Advice require - Electric Water Heater / Old Gas Boiler

[salbal77]

Hi, I'm not a plumber, I'm looking for advice, I hope this is the right place

I moved into a Victorian terraced house nearly 2 years ago and have inherited a strange set-up with regards to heating / water system. I'm struggling to get any advice with what is best to do to upgrade the system - so any help you can give would be appreciated.

I have a gas central heating system. The boiler is currently sited in the cellar using the chimney as a flue (not an outside wall). I have no idea how old the boiler is but to give you an idea it sits on the floor and is around a metre high, its a Glowworm unit and has a temp gauge in Fahrenheit only!!

I think this is probably quite a standard set-up - just dated? However my hot-water system is the real problem I think.

Also in the cellar is a horizontal wall-mounted 200l hot water tank. Its an Edesa unit (TR200) and certainly doesn't appear to comply with UK standards. It seems to be a very large kettle (with an element) which keeps water hot all day (my electricity bills seem high). Having looked at various website regarding hot water heaters, the unit doesn't appear to have any of the fail-safe measures which are required by UK regulation, the pipe diameter also isn't correct. I have no idea where this unit would have come from!

To cut a long story short, the heater has been on the blink and now I don't have hot water. Seeing as the unit doesn't seem to be sold in the UK I don't think repairing the unit is an option - plus I don't think it would be cost effective in the long run.

So I would like your advice what would be the best options to get my system sorted. Some other info which might or might not be relevant: I don't have loft space; the only areas I could site a boiler on an outside wall are the dining room or rear bedroom (the kitchen is very small and there isn't really enough cupboard space to fit the boiler in here).

The current system (although completely inefficient / not working) is great because everything's in the cellar and so out of the way - keeping things in the cellar would be my preferred solution.

I've had 2 companies look at the house and it seems the pipe works is quite complex (the pipes come out of the cellar and up to the first floor before coming back down to the ground floor!) both of these companies have suggested switching to a completely electric system which electric boiler / tank in the cellar - if anyone has any thoughts on this too I would very much appreciate it. Of course expected costs would also be helpful (not just for installation but operational cost too please)

Thanks in advance - any help gratefully received

salbal77