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Solar water heating systems can be fitted to most houses with combi boilers. However the cost is going to be a few hundred pounds more expensive. I dislike combi boilers for many reasons:

Reasons why combi boilers are bad (General)

Combi boilers tend to produce hot water very slowly - baths have gone cold by the time you have filled them

Often combi boilers have poor temperature control. Old models will scald you in the summer, and be too cold in the winter. What can be worse than a trickle of scalding water from the hot tap?

Combi boilers can be noisy

Combi boilers actually only suit a minority of people - old people living on their own who use very little hot water, individuals that spend a lot of time away from home, or are only home for a few hours per day.

Reasons why Combi boilers are bad (solar installations)

Combi boilers require a pressurised water feed. So if you wish to fit solar water heating, which works in conjunction with a combi boiler, this means either a pressurised cylinder or a thermal store cylinder, which are quite a bit more expensive than standard cylinders

Some older combi boilers do not sense incoming water temperature, and are therefore unsuitable for feeding from a solar pre-heat cylinder (although it is still possible to use solar by fitting a cylinder in parallel with the boiler, and a three-way selection valve to divert water through cylinder when water is hot enough)

Some new combi boilers have plastic inlet piping instead of copper. This saves about 25p in the manufacturing costs, but it means that you cannot feed it with solar-preheated water, in case the plastic melts. (However, you can use the method described above to fit solar water heating).

In short, combi boilers will make a solar installation more complex and more expensive.

Alternative method for introducing solar water heating to an existing combi boiler:

Remove you combi boiler and fit a new condensing boiler. This will save you £300-500 on your solar installation components

Sell your combi boiler as a working second hand unit. You should get £100-200 for this.

Maybe qualify for a grant. Some Gas/Electric utility companies will provide a £100-200 grant for fitting a condensing boiler

Save £50-150 per year with your new 94% efficient condensing boiler compared with your old 50-70% efficient combi boiler.

This way, you have paid for your brand new boiler entirely out of savings made elsewhere!

Email: sales@ navitron .org .uk