Upgrading from Cylinder & Tank

Nuovashenron

I’m looking to upgrade my current cylinder and water tank. I live in an apartment (owned) and they cylinder and water tank have been there since 1997. There is no oil/gas, everything is electric from the shower to the storage heaters.

I’m currently doing everything I can to upgrade my apartment for the future (windows, doors, insulation, heater upgrade, etc) and I’ll be renovating the bathroom soon.

I’ve read multiple things online about “electric combi boilers” - and I’ve seen across multiple sites that with these boilers, you do not need either a cylinder or water tank as the combi boiler pulls water directly from the mains. This sounds great as it would save so much space, and give me access to awkward areas of plumbing to my bathroom for maintenance.

My question - is it true that I could remove my cylinder & water tank completely, and have an electric combi boiler installed?

I appreciate any help or guidance!

Sleeper12

Combi boilers shouldn't be connected to the mains water supply in Ireland. To meet the building regulations you keep the cold water tank. The water leaves the cold water tank, goes through a pump and into the combi boiler. Most likely your cold water tank is attached to the hot water cylinder (all encased in foam). If you remove this 2 in 1 unit then you will need install a dedicated cold water tank.

Sleeper12

Removing the tanks goes against the building regulations and it's likely this could effect the sale of the apartment in the future. This would be much more noticeable in an apartment compared to a house.

You would never save enough on your electricity bill to recoup the cost of this work. It's likely that you would have to put the tanks back in before the buyers solicitor will allow the sale.

If it was me I'd leave the tanks alone and I'd look at the heating. If you have regular electric heating then a mini split heat pump would save you a small fortune. This would give you cheap heat on demand in the winter and wonderful cheap AC in the summer

Nuovashenron

I really appreciate your reply, thank you!

Removing the tanks goes against the building regulations and it's likely this could effect the sale of the apartment in the future. This would be much more noticeable in an apartment compared to a house.

I see - it’s even more confusing when I look at grant schemes that state the upgrade to combi systems in apartments 😭

If it was me I'd leave the tanks alone and I'd look at the heating. If you have regular electric heating then a mini split heat pump would save you a small fortune. This would give you cheap heat on demand in the winter and wonderful cheap AC in the summer

My heating isn’t controlled by the boiler or tank whatsoever - all radiators are storage and connected straight to the wall to electric. A friend (electrician) has removed 3 of 5 already as they simply don’t work. Each radiator is independent of themselves. With this in mind, the only use for my current boiler + tank is shower water, kitchen, etc. Even with this I’ve had to have the pump replaced 3 times in 5 years as they always fault.

Sleeper12

The term combi refers to a boiler that heats up water instantly for your heating system and hot water. You don't have a hot water heating system so you don't need a combi boiler.

Ask your electrician friend about a mini split heat pump for heating. This will save you a fortune, assuming your management company allows it

Nuovashenron

thank you for all this help! Going to use all your advice going forward 😇