Caveman Living in Central London Wants to Take a Shower!

[TomTommy]

Hello everybody,

I'm hoping for some wise comments as I've received conflicting advice in my attempt to update my hot water. There's no boiler (that's right, no central heating!) so my only concern is hot water. Flat is on the third floor of an 1870 building in the centre of London. Water pressure is good. There's no gas in the building, only electric. At the moment there's a Heatrae Sadia dating from 1982. I'd like to replace it with something that will give adequate hot water pressure for a shower.

The advice so far:

Big plumbing company initially suggests unvented but then says no, the existing plumbing in the building (which is mostly lead) probably won't withstand the pressure and they don't want to do it. Instead they recommend replacing the heater with basically the same thing, a Heatrae Sadia 75...so good luck taking that shower.

Second big plumbing company suggests unvented, a Tribune Range TDI, seems to have no concern about the lead plumbing.

Another plumber, not a big company, also seems unconcerned about the lead plumbing but says that the g3 regulations for a discharge can't adequately be met because the pipe would have to empty into a metal stack. Looking at the regulations myself, I don't see that exact requirement. The pipe could, I think, discharge safely from the back of the building. This plumber has suggested a thermal store but is not advising a particular brand. I've done enough research to be aware of the basic pros and cons of unvented versus thermal store. I note that there seems to be a general dislike of thermal store, and there seems to be a lot of complaints about Gledhill in particular.

So I'm left wondering:

Would an unvented be risky because of ancient lead plumbing in the building?

Is it true that a g3 discharge pipe must empty into a stack?

Are thermal stores a curse of endless aggravation regardless of brand? And would an electric one be SO much more expensive to run than an electric unvented?

Many thanks for you thoughts!

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

can't mains supply be upgraded? btw discharge pipe doesn't have to go to stack.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

just have a booster pump fitted to what you have already and is your problem solved : just call a plumber to fit you a single impeller booster pump 1.5 bar ...... happy days

 

[TomTommy]

can't mains supply be upgraded? btw discharge pipe doesn't have to go to stack.

Thanks for confirming the no stack necessary issue. That was the conclusion I came to looking over the regulation myself. I don't know why the plumber is suggesting otherwise. In any case an unvented installation would have to be declared to regulators, yes? Is that a matter of a qualified installer registering paperwork, or is it more involved, requiring an inspection?

By upgrade mains do you mean replace lead pipes? That would be a massive job. Also, I'm a renter. I have an old, protected lease so I'm willing to invest in the property but not in anything beyond my flat.

just have a booster pump fitted to what you have already and is your problem solved : just call a plumber to fit you a single impeller booster pump 1.5 bar ...... happy days

I suppose simply installing a pump is an idea, but I'm redoing the flat completely. As you can see in the pics, it's in a sorry state, the current Heatrae is not in a good state and it's really too small to fill the bath. As I say, caveman. Have been living rough here! lol

 

[SafeGasInstall]

In this case you can have another wall mounted storage water heater and deal with discharge pipe some how .....
there is always a way to do that

 

[TomTommy]

In this case you can have another wall mounted storage water heater and deal with discharge pipe some how .....
there is always a way to do that

Thanks, yes, as long as I don't have to gain access to a stack on the exterior of the building, the discharge should be OK, I would think.

So I should go with an unvented because even though they're more complicated to install and need a yearly inspection they're much less problematic in the long run than a thermal store; they're less expensive to purchase and less expensive to run as well. Would that be correct?

Or, as I've seen suggested in this forum, has Gledhill given thermal store a bad name? Is there an ill founded prejudice amongst plumbers against thermal stores in general or a well founded one?

I see that MK Group installs Gledhill Pulsacoils with a five year warranty.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

I have installed the very same Heatrae Sadia 50L storage heater to a restaurant in Tower Bridge and has been going strong on a hard usage over 3 years already so this unit will do you good ...
You can see pictures of it on my facebook page link is below