Combi boiler question

[Jacks Dad]

Hello all, newbie here, not a plumber i'm afraid though i'll change the odd radiator or tap etc but i have a question regarding my combi boiler.

I have a Vaillant Turbomax combi boiler that came with the house when we bought it, it's a combi boiler, but it's fed via a tank in the loft, i was under the impression that all combi boilers were mains fed?

I'd like to be able to take out the tank and convert the loft someday if possible (is this possible?) If it is, is it as simple as (paying someone!) to just connect the feed into the tank to the feed coming out of the tank? Or is it more complex than that?

As i say, i'm not a plumber so it's not something i know about. Thanks for any help in advance.

 

[migoplumber]

fairly simple change of pipework, so your boiler becomes unvented.

 

[stevetheplumber]

Hello all, newbie here, not a plumber i'm afraid though i'll change the odd radiator or tap etc but i have a question regarding my combi boiler.

I have a Vaillant Turbomax combi boiler that came with the house when we bought it, it's a combi boiler, but it's fed via a tank in the loft, i was under the impression that all combi boilers were mains fed?

I'd like to be able to take out the tank and convert the loft someday if possible (is this possible?) If it is, is it as simple as (paying someone!) to just connect the feed into the tank to the feed coming out of the tank? Or is it more complex than that?

As i say, i'm not a plumber so it's not something i know about. Thanks for any help in advance.

do you mean the heating is fed from a tank or the hot water ?

 

[Jacks Dad]

do you mean the heating is fed from a tank or the hot water ?

Not entirely sure what you mean? The water is all fed through the tank up in the loft if thats what you mean? (i can hear the tank filling up when a bath has been run for example).

 

[stevetheplumber]

are you sure its a cobi you have how many pipes come out the bottom of the boiler?

 

[Puddle]

Are you sure the water going through you boiler and coming out hot is tank fed,it could be but when you hear the tank filling is that with hot running only or hot and cold,maybe hot on mains as should be and cold supply to bath from tank
Any way not a problem to put hot and cold on mains and remove tank as long as pressure is OK,maybe a neigbour has a combi and hot and cold already on mains and you can have a word and see if the are happy with water pressure and flow rates
The thing to think about is ,if you are running off a tank for your hot ,is why,maybe a low cold mains problem or a low intelligence problem by the installer

 

[Jacks Dad]

are you sure its a cobi you have how many pipes come out the bottom of the boiler?

I'm obviously confusing you guy's here, sorry. Yep, it's definately a combi, the boiler fires up when the hot water is turned on plus i have no immersion tank.

It occured to me earlier that when i mentioned tank before that maybe you guys thought i meant the immersion, but i meant the cold water tank in the loft (which is the tank i want to remove if possible).

Sorry for any confusion and thanks again for all your help.

 

[newbie1]

tank is being used to supply cold to bathroom and toilet prob its the least prefered option when putting in a combi
if you run mains to bathroom this can overpower existing shower/toilet so they leave a gravity fed cold supply but this initself can cause an inbalance in the pressure from the mains fed combi hot and the gravity fed cold
you can get rid of tank just use the mains supply that fills the tank at moment and join it to the cold water tank outlet this will give mains cold supply and no tank needed but you may need a pressure reducing valve somewhere and if you have a shower this may need a different cartridge

 

[Jacks Dad]

Thats sounding more like it newbie 1, i have trouble maintaining pressure in the boiler, constantly topping it up, the toilet takes an age to refill and the shower is an electric one that i tapped into the mains feed so doesn't affect the boiler.

With regards to the pressure reducing valve, how would i know if that was required? Is it a case of try it and see?

 

[so-solar]

JUst a quick test, hold the palm of your hand underneath the clod tap nozzle and turn it fully open! If you can hold the flow of water whilst the tap is open it is definatly tank fed as it is nearly impossible to hold mains pressure!

With regards to the electric shower, Are you getting a decent shower as i thought that electric showers require a certain pressure to operate?

Can you tell us when this combi boiler was installed?

 

[newbie1]

Thats sounding more like it newbie 1, i have trouble maintaining pressure in the boiler, constantly topping it up, the toilet takes an age to refill and the shower is an electric one that i tapped into the mains feed so doesn't affect the boiler.

With regards to the pressure reducing valve, how would i know if that was required? Is it a case of try it and see?

ok shouldnt loose any pressure from combi so you have a prob of either a leak or prv foobared or expansion poggered
toilet new syphon type do take long time to refill so need to check what type you have
showers running off a combie have sometimes need a reducing valve but if shwer is working fine then dont worry

 

[Jacks Dad]

Hi so-solar, have tried the holding the tap trick before and it's definately tank fed, with regards to the pressure of the shower, it's not too bad, but then, i tapped into the mains feed going up to the tank in the loft. As for when the boiler was installed, it came with the house when we bought it in 2007, but there is an instruction manual and someone has handwritten june 99 on it, so i'm assuming thats when it was installed.

It's a monster of a boiler and would like to replace it one day, money permitting!

 

[so-solar]

so basically all that the tank is feeding is the cold supply to the bathroom! therefore if you cut the supply to the tank as low as possible and connect to your cold supply to your bathroom from the main riser you have solved your problem! the toilet will fill quicker, your shower already works from mains pressure, you will no longer be able to hold the tap! quite easy and straight forward to be honest mate!

remember to re connect the shower!!!!!!

 

[Jacks Dad]

Thats just the answer i was looking for so-solar, cheers for that mate and thanks to everyone else for their help.