BEST BOILER TYPE PLEASE

[SC4764]

Hello everyone
I have recently moved and my new living room is graced with a Baxi Bermuda 401 back boiler with an LFE 3 Super gas fire.
Since the place needs a total refurb i thought i'd replace the boiler first.What would the best make/ type of replacement be and whats a rough cost bearing in mind the following points;
It's a bungalow
The floors are solid so the pipes are either boxed or exposed
There is no room thermostat
There are 6 radiators neither of which have TRV's
Theres a hot water tank which seems relatively new but has neither heating element or thermostat
Theres only me living there so a shower a day and 2 lots of washing a week would do.

Also the kitchen is tiny,the gas meter is there but can it go anywhere else-does it have to go on an outside wall,i've heard of them being installed in lofts-is that feasible?
Forgive my ignorance on this subject!!
Thanks in advance

 

[bengasman]

Few boilers have to go on an outside wall, as long as the flue can get to the outside, anything is fine.
For your type of house a combi would be most efficient.
By general consensus of the forum, best brands are:
Vaillant, decent boiler, worst customer service of all makes
Viessmann, good boiler, good t&c, but company has relatively small presence in UK.
WB CDI, good boiler, best customer service, but hard to work on if something goes wrong.

Loft installation is possible, but will cost an extra £1000 or so if you want it done by the book.

 

[Boilerman2]

What Boiler is Best eh! that is a loaded Question on this forum, there are so many boilers on the market and just like cars, people have good and bad experiences with diffrent models, I can only speak personally but if you are looking for a boiler which is not a BBU,then I would fit a Broag - Remeha Avanta, availible as open vent, system & Combi, after sales very good mine's been in nearly two years now, no probs at all,
However, regardless of the quality of a boiler, the installation quality is just as important, so don't skimp on the install specification, and if fitting a combi in a hard water area (about 80% of the UK) fit a Water Softener

 

[muggles]

OK will need some more info from you...you should consider what the potential future load is rather than what's just needed now, so how many hot water outlets do you have and what are they? You never know, in a few years time you may have to provide hot water for a partner and children... How many bedrooms are in the bungalow? How many rooms total? We can't really advise on a power output of a new boiler as we don't know the total size of the bungalow.

That it's a bungalow and that the pipes are going to be above the floor is largely irrelevant.

Your installer should fit TRVs and a roomstat as part of the installation.

Do you wish to retain hot water storage of some sort or would you prefer to have instantaneous hot water with no storage if this is possible? If you want storage, do you want to use the existing low pressure setup or would you prefer mains pressure if this is possible? If you retain your existing cylinder you need to get a thermostat fitted to it if there isn't one.

The gas meter can be moved by your gas transporter but this will be expensive, and it won't go in your loft! Outside is the best place for it if you really must have it moved.

 

[SC4764]

Hello everyone
I have recently moved and my new living room is graced with a Baxi Bermuda 401 back boiler with an LFE 3 Super gas fire.
Since the place needs a total refurb i thought i'd replace the boiler first.What would the best make/ type of replacement be and whats a rough cost bearing in mind the following points;
It's a bungalow
The floors are solid so the pipes are either boxed or exposed
There is no room thermostat
There are 6 radiators neither of which have TRV's
Theres a hot water tank which seems relatively new but has neither heating element or thermostat
Theres only me living there so a shower a day and 2 lots of washing a week would do.

Also the kitchen is tiny,the gas meter is there but can it go anywhere else-does it have to go on an outside wall,i've heard of them being installed in lofts-is that feasible?
Forgive my ignorance on this subject!!
Thanks in advance

Thanks for your replies so far,heres a bit more info
There are 6 rooms
Lounge-17'11''x 10'9''
kitchen-9'0''x 7'5''
bedroom -16'2''x8'1''
bedroom-12'10''x9'3''
bathroom-6'6''x6'6''
hall-7'x4'
All rooms are standard height-about 7'6'' i guess.
all current radiators are single ones and measure 950mm wide by 600mm high except bathroom and hall which are 600x600.Are they big enough and could i swap singles for doubles?
I like the idea of instantaneous hot water
Does that mean i don't need a tank and could the boiler go where it is?
As i said before though the tank is relatively new so would it be better to leave it.
The part i said earlier about the loft,i meant siting the boiler there,i don't plan on having the gas meter moved.Sorry for the misleading info.
Thanks again.

 

[bengasman]

One of the advantages of a boiler is that you can get rid of the 2 tanks and the cylinder.
The boiler can go in the loft, but the alterations to meet the requirements of the building regs will add about £1000 to the bill.
The simplest way of finding out if the rads are large enough is quite simple: if a room is always warm enough when the radiator is on, it means it is large enough.

 

[muggles]

I would have thought your radiators are a little small, if you give me a bit more info via PM I'll let you know what sizes you actually need...you have mail

If you like the idea of instantaneous hot water with no storage then you're looking at a combi boiler, you need to get the flow rate and pressure of the incoming mains checked (you can do flow rate in litres per minute into a bucket from your kitchen tap as a rough guide).

The boiler could indeed go where the hot water cylinder is at the moment, and your loft tanks could be removed altogether as your heating system would be pressurised and not require a loft tank. You can also put the boiler in the loft but this involves a little bit more work, although not too much. It would normally go on a gable end in the loft.

You still haven't said what you have in the way of hot water outlets...

Let me know the info I need and I'll size those rads for you