I have an oil fired Combination Boiler that supplies us with hot water at the taps and hot water for the central heating. It is a Worcester Greenstar Heatslave 18/25 condensing boiler. We had it installed about 21/12/2007.
It worked OK for about 4 years then the boiler started to go to LOCKOUT on a fairly regular basis and we had to get the service man out to fix it (at a cost) I am now sick and fed up with it going to Lockout every day now, and it can happen three times per day. The last time we had the service man around he said that these condensing boilers were not very good as they have such a lot of electronics in them that get damaged from the heat off the boiler. We can not now rely on it switching on and off at the programmed times either.
This service engineer is only a service engineer and does not install boilers of any sort. He suggested to me that for our two bedroom bungalow a system called “Heat Only Boiler plus Unvented Hot Water Cylinder” Evidently this system will give us plenty of hot water and heat for the radiators without the hassle of such a lot of electronics being involved. This system has a cylinder and boiler but does not need a header tank in the attic.
This company can supply me with the new system, Superwarm, 3 Hillpark Rise, Edinburgh, EH4 Does anyone know anything about this company and if so are they reliable and good to deal with.
If anyone has this system in their home can you tell me what you think about it please.
The system he has suggested is a conventional boiler with a pressurised hot water storage tank. Two of my son’s have these tanks with gas boilers. The tank uses mains water pressure to deliver hot water.
The only issue with the tank is you need to check the safety valve every year, also the tanks do tend to be a lot larger than a vented hot water cylinder.
As I say you can use any conventional boiler with this type of hot water tank.
This is a reasonable way out and the “heat only” boiler now acts as if it is just feeding another radiator in the sealed system, but one with its own thermostat and call valve.
The great advantage is that any calc build-up is on a much bigger area on the heat-exchange coil in the hot water cylinder(s) which takes much, much longer than the cleaning needed every year in the old combi-boiler.
The great disadvantage is that the hot water in the cylinder can run out at the crucial moment.
So just get a bigger cylinder if you have the room for it, and being mains water pressurised it can be anywhere convenient - no loft tank needed. We have two, one for each bathroom.
The great advantage is that the hot water supply rate is only limited by the size of your pipes - no waiting for the combi to keep up.
We’ve had a fully pumped “heat only” system since 1975, three different boilers in that time, the latest and by far the most efficient (May 2006) being a Glowworm HXI 24 (see also Vaillant equivalent, same factory and bits, just different pipe routing) condensing type with stainless steel heat exchanger - fantastic. The only other bits that have needed changing during this time were the Sunvic motorised valves for the various zones, but only as the stem seals eventually wore and began to leak (typically twenty years at a a time).
It’s worth contacting Worcester Bosch and getting one of their engineers out.if its still the same system they have a menu charging policy which renders the price more reasonable than you might expect. They stand behind their products and have the diagnostic tools to find the problem, and will not be trying to sell you a new system .
According to their troubleshooting tips they cite poor oil supply as a major cause of lockout. They mention this can be caused by water condensation in the supply tank or pipes or sludge ,leaks or bacterial growth in the system. Has the oil tank and supply lines been checked?
The engineer who told you combination boilers are no good as too much electronics is talking utter rubbish. There has to be an underlying problem and as above i would pay the one off fee and get a Worcester engineer to check it over. As an ex heating/gas engineer for 40+ years if everything has been eliminated i would look at the state of the water as as restriced flow with sludges would keep making a boiler lock out. Was the system thoughorly flushed out, do you have adequate chemical addatives in the water, do you have a magnetic filter fitted ?