[Taf]

We were part of a group of council homes that were moved from Baxi back boilers in the living room gas fire hearth to Baxi wall-mounted combi-boilers.

They all suffered problems, from minor to major and dangerous, with ours having every part, apart from the case and wall plate, swapped for new.

So the council changed to a single Worcester model which was overpowered for our home but just adequate for most.

All OK for a year or so, then drips and auto shutdowns started. It was always the same component that failed, a pressure bladder that developed pinhole leaks. Once their initial stock of spare bladders had been used up, the new ones all worked perfectly.

Our was installed as "on-demand" only on the downstairs loo wall, 6 feet from the kitchen tap and directly below the bath, so there are no long runs of pipe to lose heat when the boiler kicks into life when a hot tap is opened. We lost the attic cold tank and airing cupboard hot water tank, but a neighbour had the boiler fitted into the airing cupboard, feeding a pressurised hot water tank. They soon learnt not to leave the system keeping tank water hot 24/7! Their system is on a waiting list to be moved into their downstairs loo, losing the hot water tank and reducing their gas consumption significantly.

Moving the boiler into the downstairs loo is also a precursor to a heat pump being installed at some point, "when costs drop to an affordable level." A couple of test systems were fitted in the summer of 2023, using the existing 15mm pipe and radiators. The tenants complained that the pumps ran almost 24/7 during the colder months, achieving only 17.5c around the house and not providing enough water even for a shallow bath. And then there were the higher costs, as electricity is about 5 times higher than mains gas. And their neighbours were constantly complaining about the incessant noise.