oil fired boiler questions

[Iain T]

I have an oild fired boiler that at the moment is heathing radiators in the house. It works fine so I don't really want to buy and other boiler. It seems pretty basic - with a temperature control dial on the front and little else in the way of controls - a thermostat on the water pipes to the radiators and electric pump and an expansion vessel with a pressure dial on it. I need to move it to another part of the house as it is smack bang in the middle of the kitchen floor at the moment and I need to put it in the adjoining garage.

Is it 'illegal' for me to do this myself? I am a fairly competant DIYer and have done all the plumbing at my house in the UK.

To provide hot water I was thinking I could buy an unvented cylinder that is fed from the primary rad circuit (with the right stop valves etc.) Would I need the cylinder thermostat to be connected in some way to the boiler - so that it can 'demand' more supply if the water temp gets low or is it possible for the thermostat in the boiler to be enough to govern the supply IE it will keep pumping and heating water until the return is hot enough for the thermostat -like it does with the rads.

Any help would be really appreciated.

The other option is to buy another combi boile but as there will eventually be 3 bathrooms that may all need water at the same time I think a tank is the best and most cost effective way to go.

 

[Opel Fruit<P><BR>Opel Fruit, Dept. 53<P>]

You can move the boiler and oil supply pipes on your own - there are no particular legalities. You must ensure you do everything correctly for your own sake and that of your Insurers!

In terms of using a coil in the tank for hot water - they come with a thermocouple stat generally. I would do it like this (as I have several times). Buy a 22mm 2 port Zone valve such as a Honeywell V4043H. Pipe off to the tank coil from the rad circuit and fit the valve to the flow pipe. You should fit a means of reducing the flow in this circuit - use a gate valve or similar - you don't want the hot water circuit to nick all the rad flow.

Wire the zone valve in series with the tank stat so that if the tank needs heat, the zone valve will open. The zone valve has a switch inside that closes once the valve is fully open. Wire this across your room stat so that the hot water circuit will kick the boiler and pump in. You could use another 22mm zone valve to control the heating circuit too - depends what you need. Alternatively, you could use a 3 port valve for both circuits. Depends what you need.....!

 A couple of things you may find useful: French and UK 22mm and 28mm pipe and fittings are identical.

If you have to mess with the mains water, only use Silver/Tin solder. It is able to withstand a higher pressure than Tin/Lead.

If you need more info, diagrams, photos, let me know.

And go for a 300L tank!

[Coco]

I'm probably talking rubbish because in our house the boiler is a boys thing, so I don't have a lot to do with it, but I do know that we don't have a water tank at all and we are running a B&B with 3 bathrooms and have never yet (quick, touch wood) run out of hot water.  Perhaps we have a different type of boiler though

[Gasbag<IMG src="http:forums.livingfrance.comimagesline.gif"><BR><EM>gasbag<EM><BR>]

coco,

you probably have a combination boiler which heats the hot water instantaniously, just like the old gas sink heaters we used to have, but it does the central heating aswell.