Do Combi-Boilers effectively 'waste' water?

[spilldig]

I'm not daft either, Mr Pete!...

 

... but I'm just not up to working out how many times you'd need to fill a bucket with 'waste' water in order to break even on the cost of the buckets.

 

I'm sure some forum boffin with nothing better to do kind person will be along soon with a detailed cost/benefit analysis...

 

How about, if you can sneak your rubbish into next doors bin and then use your bin to keep the water in.

[trackrunner]

I went onto a water meter last May, and my hot water takes a while to run through on my combi boiler which is new.

My water bills are half what they were before, plus we have an extra adult here at the moment so extra showers/baths and washing.

[Berberis]

All forms of hot water from a boiler, be it from a conventional tank or a combi-boiler will always have water in the system that has lost its heat energy. What effects the amount is how far the boiler is from where you wish to use the hot water.

 

The only way you could limit this is to heat the water at the location its required.

[foxy lady]

We use 2 boilers. One is a Potterton combi which has a built in hot water tank of around 5 litres. The tank is heavily insulated and is inside the boiler casing. It provides small amounts of instant hot water without the gas burners firing up. For sustained hot water the boiler cuts in and keeps the hot tank replenished.

Most heating requirements are provided by a ground water heat pump, which is suplemented by the Potterton if the temperatures drop too low, which is very rarely. So most of the time the gas is only required for hot water for washing etc. The heat pump can provide hot water too, and can provide warm water to the gas boiler, but with a young child around we find that we usually rely on gas for the hot water.

Edited January 8, 2016 by foxy lady

[DVGasService]

The reason I ask, is that i've recently had a water meter fitted in my home. I haven't had a bill yet, so I can't say if it's going to be cheaper than simply paying a standard water bill. But thought I'd give it a go, because you're legally entitled to revert back to a 'normal' bill after 12 months, if it turns out it's not for you, and Yorkshire water, actually give you 2 years to revert back.

 

Anyway, the point is, it kinda sharpens your mind as to how often and where you could possibly be wasting water.

 

I have a combi boiler which feeds the hot water and the central heating. Previously it's just been a bit of an irritant, as my boiler, is sort of remotely tucked away in an upstairs cupboard, the hot water takes a while to come through to the kitchen, or indeed the bathroom. As I said, previously, this was just a minor irritant. However, now I'm wondering if running the hot tap, waiting for the hot water to finally arrive is going to be costing me money.

 

Any thoughts?

 

Check if your boiler has a pre-heat function, this periodically keeps the plate heat exchanger warm so shouldn't take as long to bring cold water up to temperature.

 

However, this will use more gas, so you'd have to see how the trade off between gas and water plays out. Also, unless you have a timer/controller that turns off pre-heat at night, it will unnecessarily keep firing at night when unlikely to be much hot water demand.

 

You could consider a boiler with an in-built hot water store too when it is due to be replaced.

 

Hope this helps.