I live in a block of new flats and a number of flats are vacant in the
winter.
I would like to suggest that the water  should always be turned off even
although some people will be leaving their central heating on if the flat is
vacant.
The system installed is a Combi system.
Before issuing this instruction I want to make sure that this is a correct
one.
We live in Scotland.
Blair

"Blair"  wrote in message 
news:dfkf19$4ns$1@newsg2.svr.pol.co.uk...

>I live in a block of new flats and a number of flats are vacant in the
> winter.
> I would like to suggest that the water  should always be turned off even
> although some people will be leaving their central heating on if the flat 
> is
> vacant.
> The system installed is a Combi system.
> Before issuing this instruction I want to make sure that this is a correct
> one.
> We live in Scotland.
> Blair
>
>

The central heating side of the combi does not need the mains water turned
on, it keeps its own water in the central heating loop. Turning the water 
off
at the mains will not therefore cause a problem.

Andy.

> The central heating side of the combi does not need the mains water turned
> on, it keeps its own water in the central heating loop. Turning the water
> off at the mains will not therefore cause a problem.


However, old open vented boilers that don't have overheat cutout can be
dangerous if the water supply is disrupted when their thermostat fails.

Almost all combis are sealed system and have no safety implication to
turning off the water.

Christian.

Blair wrote:

> I live in a block of new flats and a number of flats are vacant in the
> winter.
> I would like to suggest that the water  should always be turned off even
> although some people will be leaving their central heating on if the flat is
> vacant.
> The system installed is a Combi system.
> Before issuing this instruction I want to make sure that this is a correct
> one.
> We live in Scotland.


There's no reason not to turn off the water AFAICS. It might be worth 
checking that there is no way of turning off the water outside the flats 
- the block in which I live has the rising mains in the common close, 
with stopcocks outside the flats to allow damage limitation in case of 
emergency.

Owain

Blair wrote:

> I live in a block of new flats and a number of flats are vacant in the
> winter.
> I would like to suggest that the water  should always be turned off
> even although some people will be leaving their central heating on if
> the flat is vacant.
> The system installed is a Combi system.
> Before issuing this instruction I want to make sure that this is a
> correct one.
> We live in Scotland.
> Blair


Blair,

My advice (after attending many flooded properties) if you are going away
for any length of time in the winter period (more than a couple of days) -
is to drain down the hot water and heating systems and turn the water off at
the stop tap.

Turn off the electricity and gas supply.

Drastic and will probably raise a few arguments here, but that is based on
well over twenty years of local authority housing maintenance experience and
seeing too many flooded and fire affected properties - and again, far too
many of those tenants were uninsured, even though the council has scheme
where household contents insurance can be paid weekly/monthly with the rent.

Brian G

"Brian G"  wrote in message
news:3o6dhqF4f50sU1@individual.net...

> Blair wrote:
> > I live in a block of new flats and a number of flats are vacant in the
> > winter.
> > I would like to suggest that the water  should always be turned off
> > even although some people will be leaving their central heating on if
> > the flat is vacant.
> > The system installed is a Combi system.
> > Before issuing this instruction I want to make sure that this is a
> > correct one.
> > We live in Scotland.
> > Blair
>
> Blair,
>
> My advice (after attending many flooded properties) if you are going away
> for any length of time in the winter period (more than a couple of days) -
> is to drain down the hot water and heating systems and turn the water off
at
> the stop tap.
>
> Turn off the electricity and gas supply.
>
> Drastic and will probably raise a few arguments here, but that is based on
> well over twenty years of local authority housing maintenance experience
and
> seeing too many flooded and fire affected properties - and again, far too
> many of those tenants were uninsured, even though the council has scheme
> where household contents insurance can be paid weekly/monthly with the
rent.
>
> Brian G
>

Thanks to all who replied.So turning off the water is OK while leaving the
Central heating on with a combi.
I accept Brian's argument apart from draining down the heating system. If
the water system is correctly mixed with Ferrox  or equivalent which is an
anti sludge and also an anti freeze mixture there should be no problem if
the heating is left on set low.
My experience is with an old weekend cottage that we came to every weekend
in the Winter and I drained down the water system but not the heating
system.We experienced some extremely low temperatures and on one week end
the water had frozen underground but I still had the heating system
operating.
Blair

Blair wrote:

> Thanks to all who replied.So turning off the water is OK while leaving the
> Central heating on with a combi.
> I accept Brian's argument apart from draining down the heating system. If
> the water system is correctly mixed with Ferrox  or equivalent which is an
> anti sludge and also an anti freeze mixture there should be no problem if
> the heating is left on set low.


Also most new combi installations will be sealed primary, so even if 
there is a burst the volume of water that can escape is finite.

Owain