Replacing warm air with wet system - combi or water tank??

[diy2010]

I really would be grateful for some advice from those that know....

I am thinking of replacing the warm air heating (we like warm air but can never replace the boiler due to an undersized return air duct - we cannot make this larger to comply with new regulations)

We have a typical 70s style 4 bed detached house but have received conflicting information regarding the type of wet system. BG say we should go for traditional system with water tank, header tank, etc. Another heating Company have suggested we go for a combination boiler with no water tank. The combination boiler sounds excellent - only paying for what we use and being able to remove the hot water cylinder to make more room in the bathroom, etc.

Could anybody give us some advice - are combination boilers ok in our size house - does the water still come out of the taps at a good pressure - would we be better with a hot water cylinder. We would also like to add a towel rail in the bathroom and wonder if we should keep the electric shower or add this to the heating system.

Sorry for the waffle and all the questions but, as you can see, we are totally lost. Thanks very much indeed for any advice.

 

[Agile]

A combi is fine with one bathroom, more and you need a stored system.

The cost of changing to a wet system will be about £2000 more so are you sure the ducts cannot be replaced for far less?

I am registered for working on warm air but it has so many disadvantages that I would not recommend it to many people.

Tony

 

[diy2010]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the info - you mention disadvantages of warm air and I would really appreciate your views on this. I would much rather keep the warm air - very cheap to maintain with BG - it has never broken down in the last 10 years BUT vents in upstairs ceilings are not very efficient, it is a little noisy when it starts up, and our utility room is freezing cold due to the large vent we need in the wall. I hate the thought of pipes, radiators, and water running everywhere, but I see little option - I am just confused - heating appears to be a bit of a black art - each company offers different advice, and lots of our friends have ongoing problems with their new style condensing boilers.

 

[Agile]

I dont want to influence you as you already live with it!

Advantages:-

cheap to install when house is built.
heats up rapidly
cheap to maintain
only moving/wet parts in the central unit

Disadvantages:-

does not control individual room temps automatically
carries fine dust roung the rooms, usually a big problem for asma!
tends to create a low humidity
can be quite noisy
filters may need cleaning every month or so
NOISE from one room carried round whole house eg, babies crying, snoring, making love etc.
not many engineers registered for warm air

You take your pick! But tell me YOUR experiences and what YOU think about it !

Tony

 

[sarah83]

Hi,

We moved into our new house in October and have been getting used to the warm air system. I'm not too happy with it at the moment as it doesn't really reach my daughter's bedroom (the furthest from the main unit). Also, we get a lot of condensation on the windows in the morning as I don't think the room is ever dried out properly. Don't like the feel of damp clothes in the morning either. The heat just doesn't rise through the house and upstairs is always cold.

That said, my husband likes the fact that we don't have to worry about the space on the walls and we have yet to get our first proper gas bill. He also says that everybody's house is cold at the moment due to the weather conditions?!

We are just about to embark on a double storey extension and want to obviously know what to do with the heating. The hot water is currently provided by a hot water tank but its not big enough to fill a bath full of water at the moment so not sure how it would cope with our plans (we want to put a family bathroom in the extension and convert the current bathroom to a shower room.

It is so hard to know what to do especially when either option isn't cheap- and I agree that it's unhelpful when everyone tells you different things!

 

[Agile]

Sarah, you can adjust ( close ) the air outlets on all the outlets by say 20% to encourage the flow to the end of the system.

You should only get condensation if you dont have double glazed windows.

You will probably have to convert to a full wet system unless you wanted to fit a combi just for the new extension. Expect £4000-£6000 !

If the existing cylinder is not fully heating then you have a fault and need to get it serviced/repaired.

Tony