What IS a Gulfstream A-Class?
The Gulfstream A-Class is Gledhill's latest version of the
Gulfstream, and represents a major 'ground-up' re-design of the
appliance. Many of the problems with the Gulfstream 2000 have been
addressed but the unit is too new for me to have much experience of
repairing.
The unit is a thermal store, but unlike Gledhill's other thermal
stores the Gulfstream is self-powered by gas. It incorporates a modern,
high-efficiency condensing boiler inside the casing which heats the
store water.
Other than having a gas boiler built in, it is pretty similar to all
the other Gledhill A-Class thermal stores.
Like
conventional hot water cylinders, a thermal store is a container filled
with hot water but here the similarity ends. Once filled, the water in a
thermal store never changes. Instead, the hot water stored in it is used to
heat the tap water using a heat exchanger. This allows the hot tap water
to be delivered at full mains pressure, and is one of the primary
benefits of installing a thermal store instead of a conventional hot
water cylinder. For central heating, the hot store water is pumped
directly around the radiators.
The Gledhill Gulfstream transfers heat into the tap water using a pump
and an external 'plate heat exchanger'. A plate heat exchanger is a
block of very thin stainless steel plates arranged so that cold mains
water can flow through one set of spaces between the plates, and hot
water from the thermal store core can flow through an alternate spaces.
Heat transfers through the plates and heats the cold mains water on it's
way to the hot tap.
Central heating is very simple in that the CH pump starts and
circulates the thermal store water around the radiator circuits whenever
the CH timer and room thermostat are both calling for heat.
Common problems:
As I mentioned above, this is a new(ish) model and I've not had time
yet to write a list of common faults, although it is a very similar list
to the problems that the 2000 suffers
from.
Finally, as mentioned previously, due to the
persistent unreliability of the Gulfstream 2000 and the Gulfstream
A-Class I am no longer prepared to repair them, sorry! Given the
catalogue of faults to which the Gulfstream is prone I recommend you consider replacing
it instead of repairing it. The comments on this page are
all my personal opinion.
Mike Bryant, AKA Mike the
Boilerman.
This page last updated 2nd January 2018.
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