Central Heating - on yet?

[presta]

and a new HW tank.

Now there's another problem, I don't have a hot water tank, or an airing cupboard.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Now there's another problem, I don't have a hot water tank, or an airing cupboard.

A " Combi " boiler? Ours is a 20+ year old conventional GlowWorm. I know a few people who are on their 3rd Cobi boiler in the same timeframe as we live in a very hard water area.

 

[GuyBoden]

Having the central heating too high creates ideal conditions for house dust mites to thrive, which is not good for allergy or asthma sufferers.

The back of a lot of radiators looks like this:

 

[Tenkaykev]

Having the central heating too high creates ideal conditions for house dust mites to thrive, which is not good for allergy or asthma sufferers.

The back of a lot of radiators looks like this:
View attachment 710589

I thought they used Grow Lamps in urban cannabis farms...

 

[GuyBoden]

As soon as my wife turns the central heating on, I get a dust allergy, so yet another reason to turn the central heating off.

Central heating creates ideal conditions for house dust mites.
(I don't think that dust mites are this big in reality.)

Cleaning your Radiators to minimise Dust mites.
https://inthewash.co.uk/cleaning/how-to-clean-dust-from-inside-radiators/

"Cleaning dust from inside your radiator is easy once you know how, and it’ll give you more heating for less money, alongside fresher air.


You can clean your radiator with a radiator brush. Some brushes are thin enough to fit between the slats on the top grille, while others can be used once the grille is removed.


Lay a towel below your radiator to collect the dust that falls when you brush it, then wipe down the unit’s exterior to remove all the dust.


You can also blow a hairdryer into the top of your radiator on full power, collecting the falling dust onto a towel laid flat underneath the unit.


Finally, you can vacuum the dust out of your radiator using a vacuum cleaner’s bendy attachment tool. This is perfect for a quick radiator spruce-up."

 

[albion]

Damp is far far worse. The allergy is probably caused by the increased air flow crated from heat differentials.

Hepa filters reduce this even if they themselves increase air flow.

 

[GuyBoden]

Damp is far far worse. The allergy is probably caused by the increased air flow crated from heat differentials.

Hepa filters reduce this even if they themselves increase air flow.

Yes, heat from radiators is mostly convected heat not radiated heat.

"Radiators collect and recirculate dust particles via heat convection. This increases exposure levels of toxic pollutants trapped in dust particles in the air we breathe indoors."

Hepa Filters are not used in standard UK homes using a Central Heating Radiator system.

 

[mjr]

Now there's another problem, I don't have a hot water tank, or an airing cupboard.

Yeah, nor did we, or not a suitable one, so a super insulated tank went in the loft with the heat pump control kit. It would have been easier in one way if a previous owner hadn't knocked through and removed the original utility room, but loft fitting gave us more choice where to fit the outdoor unit because the coolant pipes could exit in any direction, not only from the corner with the utility room.

 

[Tenkaykev]

Yeah, nor did we, or not a suitable one, so a super insulated tank went in the loft with the heat pump control kit. It would have been easier in one way if a previous owner hadn't knocked through and removed the original utility room, but loft fitting gave us more choice where to fit the outdoor unit because the coolant pipes could exit in any direction, not only from the corner with the utility room.

They wouldn't fit the tank in our loft, I did ask if it was an option. I suppose the extra weight must be one consideration.

 

[presta]

A " Combi " boiler? Ours is a 20+ year old conventional GlowWorm. I know a few people who are on their 3rd Cobi boiler in the same timeframe as we live in a very hard water area.

My old Ideal worked trouble-free for about 32 years, the combi is 6.5 years & counting. It's hard water here too, which bothers the kettles but curiously doesn't seem to affect the electric showers. Perhaps it's a temperature thing.

Cleaning dust from inside your radiator is easy

Try cleaning broken glass & a pint of milk out.

Yeah, nor did we, or not a suitable one, so a super insulated tank went in the loft with the heat pump control kit. It would have been easier in one way if a previous owner hadn't knocked through and removed the original utility room, but loft fitting gave us more choice where to fit the outdoor unit because the coolant pipes could exit in any direction, not only from the corner with the utility room.

There's plenty of room over the stairwell next to the toilet, but it wasn't worth the bother of building one when a combi fitted neatly into the space on the kitchen wall vacated by the old multipoint.

 

[Mike_P]

My combi is 20 next year. Interesting re the size of the heat pump hot water tank. It does seem a bit OTT. Recall when I had the combi done the first quote got was for a system which I thought was OTT and got another quote for a far more sensible installation.

 

[oldwheels]

I have been away from home for a couple of weeks and when I came back the house felt pretty cold as just being occupied does generate some heat.
Storage heaters are on and temp is up to 18C so it will take about 4 or 5 days to get the house to a reasonable temperature when the radiators can be turned down a bit.
Being ancient also has a bearing as I think I need more heat as I get older.

 

[Tenkaykev]

My old Ideal worked trouble-free for about 32 years, the combi is 6.5 years & counting. It's hard water here too, which bothers the kettles but curiously doesn't seem to affect the electric showers. Perhaps it's a temperature thing.

Try cleaning broken glass & a pint of milk out.

There's plenty of room over the stairwell next to the toilet, but it wasn't worth the bother of building one when a combi fitted neatly into the space on the kitchen wall vacated by the old multipoint.

I think it must be the temperature. An acquaintance had a hot water tank that was heated by an electric element. He had terrible problems with scaling , having to drain the tank and remove heaps of scale that accumulated in the bottom of the tank ( there was a threaded access just wide enough to get a large serving spoon in and take the scale out a spoonful at a time 😮) when my copper tank sprung a leak after 20+ years we cut the top off out of curiosity and all we found was a soft milky looking deposit on the bottom of the tank.

 

[mjr]

My old Ideal worked trouble-free for about 32 years, the combi is 6.5 years & counting. It's hard water here too, which bothers the kettles but curiously doesn't seem to affect the electric showers. Perhaps it's a temperature thing.

Yes, some (but not all) hardness will precipitate out at high temperatures. Easily high enough that a shower would scald if that hot.

There's plenty of room over the stairwell next to the toilet, but it wasn't worth the bother of building one when a combi fitted neatly into the space on the kitchen wall vacated by the old multipoint.

Yeah, but who wants to pollute their home's air with a gas burner these days?

 

[mjr]

As soon as my wife turns the central heating on, I get a dust allergy, so yet another reason to turn the central heating off.

Or, you know, you could clean the house and/or replace things to minimise dust mite hiding places. 😉

Finally, you can vacuum the dust out of your radiator using a vacuum cleaner’s bendy attachment tool. This is perfect for a quick radiator spruce-up."

Did anyone here have the long bendy attachment supplied with their vacuum cleaner? I had to buy mine as an extra. I'm not sure that anyone younger than 50 in this country knows the radiator nozzle even exists, unless they have a dust allergy, despite them being very much needed in homes with radiators.

Another annoyance is that some metal radiator covers (including modern sleek ones) can only be removed when cold, else the radiator expands enough that the spring clips will bend (or break, if unlucky) when you try to open them, so you can only clean them when the heating isn't on.