Never seen this before.

[nigelm]

I am trying to get to grips with the central heating in my new (old) house.

The hot water cylinder as the standard heating indirect coil entering / exiting at the bottom of the tank, it as pipes connected but I am fairly sure they ultimatly do not connect to the central heating boiler. There are however 2 15mm conections to the top of the tank, where the imersion heater would normally go, it looks like these are a feed and return from the boiler. Is it possible that this is a heating coil, and why would it be used instead of the stanadrd coil.

I should say that the heating circuit as been converted from a vented to pressurised system fairly recently by the previous owner, aparently to improve efficiency.

 

[kirkgas]

what you have is a salamander in place of the immersor, quite common a few years ago and will work fairly well no idea why the coil is not used if that is what it is, perhaps it is blocked and rather than fix it someone took out the immersor and fitted the salamander

 

[TicklyT]

Or is it a direct cylinder, where the original boiler flow & return are just connections straight into the cylinder, with no coil between them?

If that is the case they would have to be blanked off elsewhere now.

I have seen one similar (but without the salamander, just an immersion heater), where an old back boiler was still in place and connected, but bricked up in the flue behind the new fireplace

 

[nigelm]

Thanks for the information.

I am sure it is not a direct cylinder, the heating circuit is sealed and holding pressure and the cylinder is vented.

I dont know why the heating coil is not used. Is there any way of checking if the heating coil is ok, or is it easier to just change the tank.

 

[doitall]

Change the tank for a better insulated model.

It's possible the coil has split, so they used the hot rod to save money.

It could also be connected to a back boiler behind the fire as has been suggested.

Or it could be a Primatic cylinder, which is no good for a sealed system.

 

[twgas]

if system was pressurised by previous owner, is the boiler suitable and is all the right safety equipment fitted

 

[nigelm]

I don't know if the boiler is suitable, is there any way of checking? What is the difference between a sealed boiler and a vented one?

There is a expansion vessel fitted with a pressure release valve and a proper filling loop, a tundish is fitted to collect the overflow.

I have checked into the cylinder, it is actually a direct cylinder, I guess that is why the salamander was fitted.

 

[justlead1]

Hi. It may well be the previous owner had thoughts about installing other hot water heating fuels / systems at a later date Solar, wood burner etc. And the easiest option for the installer was to fit a hot rod in the immersion heater tapping, rather than get involved with the what if scenario. Good Luck

 

[twgas]

If you tell what make and model of boiler you have we can probably tell you if its suitable for a sealed system.