I've just bought my first house and I'm trying to get central heating fitted. I'm interested in having a combi boiler and 5 rads fitted. Because my budget is a little tight to say the least I want to try and cut some of the costs.
The best way I can see to do this is to run all the piping and radiators in myself and obviously leave the gas work and boiler installation to the proffesionals. Hopefully this would cut down on labour costs and allow me to rip floors up at my leisure.
Having had several plumbers in I'm now really confused about the pipework itself. Having some experience with copper pipes and having found plastic/flexi pipe to be a pain since I moved in, I wanted to use copper piping for the system. But one guy has warned me off doing any copper work because the systems are pressurised - so compression fittings don't work and if I don't know how to solder proffesionally it will all just leak. Another guy said he'd happily just sought out the boiler and supply plastic pipe for me to install saying they 'are the way of the future'. Then yet another guy told me that plastic pipes are absolute rubbish!!!!
Can anyone give me some advice? Surely if I used pre-soldered fittings and added more solder at the end of each join I couldn't go wrong?!
And as for their suggestions on boilers, I think each guy has said the make they use is the best!! Are all plumbers like this?
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Colin
The best way I can see to do this is to run all the piping and radiators in myself and obviously leave the gas work and boiler installation to the proffesionals. Hopefully this would cut down on labour costs and allow me to rip floors up at my leisure.
Having had several plumbers in I'm now really confused about the pipework itself. Having some experience with copper pipes and having found plastic/flexi pipe to be a pain since I moved in, I wanted to use copper piping for the system. But one guy has warned me off doing any copper work because the systems are pressurised - so compression fittings don't work and if I don't know how to solder proffesionally it will all just leak. Another guy said he'd happily just sought out the boiler and supply plastic pipe for me to install saying they 'are the way of the future'. Then yet another guy told me that plastic pipes are absolute rubbish!!!!
Can anyone give me some advice? Surely if I used pre-soldered fittings and added more solder at the end of each join I couldn't go wrong?!
And as for their suggestions on boilers, I think each guy has said the make they use is the best!! Are all plumbers like this?
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Colin
