My landlord has updated the (oil) central heating here. In their
infinite wisdom the contractors put the programmer/control unit in the
airing cupboard - where they had put the pump and motorised valves.

Trouble is - the boiler is on the ground floor next to the kitchen at
the north end of the house. The airing cupboard is above it on the
first floor. And yes - you guessed - the stairs are at the south end
of the house...

So when we go away, come back or just need a boost of heating or hot
water there is a 70 yards round trip to change the controls - and
negotiating a flight of stairs in the process!

When I took this up with the landlord he said he hadn't done this for
our benefit but 'for the benefit of those who come after you'.

The contractor said it was standard practice to put the controls in
the airing cupboard. Is there no requirement for the controls to be
near the boiler? It would certainly make it easier to sort out the
faults they left in the system!

freddie wrote:
My landlord has updated the (oil) central heating here. In their
infinite wisdom the contractors put the programmer/control unit in the
airing cupboard - where they had put the pump and motorised valves.

Trouble is - the boiler is on the ground floor next to the kitchen at
the north end of the house. The airing cupboard is above it on the
first floor. And yes - you guessed - the stairs are at the south end
of the house...

So when we go away, come back or just need a boost of heating or hot
water there is a 70 yards round trip to change the controls - and
negotiating a flight of stairs in the process!

When I took this up with the landlord he said he hadn't done this for
our benefit but 'for the benefit of those who come after you'.

The contractor said it was standard practice to put the controls in
the airing cupboard. Is there no requirement for the controls to be
near the boiler?

No, it might be more convenient for the user but there's no safety issue
involved so no requirement. Anyway, the boiler could easily be upstairs
next to the airing cupboard (or even up in the roof space?!); then the
obvious place for the controls would be downstairs somewhere, on their own.

The contractors will have positioned the controls in the location most
convenient for fitting; presumably to have placed them where you wanted
would have necessitated pulling up carpets, floors etc to lay new wiring
between airing cupboard and boiler, and therefore way more expensive.
(Nothing to do with 'benefit for those who come after you'!)

We have the same configuration at home, too, courtesy of the previous
owners - one of these days I mean to sort it out but doubt I ever will,
due to the upheaval.

David

Thanks David

In this installation the CH and DHW pipes came down to the old boiler.
All that was needed was a straight boiler replacement, keeping the
pump in the boiler and putting the controller and motorised valves
nearby. Instead there was two days work replumbing it all in the
airing cupboard - and of course with all the new joints a leak nearly
brought the ceilings down after the contractors left!

No cost saving there, and we are lumbered with a clumsy system

On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 03:33:29 -0700, freddie wrote:

Thanks David

In this installation the CH and DHW pipes came down to the old boiler.
All that was needed was a straight boiler replacement, keeping the
pump in the boiler and putting the controller and motorised valves
nearby. Instead there was two days work replumbing it all in the
airing cupboard - and of course with all the new joints a leak nearly
brought the ceilings down after the contractors left!

No cost saving there, and we are lumbered with a clumsy system

You may not want to spend any money on your Landlords house...

....Did they install a wall thermostat? They should have done. There is no
such thing as a simple boiler replacement (see Boiler Choice FAQ)

Anyway there is no reason why you couldn't replace the wall thermostat
with a programmable unit or if the thermostat is in a bad place a wireless
unit.
As for the HW assuming that the HW cylinder has proper controls then
leaving it on is no big loss unless you are away over night or more.



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html

Thanks Ed and everyone else

They did fit a wireless room thermostat, although it seems to have a
mind of its own.

Being an oil system (no gas in the area) and the rapidly rising price
of oil, we are using off peak electricity to heat the HW at night, and
only heating HW by oil if/when we run out at the end of the day -
hence the inconvenience of having to run upstairs to hit the 'boost'
button