Boiler in the loft...would you?

[Annie456]

Quick poll as my parents are having a new boiler and have been advised that the only place they can really have it is in the loft (but with control panel in more accessible living areas).
My dad is worried that it will put people off buying the house...would it put you off?

It would put PigletJohn off - he'll be along soon to tell you himself .

No. If it's a combi with an outflow pipe then it is likely to freeze and stop working in winter. Easy to fix if you can reach it but if it's in the loft it's too high up to reach on outside and therefore you need to wait until it defrosts on it's own.
Neighbours have this problem and each winter curse the plumber who suggested this position as they usually have a good few days without central heating.

we have but ours is a bungalow, so can reach the overflow with a hair dryer easily

awful idea.

A modern boiler need be no larger than a kitchen wall-cabinet and can go in a corner. It needs to be close to gas, water and an internal drain, such as a sink waste. An internal pipe will not freeze.

If somebody tells you they haven't got room, don't believe them.

We had to have it in the loft as the old one was on an internal wall. I prefer it up there as I worry about carbon monoxide .

We have a worcestor Bosch . Not a combi .

I'm debating doing this as well.

The plumber told me he could fit something to it (I can't remember what he called it) that would prevent the overflow pipe from freezing up.

We have a combi boiler in the loft. We had it put there 6 years ago and have never experienced a single problem with it; the pipes have certainly never frozen. We get it serviced annually, keep a carbon monoxide alarm in the loft and it's been totally fine.

Yes it would put me off.
It means running a gas pipe all the way through the house. Don't like that idea at all. Gas supply is under the stairs normally.

Where is their current boiler? Why can't it go there?

leddee - that's good to know - thanks :)

Cinnamon - that's a mighty big assumption - not a single person I know has their gas supply under the stairs. IF I put mine in the loft it would go directly up from the supply in the kitchen and along the loft to the outside wall.

spanky2 WB is the manufacturer, combi is the type of boiler - 2 different things.

And it's not only combi boilers that need a drain. All modern condensing boilers need them (which is effectively all new domestic boilers).

We're buying a house with the boiler in the loft. I'd rather it was elsewhere but I'm not too bothered.

Moved the boiler into the loft 15 years ago. In fairness, we did have a very big bathroom but we were dividing it to form an en-suite for the spare bedroom. So we needed the space and the only way we could have a shower separate from the bath was to move the boiler.

Never had a single problem. It's fine, don't worry. I reckon my potential purchasers will be more happy with the nice big separate shower cubicle than they would with an over-bath shower and the boiler in the bathroom.

Any heating engineer will tell you loft is last resort for boiler and try to avoid.
If you do go for it at the very least you also need the area boarded for working on - for heating engineers to work on the boiler.
A fixed loft ladder.
a Permanent light - not a torch.
but really, just don't do it.

The boiler here is in the attic (rented house). Been here three years and has been OK so far

in UK houses, there is usually a loft (not an attic) which is not built to habitable standards.

Hence it is outside the insulated envelope of the house (insulation is on the ceiling below which forms the "floor" of the loft, but...) there is generally not a floor; neither is there a staircase, and there is usually not fixed lighting. The temperature is usually unbearably cold in winter and unbearably hot in summer.

Companies offering service contracts on boilers generally require that there is (at least) a fixed ladder, floor and handrails so their workers are not at risk of falling, or stepping through the ceiling, and good fixed lighting so they can see what they are doing.

Modern gas boilers can be so small and quiet that it is difficult to find a house that truly does not have room.

Am genuinely curious - what is the difference between a loft and an attic? I've always called the space under the roof the attic.

an attic is a habitable room and will have a floor and some kind of ceiling, would normally have a staircase and a few windows. In older houses there will be no insulation though.

In Edwardian and older houses the domestic servants might have slept there, in bitter cold.

A loft is just the space enclosed by the roof.

I know of a Gas Safe engineer who had this in their own bungalow....it seemed to sell OK.

terminology is different in US, and may vary by regions in UK.

Thanks folks, great set of answers. I showed my dad and he's now thinking of having a normal boiler (not combi) so he can keep it downstairs....I'm glad as I'm in the "it would put me off" camp!

I hate boilers in the kitchen, ugly waste of space in a prime living area, especially when retro-fitting so not at the same time as having the kitchen units fitted etc. Generally this means messy looking pipe runs and some sort of cobbled together cupboard - my last flat had a cupboard lined with asbestos tiles (nice!) to make it fire-retardant. So to be honest it would be this option that put me off.

I bow to Piglet John's superior technical knowledge on the downsides of them going in a loft but we put one in the loft (albeit of a 1st floor flat) and had no problems with the boiler or with selling the flat within 24hrs of it going on the market (in 2010).

Oops, never knew this was an issue.... ours is up there and seemed fine during v cold winters past. Worriex about the drain freezing now.....Eek. Parents have this too altho they have an attic.

Our heating engineer gave us several options, previous boiler was sited in DS's bedroom cupboard. He wasn't keen on refitting it there....

Those of you that have a boiler in the loft, do you get bigger gas bills, we have been in our new just over 2 weeks. And we have used 3 times has much gas than we normally do for the whole month, boiler is coming on all night. Even though it’s on a timer.