Upgrading a Vokera Mynute 30HE gas boiler to a combi type boiler.

54and56

Hi guys,

I've a Vokera Mynute 30HE gas boiler which heats both radiators and hot water at the same time and there is an electrical switch which turns the Radiators off in summer.

I recently invested in a Tado smart thermostat (https://www.tado.com/ie) which I'm very impressed with but I'm unable to get the full benefit from Tado as the Vokera Mynute 30HE doesn't have the ability to control the radiators and hot water separately.

If I can't find a work around for heating water for showers etc in summer whilst keeping the radiators off I may consider getting rid of my 8 year old Vokera and replacing it with a (combi?) boiler which will facilitate separate heating of radiators and hot water.

If I have to go that route can anyone give me an idea what Vokera (or other manufacturers) model I should go for and what the cost of upgrading will likely be - ballpark?

Is there any possibility of somehow trading in my existing boiler against a new boiler?

K.Flyer

If you have a switch that turns off the radiator circuit separately from the hot water you are half-way there.
Based on your post, you should just need the system upgraded to a two zone clock with separate zone valves and thermostats and you should be fine.

54and56

K.Flyer wrote: »

If you have a switch that turns off the radiator circuit separately from the hot water you are half-way there.
Based on your post, you should just need the system upgraded to a two zone clock with separate zone valves and thermostats and you should be fine.

Hi K.Flyer, thanks for the post. Is what you describe a major job? There's a total of 7 rooms in the house with 14 radiators. What sort of ball park cost would it be? I know you can't possibly know for sure without assessing the exact set up I have but a broad guesstimate would be great and help me to head in the right direction.

K.Flyer

Just to give you an idea...
Going by your first post the pipework has already been split. This is really the harder part of the job done, but you will still need some plumbing alterations. Based on that and not getting too wordy about it all, you have two options, fully hard wired or wireless, wireless being a lot more expensive. With a wireless kit, all the raw materials, labour and vat, I still could not see it getting too near 1k.


But you do need a survey to give you an exact figure.

54and56

K.Flyer wrote: »

Just to give you an idea...
Going by your first post the pipework has already been split. This is really the harder part of the job done, but you will still need some plumbing alterations. Based on that and not getting too wordy about it all, you have two options, fully hard wired or wireless, wireless being a lot more expensive. With a wireless kit, all the raw materials, labour and vat, I still could not see it getting too near 1k.


But you do need a survey to give you an exact figure.

I appreciate that K.Flyer, very helpful. I'll build it into the house budget for 2016.

youtheman

K.Flyer wrote: »

If you have a switch that turns off the radiator circuit separately from the hot water you are half-way there.
Based on your post, you should just need the system upgraded to a two zone clock with separate zone valves and thermostats and you should be fine.

Are you sure about this (and I don't mean to question your expertise). I'm not sure that you can simply modify a normal boiler (even with the piping mods you specified) to make it a combi boiler. Will you have the required flow rate for an instant shower?. Or maybe I reading you incorrectly ?.

K.Flyer

The o.p. says in his post that he only has a manual switch for turning on and off the radiator circuit, leaving the hot water on.
What he is looking for is the solution to get the best out of his new remote app. He asks if there is no reasonable work solution does he have to consider a combi..

Je_suis_Jean wrote: »

[...]
the Vokera Mynute 30HE doesn't have the ability to control the radiators and hot water separately.

If I can't find a work around for heating water for showers etc in summer whilst keeping the radiators off I may consider getting rid of my 8 year old Vokera and replacing it with a (combi?) boiler ..

gctest50

K.Flyer wrote: »

Based on your post, you should just need the system upgraded to a two zone clock with separate zone valves and thermostats and you should be fine.

why would he need clocks and thermostats ?

tado yokie will do all that and you'd never have to look at the dismal lcd yokes again

https://www.tado.com/ie/


probably just to get a plumber to zone it

http://i.imgur.com/q8qlYqm.jpg

youtheman

K.Flyer wrote: »

The o.p. says in his post that he only has a manual switch for turning on and off the radiator circuit, leaving the hot water on.
What he is looking for is the solution to get the best out of his new remote app. He asks if there is no reasonable work solution does he have to consider a combi..

I thought he was thinking of connecting the hot water output from the boiler directly to his shower. Maybe I am taking him (and you) up wrong.

54and56

gctest50 wrote: »

probably just to get a plumber to zone it

http://i.imgur.com/q8qlYqm.jpg

My sparks (who originally wired the boiler and control etc) said my setup didn't allow the "Switched Live" option to be used (which I understand is the option for controlling hot water and radiators separately) so he wired the "Potential Free" option for me. Only took 10 minutes including reading the instructions.

54and56

youtheman wrote: »

I thought he was thinking of connecting the hot water output from the boiler directly to his shower. Maybe I am taking him (and you) up wrong.

I wasn't thinking that but maybe that is part of the solution? I really don't know.

I have to say though, after 3 days using the Tado the house has been transformed. The heating drops off when our phones are no longer connected to the house WiFi and by the time we get back home it has identified we are on our way and warmed the place up to the ambient temperature we have set which is 21c.

Although I don't have the ability to set timing for the hot water separately there is a strong correlation (during winter at any rate) between when we want the house warm first thing in the morning and the requirement for hot water for showers. By telling the system that we want the house to be 21c at 7am Mon to Fi and 8:30am Sat and Sun (when we are detected as being in the house) the water is heated up automatically and there haven't been any shortages of hot water either first thing in the morning or at any time day or night when showers were had.

Not quite sure how it will work in Summer (hence the topic of this thread) but I'm sure there's a workaround I can figure out.

antoinolachtnai

If you have an electric switch to turn off hot water this should be possible. You might need an extra component like a relay or contactor. I would contact the manufacturer and ask them.

54and56

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

If you have an electric switch to turn off hot water this should be possible. You might need an extra component like a relay or contactor. I would contact the manufacturer and ask them.

Thnaks Antoin, the electric switch turns the radiators on/off not the hot water. Does that alter your opinion?

antoinolachtnai

Well if you want to heat hot water only that is just turning off the radiators plus turning on the boiler.

There could will be a bit of trickiness with the wiring but it sounds feasible.

Is this not what you want to achieve?

Do you want to be able to heat radiators only and no hot water? Can be done by adding a zone valve sure but unless you have a very specific requirements it is probably not worth it.

K.Flyer

If you only have to flick a switch and that shuts down the radiator circuit then that would imply that the pipework is already split and a motorisd zone valve fitted.
Sounds like a very straightforward job to finish it off properly.

54and56

K.Flyer wrote: »

Sounds like a very straightforward job to finish it off properly.

That would be a bonus.

Happy Christmas all. Thanks for the advice.

antoinolachtnai

Sounds handy enough. The only problem is that your electrician didn't do it the first time. So give the same information you gave us and ask the manufacturer of the controller if it seems possible.

54and56

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

Sounds handy enough. The only problem is that your electrician didn't do it the first time. So give the same information you gave us and ask the manufacturer of the controller if it seems possible.

Thank Antoin, will do.