I have been installing water heaters since 2002 and have used many different manufacturers over the years, usually ones that I have been a service agent for.
About 4 years ago I came across Advance Appliances website whist looking to find a thermal store to replace a unit in an existing installation which had failed. The unit I would usually have used had a 2 year cylinder manufacturer’s warranty, which for the price I found was not great for the customer.
Advance Appliances offer a 10 year warranty on the cylinder which is a great selling point to the customer along with a competitive price (cheaper than the one offering a 2 year warranty) After speaking to Advance I decided to purchase one and to see how the installation went.
Their ETS160 Electric Thermal Store was easy to install, performed well and was competitively priced. I would highly recommend this unit to replace most existing electric thermal store installations provided the conditions, such as wiring feeds, overflow pipes etc are all appropriate.
Since that time I have installed a good number of Advance units and all have been easy to install and have worked efficiently.
I have replaced a few electric boiler and hot water combined systems with either Advance ECB210 Electric Combination Boiler or a 9kw Eglow boiler from Advance with a separate ETS 160. Once again if the existing conditions are appropriate installation is quite straightforward.
In addition to thermal store installations I am able to carry out electric heating installations. I recently replaced an existing branded electric flow boiler with an Advance PlugnGlow mini electric boiler to heat a conservatory in a nursing home; I was pleasantly surprised how well it did the job as it really is a compact unit. The owner of the nursing home was happy with how well it heated the conservatory. She said it was just as warm as the old boiler (and only took up half the space of the old unit). Because PlugnGlow has an inbuilt timer I only needed a pump and room stat to complete the job.
I have seen so many installations where people have replaced a thermal store cylinder with an unvented cylinder which could not have passed a building control inspection due to the discharge pipe not being to G3 requirements. Unvented cylinders can be a cheaper option, but when replacing a thermal store, installers should be replacing it with another thermal store to avoid problems in the future for the customer. Solicitors in the conveyancing markets now sometimes insist that vendors can demonstrate that discharge arrangements comply with G3.
From Graeme Stansfield, Shower Services, Bury 0161 761 7686
Installer
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