we were very concerned. We had obviously escaped disaster by a hairs breadth and he came in the nick of time - at least five years! I gave it the once over and started it up again. However, I know it is too old to support and will need replacing, but when you are in the middle of a complete kitchen rebuild, a couple of thousand for a new boiler when the old one works well enough, isn't what you need.
My question- a long time coming - if you would please, is; what would replace, in modern compliant bells and whistles regulation, a New World Stowaway 411 with back boiler? I seem to remember it was about 11Kw, but I may be wrong, modern ones seem to be about 24Kw. It has to drive domestic hot water and six radiators.
Roger.
Some thirty-five or more years ago, when 'er indoors and I couldn't afford christmas presents for our family and made them home made sweets, I installed our central heating system and wired the house from the ground up. I wasn't then and am not now either an electrician nor a plumber - much less a registered gas fitter. So, what made me think I could do such a thing?
Because I was then and am now, an MRI and CT Scanner engineer. That means I deal with 3 phase power, 'ordinary' power, low voltage and electronics, computers, image processing, hydraulics, mechanical drives and mechanisms, plumbing, cryogenics (handling fluids and systems at close to absolute zero), enormous magnetic fields, radio frequency amplifiers, power amplifiers and so on - you get the picture? I do stuff.
Anyway, a heating and ventilating engineer friend mapped out a design for me, I grafted after getting home from work for weeks and weeks, then another friend - a gas fitter - came, checked the boiler and commissioned it, while yet another mate - a sparks - came to check my work and change over the tails for me. Since then the system has worked tirelessly while three children grew into their thirties. I've replaced about three pilot light sensors, a boiler thermostat bulb, a couple of radiator valves and the header tank ball valve. That's it.
About six years ago we took out a British Gas service contract. They weren't happy with the open area behind the gas fire and around the back boiler, nor the ventilation. I fitted profiled aluminium panels over the back boiler and installed a floor vent to the void under the wooden floor. They were happy with that and took on the contract. They even replaced the back boiler after about a year, because the original was 'ticking'. I think we let the contract lapse when it went up to something astronomical.
Yesterday, a man came to redirect the gas piping to feed the gas hob in our new kitchen - being contructed as we speak. I got calls at work from 'er indoors to say he'd turned off the back boiler and condemned it! He didn't like the flues, apparently. I spoke with him and struggled to get him to talk technical with me. I guess since most of your customers haven't the slightest idea what you are talking about, you've got out of the habit of explaining exactly what you have done. Try as I might, I couldn't understand why he had condemned my very, very old, but effective boiler. I asked him to leave a detailed report, but what he left merely said it was dead - he done it - nobody can argue with that - and 'Flues'. Not very enlightening.
Needless to say, we were very concerned. We had obviously escaped disaster by a hairs breadth and he came in the nick of time - at least five years!
I gave it the once over and started it up again. However, I know it is too old to support and will need replacing, but when you are in the middle of a complete kitchen rebuild, a couple of thousand for a new boiler when the old one works well enough, isn't what you need. My question- a long time coming - if you would please, is; what would replace, in modern compliant bells and whistles regulation, a New World Stowaway 411 with back boiler? I seem to remember it was about 11Kw, but I may be wrong, modern ones seem to be about 24Kw. It has to drive domestic hot water and six radiators.
Roger.
