My mother is 96. She lives frugally by herself in the (four-bedroom, eight-radiator) house where she has lived for more than forty years.
Her boiler (Potterton Kingfisher, less than thirty years old) has just been turned off as unsafe, so replacement is needed. The system is old in parts:
- The hot water is gravity fed.
- Between two and five of the radiators (and a towel rail) may be gravity fed and on the hot water circuit.
- Five of the radiators do not have TRVs and are presumably cast iron.
- Some pipes are wide bore and not copper, even to the more recent radiators.
- The flow and return are combined, even to the more recent radiators.
- There is no room thermostat.
- The timing for the central heating and water heating are combined.
(I haven't been able to check some of the exact connectivity yet.)
The hot water cylinder, and the more recent radiators with TRVs, are fifteen years old. The house has thick loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and primary or secondary double glazing. The plan is to keep an open vent system and install a condensing boiler at the far end of a garage attached to the house (to get access to the drain).
My mother doesn't want much disruption, especially as whoever occupies the house next will want to redecorate, rewire, install the latest fashionable gizmos and so on. She doesn't want much expense; she can't get large WarmFront grants. She uses only one of the cast iron radiators (and all three of the more recent ones).
Given that there is to be a new boiler,
- What else needs to be done to have a soundly working system (frost protection, Magnaclean/Spirovent, ...)
- What else needs to be done to comply with the regulations (room thermostat, TRVs throughout, pumped central heating throughout, steel radiators, narrow bore pipes, pumped water heating, independent central heating and water heating time control, ....)
- What problems, if any, would result from formal non-compliance?
Her boiler (Potterton Kingfisher, less than thirty years old) has just been turned off as unsafe, so replacement is needed. The system is old in parts:
- The hot water is gravity fed.
- Between two and five of the radiators (and a towel rail) may be gravity fed and on the hot water circuit.
- Five of the radiators do not have TRVs and are presumably cast iron.
- Some pipes are wide bore and not copper, even to the more recent radiators.
- The flow and return are combined, even to the more recent radiators.
- There is no room thermostat.
- The timing for the central heating and water heating are combined.
(I haven't been able to check some of the exact connectivity yet.)
The hot water cylinder, and the more recent radiators with TRVs, are fifteen years old. The house has thick loft insulation, cavity wall insulation and primary or secondary double glazing. The plan is to keep an open vent system and install a condensing boiler at the far end of a garage attached to the house (to get access to the drain).
My mother doesn't want much disruption, especially as whoever occupies the house next will want to redecorate, rewire, install the latest fashionable gizmos and so on. She doesn't want much expense; she can't get large WarmFront grants. She uses only one of the cast iron radiators (and all three of the more recent ones).
Given that there is to be a new boiler,
- What else needs to be done to have a soundly working system (frost protection, Magnaclean/Spirovent, ...)
- What else needs to be done to comply with the regulations (room thermostat, TRVs throughout, pumped central heating throughout, steel radiators, narrow bore pipes, pumped water heating, independent central heating and water heating time control, ....)
- What problems, if any, would result from formal non-compliance?
