Advice on boiler

[Gasman77]

Not sure what he thinks about wolves, personally I don't come into contact with them often so I haven't given it much thought to be honest.

Are they more of a problem in Germany?

Wonder what he thinks about Bears....

 

[VioletG]

In my parents house if you turn on the water downstairs the hot water upstairs goes cold.

That's what happens when you heat the water straight from the mains and the flow is not sufficient for more than one outlet at the same time. If you are having a bathroom and a shower, then a combi is not a good idea as you could easily suffer the same problem as your parents.

Thank you. So a combi boiler seems the wrong way to go, I really don't want to end up in my parents situation. It is extremely annoying, toilet gets flushed and its five minutes before the shower warms up again.

In light of that I guess the combi is not going to address this issue.

So moving away from a combi what are the options?

 

[D_Hailsham]

So moving away from a combi what are the options?

I recently visited the show houses of a new development nearby. All three bed houses, which have a bathroom, cloakroom and ensuite, had a system boiler and a Range Tribune cylinder. Knowing how reluctant any developer is to spend a penny more than is necessary, I'm sure that they would have put in a combi if it was at all feasible; but they didn't.

But, before you jump in with both feet, Range say:

The performance of any unvented system is only as good as the mains water supply. The maximum possible water demand should be assessed, taking into consideration that both hot and cold services are supplied simultaneously from the mains.

The water supply should be checked to ensure it can meet these requirements. If necessary, consult the local water company regarding the likely pressure and flow rate availability.

If measuring the water pressure, note that a high static (no flow) mains pressure is no guarantee of good flow availability. In a domestic installation 1.5 bar and 25 l/min. should be regarded as the minimum. The maximum mains pressure that the inlet control set can cope with is 16 bar.

Consideration should be given to upgrading existing ½” (15mm) cold mains pipework to a larger size if the recommended minimum pressure/flow rate is not being achieved.

So the first thing to do is check your incoming cold water flow rate at the kitchen tap (marked bucket and watch). Pressure is harder to measure as it needs test equipment. But if you have a garden tap direct off the incoming mains you can get a good idea. Measure the flow at the kitchen tap, firstly with the garden tap closed and then with it fully open; the smaller the difference the better.

If the flow rate is low and the difference is high, you can try upgrading the incoming mains; but ask the water board first what flow/pressure you will get. If that will not make any real difference, the only solution is the traditional cold water tank in the loft feeding an open vented HW cylinder. You can still use a system boiler.