Home DIY

Well, you could have:

• Electricity
  
• Gas, mains
  
• LPG, tank
  
• Oil, tank
  
  

Other than that you could have a wood-burning stove/back boiler combination.

All in all you are best sticking with the Electricity I guess and just living with the expense.

I was under the impression you couldn't install gas into flats now as it was too dangerous? But a quick google seems to suggest it can be done. There's no way I'd go for LPG or oil tanks or wood.. I'm not in the sticks. Gas might be cheaper now but will only get more expensive, whereas elec might increase but won't suffer as much from running out - it'll still have to be generated - gas powered tv's? Don't think so. I don't pay that much for elec considering the gadgets I have.

We generate the majority of our electricity from gas fired power stations.

Therefore as gas prices increase electricity will increase with them, unless we build a load of Nuclear stations.

Nuclear is the only way. hugs reactor

Anyway, I don't give a crap, I'll be long gone. I have elec now, it's not expensive and I don't want to arse about with gas. I just want elec options that offer greater cupboard space and good pressure hot water from the bath fitting.

Spoke to plumber yesterday and they said <£1k to install a pump to boost current immersion heater output to bath/shower fitting versus £6k to install a complete new combi boiler setup, replacing the immersion heater. Both ideas seem kind of pointless since we only really use the electric shower anyway. Our immersion heater isn't even on at the moment.

So, I'm thinking again about two instant electric units for the bathroom and kitchen sinks

and the removal of the immersion heater and cold water storage tank. The small units are slightly more expensive to run but they are only run when you actually use the taps so overall probably cheaper than heating 50L of water every night just to wash the dishes. This would have the added benefit of freeing up a huge amount of cupboard space and potentially kitchen space as we could then move the fridge to a better spot.

Does anyone have instant electric for their sinks? All the places I've lived here have had instant electric showers but never instant elec sinks.

Will the removal of the immersion heater/cold water tank negatively impact the value of the property? If I move to Oz I'll probably keep it and rent it out so it's less of an issue really but still one I have to consider. Also, the extra room in the kitchen could outweigh the removal of the immersion unit.

~£220 each for two 12kW units, plus the work
http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/Redring_Powerstream_Unvented_Instantaneous_Water_Heater_12kW.html

Appreciate any thoughts.

Immersion tank is really there to fill the bath I would think?

Not as relevant to people these days as most use the shower.

~£220 each for two 12kW units, plus the work
http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/Redring_Powerstream_Unvented_Instantaneous_Water_Heater_12kW.html

Appreciate any thoughts.

seems a reasonable idea, but you could save money by choosing a lower powered heater for the sink

Immersion would be better for filling the bath, yeah but I don't use it Mal's not used it much. It might be a negative when it comes to sell on the flat but then again it takes ages to fill the bath from the immersion heater anyway so perhaps it won't make much difference using an instant unit.

Those 12kW are the instant ones. There's 3kW ones that use a small tank.
I'd prefer the instant ones rather than pre-heating a small tank of water but it depends on their effectiveness. It's only women that use hot water taps anyway isn't it?

I'd rather get rid of the large tanks #weightweenie and have a larger kitchen than be able to use a bath. Not sure what 'normal' people do though.

Bit tiresome, but can you be bothered to work out how much it would cost to fill the bath using a 12KW heater versus the immersion?

maybe factor in all the days that the immersion heats the water up, only for it to go cold again unused?

If you had a bath every morning then the immersion heater is going to win it, but if you (or Mal, or whoever) has a long soak twice a month I reckon the costs are going to be on the side of the instant heater.

What would you do with the room freed up by binning the tank(s)?

Would that add more value to the flat than you think might be lost by perceived higher heating bills due to instant heaters?

I won't be filling the bath up with either system so I don't care how much they cost. It's future tenants/owners I'm more concerned with - I know some people prefer baths. Our immersion heater isn't even switched on so couldn't tell you when the last time Mal had a bath instead of shower.

There's a bit of discussion here about it. I thought they mentioned how long it would take to heat the bath but perhaps it wasn't in this thread.
http://www.greenbuildingforum.co.uk/newforum/comments.php?DiscussionID=7889&page=1

It sounds like it's not worth trying to use electric for a bath.
http://www.diy-forum.net/water-heater-suitable-bath-filling-t27047.html

I reckon kitchen space > bath in a 1br flat but I'm a weirdo and kinda want opinions on what the muppet masses prefer, ie. would people think "no bath, screw this!" or is that a minor concern these days for carbon/water/time conscious Londoners?

I'm erring on the side of 'fuck it, baths are for the 1800s and hotels' gimme a bigger kitchen.

We have quite a small kitchen so relocating the fridge to the space taken by the tanks would improve this a lot.

Personally I'd fuck the bath off and fit a 1200X800 shower, but that's just me.

Maybe ask Bodie and Doyle? I might be misremembering, but thought he had something to do with property sales at some point in his life.

Yeah, but the bath is already there and fine for now. The water tank shit is basically unused and taking up space. I want to kill it off. I've asked a local plumber about it so will see what they say if they get back to me.

You could just leave it there, as a 700X1700 shower tray essentially I guess.

Or would the instant heater be able to fill a whole bath, albeit for $$?

I don't see why it couldn't, to be honest

From what I've read (there's not much) it's possible it'll just take a long time and it depends on the quality and size of the instant elec unit.

Some of the instant units are big enough to do multiple sinks - so if I went big enough it could be used for bathroom sink and bath. Smaller one for kitchen.

I can't remember if it's been discussed but have you got gas / thought about a combi? How's the flat heated? Storage heaters?

Ignore that ^ just scrolled up the page...

Just googled this - http://www.heatweb.com/products/cylinders/heatbank/worktop.html

I've had a quick search but am struggling to find any more detail of how exactly it works but could be worth a trawl.

Spoke to plumber yesterday and they said <£1k to install a pump to boost current immersion heater output to bath/shower fitting versus £6k to install a complete new combi boiler setup, replacing the immersion heater.

Hipster, don't have time to read back, but what are you getting for your £6K, if you were to go combi route?

No idea Marykboy, I just said "I want to get rid of the immersion heater, pressure is low from it, I've heard of this and this, what do you reckon" and he said combis are expensive and very hit and miss as to their quality of operation. He suggested using what we currently have and adding a pump to boost the pressure - much cheaper. I thought about this and paying 1k-6k for either solution doesn't give me the kitchen cupboard space back so I started looking at instant units again.

Sounds like someone who doesn't like installing combis. If you want to talk to someone, I can put you in touch with a guy (as long as his knees haven't given in) - you'd like him, he's really grumpy...

hehe I'll see what response I get back from these guys about my instant idea first. It's leading the hot water arms race at the moment as it's the simplest and gives me back the most space.
We could do with better heating in the flat but thousands of pounds for some mental heating system might reduce my pub lunch frequency.

Just googled this - http://www.heatweb.com/products/cylinders/heatbank/worktop.html

I've had a quick search but am struggling to find any more detail of how exactly it works but could be worth a trawl.

Actually, scrub that idea, it needs a boiler too. I reckon a combi will be your best bet overall, especially if you can get one installed at a realistic price. It is a recognised system and eventual buyers are likely to be put off by anything differing from the norm.

He'd need to get gas run into his flat though?

Maybe that explains the 6k quote?