BoilerMate 2000

[noname]

My daughter has had an offer accepted on a house that is about 12 years old. The house has a gas boiler, a combi boiler I think though I have not seen it myself. However, in a cupboard on the first floor there is what is called a Boiler Mate 2000 tank of some description. I understand it works to store hot water, though why that should be necessary if there is a combi boiler I do not know.
Could anyone who has experience of this set up please give me their opinion of its advantages and likely problems? Would it be better to have the BoilerMate 2000 removed if it starts playing up and would its removal be fairly straightforward for a plumber? I ask because it looks to me to be an added complication to a combi boiler which itself may have its own problems after 12 years.

 

[gassafe]

Are you sure you have a combi? As a boilermate stores hot water & the water that goes round your central heating!

 

[noname]

No, I am not sure at all. If you tell me they would not have installed a combi with a Boiler Mate then I will accept what you say. However, the estate agents description says it it a combination boiler.

 

[Dotty]

Wouldn't be the first time an estate agent hasn't a clue what they're looking at.

 

[noname]

True. A different estate agent, who sold the house two years ago simply described it as a GlowWorm boiler

 

[stevetheplumber]

its most likley an open vented boiler as most of the 2000 boilermates had a tank on top like this
[DLMURL]http://www.gledhill-response.net/documents/BM2000-Iss10.pdf[/DLMURL] lots of people dont like them but ive got an earlier version at home and its great lashings of hot water

 

[noname]

Thanks for the link steve. At least if my daughter buys the house I might be able to tell her what the BoilerMate should do.

 

[Ermintrude]

It "should" work really well. In reality .... It's a sludge bucket that ideally needs to be replaced.

 

[joni os]

Boilermates give hot water at mains pressure via a heat store and heat exchanger. Your boiler is almost certainly not a combi. After 12 years maintenance should be anticipated but no more so than a 12 year combi. Circulating pumps are easily replaced and capacitors on PCB can fail due to proximity to heat from thermal store.
PCB easily replaced at cost circa £220 new, £100 reconditioned or for less than £10 if you can use a soldering iron and replace the 5 capacitors yourself.( get the polarity right)

 

[noname]

Thanks all. One matter that occurs to me. If the boiler has to be left switched on for 24/7 and presumably cycles on and off to keep the heat store up to temperature, will this not result in more wear and tear on the boiler together with higher gas bills due to heat loss? If so, it seems to go against the grain of getting higher efficiencies and lower running costs for home heating. However, it's the extra potential for faults and long run maintenance costs which concern me the most. A normal H.W storage tank would seem to be less prone to faults and a lot cheaper to install.