Combi, conventional or unvented cyclinder?

[scrapman]

Would appreciate some advise on which system would suit us best.

We currently have a worcester bosch 40 cdi conventional boiler which is struggling to give us enough hot water for showers.

To give you an idea of the house, we have 3 bathrooms and 16 radiators.

The reason for the question is that we will be replacing bathrooms next month and wondered if we should change the boiler to keep up with the 6 of us!

We need to choose showers and obviously that is dependent on which system we have.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Considered electric showers

 

[scrapman]

Has been a while since I used an electric shower but wasn't impressed with the pressure you get from them.

 

[PrenticeBoyofDerry]

Do you struggle with hot water to showers all the time, or only when the system is demanding elsewhere?

 

[scrapman]

we get 2 showers worth out before it starts going cold. And that is with me chasing them on. No demand elsewhere.

 

[rich4nancy]

Hi
Firstly the boiler isn't the issue. 40kw will walk 16 rads and heat water no problem.
You don't give much info about your current hot water set up but I guess you've prob got a vented cylinder with cold water tank in loft? Are your current showers pumped ?
Unvented would be the best (most pricey) option but this will rely on good incoming flow and pressure of cold water and at least 22mm upgrade to cylinder. Also needs to be fitted by correctly qualified folk with specific unvented ticket.
I would suggest your issue is storage capacity of hot water and possibly cold in loft(if showers are pumped)
Would be defo worth considering elec shower in at least 1 of your 3 bathrooms. Good back up as well if your boiler ever failed.
Regards

 

[Madrab]

Yup, sounds like you just don't have a large enough hot water cylinder for your needs.
Increase the size of the cylinder or another alternative would be a fast recovery cylinder which heats the water a lot faster than a normal cylinder does.

 

[scrapman]

Yes , vented cylinder with storage tank in loft. showers aren't pumped. The cylinder I couldn't tell you the size but I am sure it is one of the larger ones, it stands 5 ft.probably a 1500 mm X 450 mm.

Had a look at where our tank is currently and not sure an unvented would fit in( or would create a lot of work to fit).

 

[Agile]

So the problem is simply that you are taking too much flow from the showers and emptying the hot tank!

Take shorter showers and fit shower heads with less holes which take less flow! 8 litres per minute is adequate!

Tony

 

[scrapman]

Sorry I thought I had mentioned that i chase the kids up . I do chase them up and the heads for the shower are small, not like some of the new ones you can get...