Electric Combi-Boilers

Electric Combi-boilers are becoming increasingly popular as home owners and landlords move away from gas powered central heating systems. The range of electric combi boilers is not quite the same as the range of gas combi boilers, and it is very important to understand the difference before deciding to switch over.

They do have one thing in common - the fact that they are one appliance which can produce the hot water for your central heating system as well as the hot water which comes out of your taps and showers. Internally, though, the biggest difference is that not all electric combi boilers produce hot water 'on demand' - instead, some have in-built cylinders, which can vary in size depending upon the amount of hot water they need to produce. The best way to consider them is by the level of demand which will be placed on them - i.e. the size of your household. We've divided this up into 3 possible requirements below, but you can get straight to some recommended products by using the sizing question in our electric combi boiler Product Advisor.

One Bedroom Apartments

One bedroom apartments which have a shower rather than a bath can go for a combi boiler which has no internal water tank. This means that all the hot water for the taps and shower is heated on demand resulting in no wastage caused by unused hot water cooling down in a cylinder.

It also means that you will never run out of hot water, which may happen if you have a stored water solution.

A critical consideration is that the distance between the boiler and the tap and shower outlets are as close as possible: this is not just to save costs and energy by not having hot water cooling down in the pipework, but because as the length of pipework increases, so the water cools down more before it reaches the tap.

Electric Combi Boilers for 2 bed flats or small houses.

Moving up to 2 bedrooms, and especially if you want use of a bath, means that you will need an electric combi boiler with a built-in storage capacity rather than having the hot water created instantaneously.

These units contain water tanks for the hot water which vary in size, along with flowboilers to heat the water for the central heating radiators.

They can get up to some serious levels of power consumption, so it is very important to check that you have (or can install) the appropriate wiring and that the load will not exceed the maximum your property can cope with. You may need to install a relay to cope with this.

3 Bed Properties with up to 2 bathrooms

For houses with 3 bedrooms and 1 or 2 bathrooms, the larger combi boilers available are a perfect fit. They come with a good sized cylinder, and a powerful flow boiler for the heating.

The advantages of getting these as a single electric combi-boiler unit include the ease of installation, and the fact that all components (such as expansion vessels and control valves are included in the unit.

Electric Combi Boilers for Larger Houses

The electric combi-boilers on the market at the moment are not suitable for larger houses (i.e. more than 3 bedrooms). But that doesn't mean you can't have an electric-only system which effectively does the same thing: it just means you can't have it in one neat box.

Instead, you can choose a flow boiler for your central heating, and a direct cylinder for your hot water.

This option gives you much more scope to fine-tune the capacity and power of your system, and also allows you to use the cylinder to store excess power from and home-generated energy (for example from solar panels) as hot water which you can use later.