On Fri, 19 Nov 2004 19:18:26 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
Christian McArdle wrote:
Strange. I know of one system where the combi heats a tank in the normal
way, and the water heating side is used just for the kitchen. Not sure
what the benefits are, as the owner is as mad as you.

It can be good in a large house to reduce water lead times, particularly
if the boiler is in the kitchen. The hot water cylinder is placed near
the bathroom to provide lots of hot water quickly, whilst the kitchen
runs off the combi, because you'd have to draw off 10 litres of water
before anything came through from the distant bathroom. It also provides
drinking hot water in the kitchen, which is very useful when cooking. I
use my hot tap all the time to fill kettles and pans. (It's a heat bank,
not a combi, but still drinking water).

Right. Suppose it makes some sense. Any combi should be ok for just the
kitchen tap. Could it still be used if the central heating side was
drained down for any reason?

Generally yes.
In fact this last week I installed a small heating system completely from
scratch. I removed the existing multipoint and installed the boiler on
the first day. Closed the flow and return isolators, filled it, bled it,
and the user had hot water again by the end of the day.
Not all combis will tolerate this, the model in question was a Vaillant
828, but most would I think.







--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
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