Boiler and cylinder replacement in Sudbury, Suffolk

This weeks job started a little while ago when a customer called reporting water coming up through the concrete screed in their kitchen. We attended the property and broke out the concrete to find a pinhole in the copper pipe. We used Conex press fittings to fix the leak. The leak was caused by the pipework not being adequately protected allowing the concrete to corrode the copper.
Two months later another pipe had developed a pinhole — this time the leak was fixed and the customer was advised that it was likely to happen again. We recommended disconnecting the pipes in the floor and routing them the the ceiling void instead. The customer agreed and also ask us to change the old boiler and cylinder in the property.
The property has lovely views over the water meadows and has two rooms and a cabin to rent. We booked in the work when the rooms were not in use causing the least disruption possible.

Disconnecting the leaking pipework in the kitchen.

To disconnect the pipework in the screed we had to remove a boxing in the downstairs shower room and cut and cap the feed into the screed. we then cut in new tees and ran pipework along the and up in a cupboard behind the water softener and washing machine. Access hatches where cut in the plasterboard ceiling so we could run our new pipes to drop down behind a tall kitchen unit. Once the pipework was down the back of this unit we ran pipework underneath the kitchen plinth, we disconnected the old pipework and reconnected the kitchen sink.

The new boiler and cylinder.

We drained and removed the old Potterton Suprima that Younger Smith had serviced for several years. An Alpha heat-only boiler with 7 years, parts and labour warranty replaced the Potterton. A vertical flue terminal was fitted using the existing flue hole. Using the existing flue meant we did not have to disturb other roof tiles and no leaks were caused.
While altering the pipework to the boiler and cylinder we replaced the main heating components. This included the pump, heating and hot water zone valves and automatic bypass. To protect the boiler we fitted a Magnaclean to the system to collect debris before entering the boiler. The central heating was originally being controlled by just the programmer, a Honeywell room thermostat was fitted giving the customer more control over the heating in the property. The old cylinder was replaced like for like. The cylinder was replaced as the tappings had began to show signs of leakage. We used a surrey flange to reconnect the shower pumps, this helps to stop air entering the pumps.
The system was then wired, filled, flushed and commissioned to the manufacturers instruction. Once this was complete we balanced the heating system to make sure all the radiator were getting hot at the same time. We then explained how the new controls work and set times in the programmer for the customer.