to replace boiler with combi or not?

[tgs166507]

Hi.

I have a property c. 15 years old, fitted with an Ideal Classic R50 boiler in the garage. It's a traditional low pressure set-up, and the hot water pressure to the kitchen is pretty dire...

I have 2 bathrooms, each with a bath and an electric shower.

Now - one of the shower units caught fire on xmas day(!?) so i'm looking for replacement options. Both showers are original from the house build, and identical - so i'm not keen to keep the one that remains after my experience with the dead one!

I'm proposing to remove the bath in the ensuite, and put in a walk-in shower cubicle, but keep the shower-over-bath set-up in the family bathroom. I have a young family, so the bath gets used daily.

Rather than simply putting back another power hungry electric shower, I was looking at other options.

option 1 - install a shower pump and new thermostatic mixer showers, and run both showers from the existing water tanks, dropping dedicated pipework from the loft to each shower.

option 2 - replace the existing boiler with a combi (again in the garage), and run both showers from a new boiler. This would also (in my mind at least) address the hot water pressure issue in the kitchen, and probably offer me some efficiency improvement over the existing set-up.

I would very much appreciate constructive suggestions/views on the above proposals.

Thank you
Tim

 

[JohnD]

two bathrooms are not usually ideal if you try to run them off an ordinary combi.

Important question:

Fill a bucket at the cold (mains) tap in the kitchen. Time it. How many litres per minute do you get? that will be the maximum amount of water flow that you will get, from all taps (hot and cold) in all bathrooms, kitchen and appliances such as washing machines, that you will get at any one time. It might seem adequate for one tap, but how about when it is shared between two or more?

Is the cold water storage tank in the loft? How high is it above the showers? How big is it? (there may be a number on the side)

BTW electric showers are pretty weedy, but will be useful when (not if) a combi breaks down, in the same way that you can use an immersion heater to warm the hot wat water in a cylinder if a regular boiler is out of action.

 

[ALEC1]

if your requirement is running two showers consecutively then I would avoid a regular combi..you could consider a storage combi, but the best is to stick with a tank and get shower heads for low pressure systems if you are not using a pump...

 

[dcawkwell]

Not a good idea to put all your eggs in one basket and run both showers
off a combi.

Any failure of the combi boiler and you have no hot water for the house.

Not a good idea if you have a young family.

Keep the existing setup and replace the electric shower.

The most likely cause of your poor water pressure in the kitchen
is you have a high pressure tap fitted to a low pressure system!!!

 

[tgs166507]

Thanks for the replies.

Flow rate at the standard mains tap in garage is about 17-18l/min.(the ones in the kitchen etc are monobloc flow regulated)

The cold water tanks hold about 220 litres. the bottom of the tanks is about 0.8m above the shower head level, with top water level at about 1.25m above shower head level.

Does this sound reasonable to shower from the gravity system with a low-head shower head?

I take your point about having a back-up supply of hot water, which I will bear in mind.

Thanks again for your advice.