Best solution to upgrade heating system in new house?

[wigwam12]

Hi
I would appreciate some advice.
In the process of buying a 4 bed house with contains an 8 year old gravity-fed heating system.

What I would like to do is:
-upgrade the boiler to a newer (condensing) one (WB/Vailant?)
-free up space in the loft by getting shot of the HW tank in it which stands in the centre of the loft and possibly also the CW tank.
-ideally do minimal new pipework etc etc
-probably look to have separate upstairs/downstairs heat zones.

I think the house/family is not appropriate for a combi which might have been the simplest way to do this.

Am I right in thinking a possible solution is to leave vented (that means gravity right?) CH system (I guess this means having a small header tank for this in loft?) and a pressurised (unvented?) CW solution?
If so I take it the cylinder can move out of the loft but I would still need to find space for a 210l tank?

I would not be doing any of this work but would like to have an idea of the solution I wanted before I chase appropriate people to do it.

Thanks

 

[big-all]

heeelllooo and welcome wigwam12

havent got a clue about the heating lol but because your concerned about the loft i assume you are hoping to make use off the space

if so is it for light storage or a habitable room ?

 

[wigwam12]

Thank you
Initially I would like to have it boarded, plasterboard the walls, stick a small roof window in and make it a storage room.
Down the line I might want to convert it to a room but it is not in the short or intermediate term plans.

 

[big-all]

it will need to meet building regs the ceiling timbers are to small need to be around 8x2" to make it a floor
the insulation head height and fire escape routes all come into the equation other wise it can never be used as a room

so dont do anything that wont comply or it may have to be ripped out and done again

 

[wigwam12]

That's if I want it as a "full fat room" right, not just glorified walk-in closet?

 

[Agile]

Why do you think you need 210 litres of HW ?

Before you come to any conclusion about using an unvented cylinder you need to measure the dynamic flow rate of your water mains.

Tony Glazier

 

[dcawkwell]

If you have the mains flow for it about 20-25 litres a minute.

A storage water combi like the ultrapower will provide excellent
water delivery. It has a tank but then defaults back to
combi delivery rate once tank is exhausted.
You can swap between combi when only a couple of people in
the house and tank when more in the house.

Sorted.

 

[wigwam12]

Why do you think you need 210 litres of HW ?

Before you come to any conclusion about using an unvented cylinder you need to measure the dynamic flow rate of your water mains.

Tony Glazier

I did some reading on here and a few people with 4-5 bed houses with young families said this was the size they would need...?

I take it I need a minimum flow rate for an unvented system: is it higher than the rate needed for a combi?

 

[wigwam12]

If you have the mains flow for it about 20-25 litres a minute.

A storage water combi like the ultrapower will provide excellent
water delivery. It has a tank but then defaults back to
combi delivery rate once tank is exhausted.
You can swap between combi when only a couple of people in
the house and tank when more in the house.

Sorted.

Is the Tank integrated into the boiler or will I need space for a separate tank too?

 

[Agile]

Storage combis contain the tank inside their ( huge ) casing.

They primarily provide a good flow rate ( up to 20li/min ) for a short period of time like 2-4 minutes until the tank is depleted when they revert to the basic flow rate of 10-13 li/min. Thats good for filling a small bath quickly.

The water storage size is based on the number of people living there and if they like baths or showers and how many want to use hot water at the same time or immediately after each other.

A good rule of thumb is 50 li + 50 li per person.

Only the dynamic flow rate is relevant in considering how good a supply is!

Tony

 

[big-all]

it will never be anything other than light storage unless it meets building regs

installing things like insulation/dormers/stairs [any one or a combination]are often the cut off point where it is considered a loft extension and requires full permission/permitted development but always needs to meet building regs once the consider you are converting

 

[Agile]

It will also contravene planning regulations if you start using a storage area for sleeping!

 

[wigwam12]

lol yes although I would be lucky to find enough space to put my head down once my wife has stored things up there!

 

[wigwam12]

Just to update this thread having now moved in.
It seems I have a pressurised heating system (there is a glowworm system boiler and what looks like a small old megaflow to drive the flow to the rads beneath it in the kitchen - even though there is also a small header tank in the loft?!)
In the loft there is a large hot water cylinder inc immersion heater; there is a pump to drive the showers which give good pressure hence I think the hot water is storage/gravity.

The gas usage is pretty steep so I think I will be looking to upgrade the (9 year old I think) boiler sooner rather than later but hopefully into summer!
I will also at that stage look to switch the hot water to a megaflow as well.
So in terms of needs:
I need a new system boiler of course and also somewhere to site the hot water megaflow.

Anything else I would need to consider and or options instead?