Boiler/Heating 4 bed house.

[Localmcmoo]

Folks good morning,

I'm after a bit of advice on TOTALLY re-plumbing (at the same time as totally rewiring the house) my house including central heating. I would be grateful on a few pointers/suggestions in the work i am planning to do.
We moved into our house about a year ago. The house was built in the 1930s. Currently we have an Ideal Mexico boiler about 20 years old – this lives under the stairs and does look it’s age! We have a thermostat upstairs and downstairs however the upstairs on is not very reliable. To be honest the whole system is not great. In the attic the tank is on stilts. We have once bath/shower and another shower – both pressure driven. At some point i would like to put a shower in the loft as well as heating for when we expand. The house has about 13 radiators
I would also like as part of the job to be undertaken...

Removal of water tank in loft ( in preparation of loft conversion one day)
Changing all the rads for new – removing existing plumbing.
Removal of a water tank in cupboard
Removal of old boiler
New location for new boiler/megaflow?
Water points to the loft for central heating/shower for if we expand.
Each radiator to have isolation valves – (may need to remove rads when we decorate - is this a bad idea?)
Dual Thermostat zones
Isolation valves for sinks/taps.
Replace onsite shower with bath/shower

Any pointers on what i should be looking out for in a builder and advise onto what central heating system i should go for. I would like to go for the higher quality bits out there. Would the new system be fitted with pushfit joints? If there is any modern day innovation that you would put into a new system what would that be?
I have a rough figure in my head of £5000/6000 to get the work done not sure if thats anywhere near the mark
I should be getting people in to quote in the following weeks (along with the electrics)

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Dee...

 

[dcawkwell]

Glow worm ultra power a cross between combi and unvented cylinder.
Fall back to combi delivery rates if the tank runs out.
Can also use an immersion heater for back should boiler fail.

Ensure you have good cold mains flow 20-25 litres per minute.
Probably put it under the stairs to replace the existing boiler.
All other tanks can be removed.

 

[ALEC1]

why do you need to replumb the whole heating system...if its correctly sized you gain nothing other than spending money...

you need someone on site to see it and make recommendations...

Zoning is a nice idea but you are probably better off with compensation controls such as weather compensation so that the heat load matches the heat loss of the building...

People speak highly of glow worm and the ultra power..but you might like to consider viessmann 222s as well...

 

[Localmcmoo]

Thanks for the replies...

the existing CH pipes are over 20 years old - would they still be good to re-use? should some sort of cleaning be done to them/the system like a powerflush to clean out the gunk in the pipes? The rads themselves will definately be replaced for newer ones. I'm just concerned over the years limescale has built up.

I was thinking zoning as the house is very big, during the winter i would only like to heat the top floor in the night when we are asleep. The bottom can stay at a cooler tempreture.

Both the Glow worm and viessmann 222s are single unit boilers - is there any benifit over say a mega flow and a combi? I do like the reviews on the worcester boilers - Greenstar Highflow 440CDi & 550CDi series

 

[ALEC1]

There is no research that says that zoning reduces energy usage, an alternative would be weather compensation, which is the way they heat places in most of europe.

Zoning has a high(ish) capital cost but is certainly expensive when you compensate two zones..

Pipes will probably be fine if properly sized, and should be fushed through..

 

[ALEC1]

The oldest pipes I have pressurised have been 45 years old, with no down side whatso ever...

 

[Localmcmoo]

Thats good to know. I'll be present when the work is being done. If they can show me the pipes are limescaled then I will replace them. I plan to see out my years in this house so dont mind paying - not looking to skimp or cut corners...

Dee...

 

[dcawkwell]

Thanks for the replies...

the existing CH pipes are over 20 years old - would they still be good to re-use? should some sort of cleaning be done to them/the system like a powerflush to clean out the gunk in the pipes? The rads themselves will definately be replaced for newer ones. I'm just concerned over the years limescale has built up.

I was thinking zoning as the house is very big, during the winter i would only like to heat the top floor in the night when we are asleep. The bottom can stay at a cooler tempreture.

Both the Glow worm and viessmann 222s are single unit boilers - is there any benifit over say a mega flow and a combi? I do like the reviews on the worcester boilers - Greenstar Highflow 440CDi & 550CDi series

The worcesters are a water storage combi. They have no fall back to immersion heater.