Torrevieja Forum

[day7t]

We have struggled with a gas boiler for long enough, the water never stays a constant temp despite numerous attempts to cure it so we are going to invest in an electric water heater. There are quite often 4 of us and Leroy Merlin recommends a 150 L boiler, the local hardware shop despite selling 150L recommends 100L, if you have one and can offer any advice that would be great. Thanks

[jimny1]

I have a gas boiler which is more than 15 years old and it is still going strong
I also have a water descaler connected to the pipes so dont suffer too much scale and only occasionally it goes cold, mainly when the gas bottle is nearing empty
Electric heaters are more expensive to run and fail more to to calcium build up , needing replacing every few years
I would invest in another gas boiler if it was me and get a technician to check all is in working order
Just my personal opinion

[Info]

100 gallons is even big never mind 150 gallons. The bigger the capacity the greater the cost of heating it. Has anbody wrapped their water heater in a foil blanket to make it more cost effective.

Bee

[strolling_minstrel]

If it were 100 gallons then it really would be big.

[Info]

Woops your right strolling minstrel. Actually 150l is only about 33 gallons so not huge.

Bee

[Sheff_Blade]

Has anbody wrapped their water heater in a foil blanket to make it more cost effective.

Bee

Good question! Our electric, hot-water boiler seems to cool down quite quickly. I have never seen a jacket in Spain like you get for immersion heaters in the UK. I had assumed they already had some lagging built-in, but perhaps an extra jacket would be worthwhile?

[Karen Jones]

Don't forget would your wall be strong enough to take the weight of a really big boiler? Our gas water heater works fine. I would invest in another gas one.

[retire1day]

I have 100ltr at a bigger place I own and 75 at a 2 bed apartment. You can turn the temp up and down on the electric ones so more people keep it hotter as it will last a bit longer. 100 should do you fine and you can always space out the shower times if required. I used to have gas boiler at one place but electric is easier for me, you see the odd article where people have died because of gas boilers so electric all the way for me. I get by with 4 in the apartment on 75 ltr, just space the showers out or don't stay in too long.

[jimny1]

My gas boiler is outside in an outhouse with the washing machine and i am on gas bottles, so very little chance of any gas poisoning
I opted not to have piped gas as its too expensive for the volume i use and i like to keep control of what i use and pay
I do understand concerns if the boiler is inside, but proper servicing and ventilation would suffice

[retire1day]

I can understand that with standing charges. Maybe technology has moved along with gas boilers and they are better now, the one I have in my garage in the UK is good, it is not a combi though. If I lived in my Villa full time I would probably have solar hot water with electric back up. Of course, the advantages of a gas bottle is that it is not consuming the miniscule amount of electric you can use at any one time in Spain, that is probably the biggest adantage as they install smart meters across the country where you have not say in it.

[jimny1]

Mine is a combi but i have never used the central heating part of it in the winter
I also have a spare junker boiler in my underbuild ready to install if my present one fails, this is water heater only , i would just need to isolate the central heating pipes to install it
But i would never replace with an electric heater, they are too expensive to run and dont last as long because of the hard water in spain , even with the descaler

[retire1day]

Electric in Spain is not cheap is it. I did switch to a night and day rate that seemed to reduce my cost though. If you have a good boiler you dont have to wait for the water to heat up but having been down the route of one not working and the fact that I can only have a boiler inside a property I will stick with electric for safety. I expect electric is worse than a good boiler, more ezpensive to run etc.

[jimny1]

I am on the night and day tariff , mainly because i use the pool pump to filter and air con
at night , otherwise my electric bill would be a lot bigger
But i agree the electric heater is more convenient for you , but i would definitely invest in an electric decaler , i had one for years in the uk and have another now in spain
I did help promote them years go at the this spain exhibition for a friend , and they do work and use a minute amount of electricity as they are left on permanently
You can get them online , probably through amazon , heres some examples
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eddy-Electroni ... B005FWYX9C