Potential new house - boiler in the loft?
Discussion
As per the title, we've looked at a bungalow recently which ticks a lot of boxes. A bit dated but perfectly liveable, would be a project over a few years to modernise, extend and rejig the internal layout. One oddity is the boiler was located in the loft. Apparently it's a fairly new boiler, and was relocated fairly recently - the agent wasn't sure where from but if I had to guess I'd say it was from the kitchen to free up some space (and the boiler is now in the loft space above the kitchen).
Would there be anything to be concerned about? Just thinking the loft will be more susceptible to more extreme temperatures than the rest of the house, and whether that could cause issues. There is a proper loft ladder and it's boarded with reasonable headroom so access isn't too bad, but would still have to give a heads up to the gas engineer before visits, etc, to make sure they were ok going up there.
The odd thing is, although the garage is on the other side of the house, the gas meter and mains water all come through there, so in my mind it would have been more logical to relocate it there...
Would there be anything to be concerned about? Just thinking the loft will be more susceptible to more extreme temperatures than the rest of the house, and whether that could cause issues. There is a proper loft ladder and it's boarded with reasonable headroom so access isn't too bad, but would still have to give a heads up to the gas engineer before visits, etc, to make sure they were ok going up there.
The odd thing is, although the garage is on the other side of the house, the gas meter and mains water all come through there, so in my mind it would have been more logical to relocate it there...
It's fine to have a boiler in the loft, as long as you have the correct size of air vent. One of my rentals came like that and it gets serviced and certificated every year. Other than access it's not that different to having it in a garage.
Some gas engineers won't work in lofts though.
Some gas engineers won't work in lofts though.
Edited by 98elise on Thursday 12th December 17:10
Its common (ish) for boilers to be in the loft. Certainly not unheard of. Depending on the age of the bungalow it could have previously been a back boiler, they were common in the 70's.
They may have used the garage for keeping the car in, and with a boiler in there there my not have been enough room.
They may have used the garage for keeping the car in, and with a boiler in there there my not have been enough room.
In my last house I had the boiler moved from being on the stairs, you had to almost duck to walk under it, to the loft. It was all to regs etc. Worked well to optimise space. It was a combi boiler.
Edit to add, in my current house my boiler is located outside in a brick outhouse. No issues with temps etc.
Edit to add, in my current house my boiler is located outside in a brick outhouse. No issues with temps etc.
In my previous property (bungalow) we had the central heating replaced, including a new unvented water tank and gas boiler in the loft. They replaced a gravity fed water cylinder in a cupboard and back boiler so we gained quite a bit of space and it allowed for the movement of some internal walls. The boiler was mounted on a gable end so effectively no different to being fixed to an external wall. A few of the neighbours have done something similar judging by the number of new vents in their roofs.
Just make sure you've got good easy access and a boarded floor to allow for servicing, which it sounds like you have already have, but some decent lighting.is also a good idea.
If your garage is attached it's easier to install it there and better from an access point of view, but no different temperature wise to being installed in the loft. It's easier to run plastic water pipes than gas but it depends on your layout, access, costs etc. Our new property has the incoming supplies and meters on one side and the distribution board and boiler in the garage on the other side, which I find really odd.
Just make sure you've got good easy access and a boarded floor to allow for servicing, which it sounds like you have already have, but some decent lighting.is also a good idea.
If your garage is attached it's easier to install it there and better from an access point of view, but no different temperature wise to being installed in the loft. It's easier to run plastic water pipes than gas but it depends on your layout, access, costs etc. Our new property has the incoming supplies and meters on one side and the distribution board and boiler in the garage on the other side, which I find really odd.
Moved into 4 bed detached where the combi boiler had been moved to the loft.
Gets serviced / certified each year with no issues.
Only problem was 6 months ago where the divertor valve (?) gave up the ghost and we got a leak straight thru to the bathroom ceiling.
all sorted and not too much damage as we caught it early. Now have a high tech solution of adding a big bucket under boiler now, just in case - which i check every cpl of weeks / when i can be bothered.
Gets serviced / certified each year with no issues.
Only problem was 6 months ago where the divertor valve (?) gave up the ghost and we got a leak straight thru to the bathroom ceiling.
all sorted and not too much damage as we caught it early. Now have a high tech solution of adding a big bucket under boiler now, just in case - which i check every cpl of weeks / when i can be bothered.
oldskoolgent said:
Now have a high tech solution of adding a big bucket under boiler now, just in case - which i check every cpl of weeks / when i can be bothered.
You can get little water sensors for about a tenner that'll make a sound like a fire alarm if they end up sat in a leak. Handy bits of kit for spotting leaks in places you may not check like loft, under shower trays, under kitchen units etc. Plumber over the road from our last place shifted his boiler into the loft to free up space in the kitchen.
Thanks for all the replies, sounds like it's not really a major concern. Thinking about it, the bucket underneath sounds like a good idea 
We had a leak in our current one (in the kitchen) earlier this year which filled a mug a day until we got fixed which was just an inconvenience, rather than causing any serious damage.
We had a leak in our current one (in the kitchen) earlier this year which filled a mug a day until we got fixed which was just an inconvenience, rather than causing any serious damage.wombleh said:
You can get little water sensors for about a tenner that'll make a sound like a fire alarm if they end up sat in a leak. Handy bits of kit for spotting leaks in places you may not check like loft, under shower trays, under kitchen units etc.
Plumber over the road from our last place shifted his boiler into the loft to free up space in the kitchen.
Handy info, thank you Plumber over the road from our last place shifted his boiler into the loft to free up space in the kitchen.
oldskoolgent said:
Moved into 4 bed detached where the combi boiler had been moved to the loft.
Gets serviced / certified each year with no issues.
Only problem was 6 months ago where the divertor valve (?) gave up the ghost and we got a leak straight thru to the bathroom ceiling.
all sorted and not too much damage as we caught it early. Now have a high tech solution of adding a big bucket under boiler now, just in case - which i check every cpl of weeks / when i can be bothered.
Ideal opportunity fror a tech solution. Internal CCTV cam Gets serviced / certified each year with no issues.
Only problem was 6 months ago where the divertor valve (?) gave up the ghost and we got a leak straight thru to the bathroom ceiling.
all sorted and not too much damage as we caught it early. Now have a high tech solution of adding a big bucket under boiler now, just in case - which i check every cpl of weeks / when i can be bothered.
That's where we had ours relocated to in our bungalow when we had a new combi. Probably 10 or so years ago.
It was in a random place in the kitchen before.
It's a 70s bungalow which had microbore. So we had all new pipework throughout as well.
It's above our bedroom - though not our bed! - so I can hear it when it fires up, but it doesn't bother me. I wouldn't say it's ever woken me up.
The loft ladder bounces on the pipework when I throw it back up there which probably isn't good. And I have to avoid stepping on the pipework when I'm putting stuff up there or fetching stuff down. I wonder if the Plumber could have thought about the layout of the pipework in the loft a bit more.
It was in a random place in the kitchen before.
It's a 70s bungalow which had microbore. So we had all new pipework throughout as well.
It's above our bedroom - though not our bed! - so I can hear it when it fires up, but it doesn't bother me. I wouldn't say it's ever woken me up.
The loft ladder bounces on the pipework when I throw it back up there which probably isn't good. And I have to avoid stepping on the pipework when I'm putting stuff up there or fetching stuff down. I wonder if the Plumber could have thought about the layout of the pipework in the loft a bit more.
Had our boiler moved from our kitchen into our loft about a year ago. It coincided with our 10 year old boiler leaking water and needed to be replaced - Perfect time to get it moved.
I could hear the old boiler in the kitchen fire up and it just took up space. Not sure why you would choose to have one in the house, garage or roof space.
New one has been great, don’t ever hear it, no wasted space. I’ve added a camera up there so I can look at it if required, and will add some water leak sensors etc to our Tapo gadgets to look out for leaks etc.
I could hear the old boiler in the kitchen fire up and it just took up space. Not sure why you would choose to have one in the house, garage or roof space.
New one has been great, don’t ever hear it, no wasted space. I’ve added a camera up there so I can look at it if required, and will add some water leak sensors etc to our Tapo gadgets to look out for leaks etc.
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