Moving a boiler

[PenguindreamsofDraco]

Very grateful for any assistance!

We are planning works to our house. Stage 1 was intended to be adding a bathroom and re-doing the existing bathroom. Stage 2 was intended to be doing an extension (which needs p/permission and a lot of savings to pay for it!)

There is a very very old boiler with a big cold water tank in the attic which we were going to rip out when we do Stage 1. However the architect doing the plans for the whole house has suggested that the location for the new boiler is in the extension, which we'll only get to at Stage 2 (still with me?)

So, our options seem to be (1) Keep the old plumbing in Stage 1 and then connect up to the new system in Stage 2; or (2) Put new boiler in temporary location during Stage 1 and move to final position in Stage 2. Both seem like expensive options!

Does anyone have any wise words or a possible Option 3?!

[SwedishEdith]

How soon is stage 2 and do you expect the boiler to last that long? We had a similar situation but the boiler died about 2 months before the extension started So if you think it'll last that long, I would hang on until stage 2

[PigletJohn]

option 2 is money down the drain.

Presumably the new boiler is intended to go into the new utility room or the new kitchen, where it will be close to incoming gas and water, and to an internal drain such as the sink waste pipe. It also should be in a position where the billowing steam cloud in winter will not obscure a window or spoil the appearance of your house. Neighbours included.

If there is such a place where a boiler can be fitted without waiting for stage 2, consider fitting a new boiler there.

Unless you already have an excellent water supply pipe giving high flow and pressure, remember to include a new plastic pipe in 25mm or 32mm.

[PenguindreamsofDraco]

Yes, intended final location is in the kitchen extension near all the necessaries. Would a boiler work on the top floor (where new bathroom is going)? It could conceivably pump out steam out the flank wall if we had an outlet pipe knocked through. No gas up there though.

Is it a big job connecting 2 bathrooms to a new boiler after they're finished? There will be about 5-6 months between the start of stage 1 and 2, probably about 3 months between the end of 1 and the start of 2.

The current boiler is over 20 years old, and completely in-maintained thanks to previous owners, so it may or may not last!

Thank you both!

[PigletJohn]

connecting the bathroom hot taps to the boiler (if a combi) or to the cylinder is quite easy. If not both fitted at the same time, the pipes can be laid starting at whichever goes in first, and capped off as close as possible to where the other thing will be. That avoids tiresome drilling of walls or taking up floors that have only recently been built. At the very least lift the floorboards where the connection will later be made, and screw down the trap so it can easily be lifted later. Don't tile or floor over it.

[PenguindreamsofDraco]

That should have read, boiler is UNmaintained!

Thank you, that is so helpful. So we could do stage 1, but probably not finish the floors (or include a trapdoor in the new floor to access connection under the new floor), do I understand correctly? So no tiles or amtico on the floor which gets stuck down?

Oh, and we wanted underfloor heating in the bathrooms, does that make a difference?

What did we do pre-MN (or pre-PJ)?

[PigletJohn]

you can lay the UFH pipes, controls and blender valve. It will probably need a hatch or a small cupboard, as it will sooner or later need maintenance (it blends incoming hot and recirculating warm water under the floor to maintain a gentle temperature). It might fit behind the bath panel, ask your plumber, but don't seal or tile it in.

Avoid chipboard floors.

[MummytoMog]

It cost us a grand to move our boiler from the garage up to the loft conversion (it's in a cupboard in our en suite) where it vents out of the dormer roof. It took about two days and was a fucking nightmare thanks to a distracted / shoddy plumber. Leaked and brought our kitchen ceiling down. Lucky it was coming down three months later anyway really. We run all our pipe work through the old side stack and it's very accessible through what would be our airing cupboard - we have an access panel that comes out to reveal the void and the plumbing. Can you resite the new boiler? I quite like having ours upstairs.