Seems excessive, needing to heat it twice, for so little water used...
What colour is the insulation on the cylinder?
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New boiler - what to ask the plumber?
- Thread starter nic11
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Seems excessive, needing to heat it twice, for so little water used...
What colour is the insulation on the cylinder?
Night and day between gravity and sealed/unvented in terms of hot water pressure, for us….was definitely a worthwhile upgrade.
Worth getting quotes for ashp as well if a viable option- as quotes will include the whole lot, getting rid of existing tanks, converting to pressurised system, new DHW cylinder, and the heat source itself. And of course weather comp by default.
We have 2bar mains pressure, and plumed with 22mm from loft, to cistern, to bath hot tap. The bath hot tap delivers water faster than the bath cold tap. Had we a combi installed, then the cold water supply would be shared between cold and hot from the combi, resulting in it taking 3 to 4 times as long to fill the bath - I've been there, done that, it makes for a long wait.
Only if you have lots of money for the energy bills, or excellent home insulation, but for everyone else....
Similar to mine. Worthwhile, adding some extra insulation, to retain the heat. I covered ours with old bed quilts, which made for a worthwhile improvement. Add some pipe insulation too, to the pipe from the top particularly.
a large kw boiler is needed on a combi because it needs the power to heat up on demand water
the problem is that when the boiler is used for heating you have a boiler that is over rated
lets say you need 28kw to heat water fast enough, you may only need 4kw to heat the house so a maybe a 15kw boiler modulated down will be sufficient for you
I doubt if many boiler installer do the calculation but really the heat loss of the house should be worked out and then the work out the amount of power needed to heat the house on the coldest day, so heating house from say -8deg C up to 21 deg C on max acceptable radiator temp.
I think this is a great feature and massively undersold
I never realised how much more comfortable the house would be with weather comp.
most of the winter these days is not too cold say between 5 and 10 deg and I find our flow temp is only typically around 35 to 45 deg, I now have the heating on for 2 long periods of the day and mostly have all rads on -dont bother with fancy TRV zoning etc.
when I had a new boiler, we changed from a very old gravity system to a pressurised system and vented HWC.
I paid to have a ultrafast recovery hot water cylinder and with hot water priority the boiler typically heats the HW twice a day, but not for long, prob under 10 mins
the guy who did ours likes Baxi and Ideal, so went with the Ideal Vogue, its designed to work easily with a hot water priority system layout and weather compensation. cost with power flush was a bit over £4k
In terms of brand choice, I preferred a UK basic brand on the basis that plumbers would be familiar with it they would be able to get the parts easily at the merchants well into the future. The only brand I avoided was Worcester Bosch only because I got the impression their efforts are put into marketing rather than engineering.
Quality of installation is likely to be more important than brand though
choose a local guy who will come back each year and service it
avoid checkatrade or any online company like the plague -they are a race to the bottom. avoid avoid avoid
if you choose Boxt, my guess is it will be speed over loving care!
Surely you must have a shower, even if you don't have a bath. So you'll need HW for that as well as the kitchen sink.
Or do you just go unwashed?!
He has a modern electric shower!
Simply not true and we have neither of those things (either a well insulated house or money to burn) I can assure you, thanks.
I think generally if you are looking to overhaul your central heating/DHW it’s another option that should be considered.
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I don't see how a 'modern' electric shower would be any better. They are the same thing: it's just a kettle heating element through which a flow of water passes. If you want it hot, it trickles.
Another thing to remember is that a combi boiler is OK if you use only one hot water outlet at a time. If you open a second, you will probably not get water which is hot enough and/or a good flow rate. That's been my experience in three different houses!
I would agree with the comments on keeping a new boiler simple. I had an Intergas combi installed in my last house, but getting spares was a main (service items - it didn't break down). I also witnessed their tech support lines being unavailable after 40+ minutes on hold. I have recently had a new combi (having moved house) and I went with the same brand that was there previously (Worcester Bosch), and the fitter regularly worked with them. He said he knew WB, Ideal and Baxi inside-out, and would recommend any of them, depending on your budget. A common brand may not be exciting, but I'll find it easier to get repairs if I need them. So maybe avoid anything unusual.
Another thing to remember is that a combi boiler is OK if you use only one hot water outlet at a time. If you open a second, you will probably not get water which is hot enough and/or a good flow rate. That's been my experience in three different houses!
I would agree with the comments on keeping a new boiler simple. I had an Intergas combi installed in my last house, but getting spares was a main (service items - it didn't break down). I also witnessed their tech support lines being unavailable after 40+ minutes on hold. I have recently had a new combi (having moved house) and I went with the same brand that was there previously (Worcester Bosch), and the fitter regularly worked with them. He said he knew WB, Ideal and Baxi inside-out, and would recommend any of them, depending on your budget. A common brand may not be exciting, but I'll find it easier to get repairs if I need them. So maybe avoid anything unusual.
That was what they used to be - more modern ones, are more powerful, you set the temperature you want, and they maintain that temperature precisely, winter and summer. They do that by adjusting the power input, and the flow of water.
Turning the hot tap on, the cold water incoming mains flow, is shared between both the hot and the cold taps.
Boiler installers, tend to recommend, the boiler company which offers them the best deal/best profit margin. They will not want, or even refuse to install, your choice of boiler. Start by deciding which boiler you decide you want, then find installers of that boiler - manufacturers have lists, of approved installers.
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