Condensing or Combi??

[leespot]

Hi guys,

The house we're buying has a fairly new (2013) condensing boiler fitted. I wouldn't have a problem with this only for the fact that the water heater is in the bathroom. The bathroom and toilet are seperate, which we're wanting to knock through.

We're thinking our only option is replacing the boiler with a new combi one and stripping out the old system - there is literally nowhere else upstairs to put the tank. Has anyone done this before? Recommended?

Thanks!

 

[muggles]

Converting to a combi and getting rid of your hot water cylinder can certainly be done, although it'd be a shame to throw away a fairly new boiler. It might also, with a bit of technical know-how, be possible to adapt your existing boiler to act like a combi. Not really a standard thing to do, but no reason in theory why you shouldn't, and it'd be far cheaper than buying a whole new boiler. What boiler do you have currently?

 

[leespot]

Hi,

We have a Vaillant Ecotech 418 Plus at the moment - if that can be adapted to act as a combi that would be great. It is a shame to throw out a fairl new boiler, but the house hasn't been very well maintained at all and needs the bathroom totally replacing.

Cheers!

 

[muggles]

Hmm...in that case I'd say new boiler time. You could convert it, but 18kW to hot water is only going to give you a dribble at a satisfactory temperature.

Alternatively, could you not get a cylinder into the loft?

 

[leespot]

A cylinder into the loft would be no problem - I'm led to believe there are water tanks in there already. Mind you, the boiler is in a stupid place in the kitchen so will probably need moving anyway

 

[muggles]

That may well be a better & cheaper solution for you. You could even look at unvented cylinders and do away with the loft tank altogether if you have sufficient mains water supply

 

[Dan Robinson]

You could convert it, but 18kW to hot water is only going to give you a dribble at a satisfactory temperature.

An Interesting discussion on the cc this week would make this appear to be incorrect and indeed a member of the Tupperware party could manage this with a little creativity.

Not worth it though.

 

[muggles]

I thought that was just on the new 2015 models, or has the overrating thing been going on for a while? Must admit that with almost exclusively fitting Intergas now, I've lost track of all the new models Vaillant keep releasing

 

[leespot]

How do you rate the Intergas boilers?

 

[Agile]

Many thinking engineers like the Intergas boilers because they have some advantages which result from their design.

A standard combi is 24 kW and gives about 9 litres/minute. So an 18 kW boiler output would on its own give about 7 li/min.

But to work better would be teamed up with a small heat store to give a preheated supply of heat and operate in the mode of a storage combi to give an enhanced flow rate ( but only until the store has depleted at which time it would revert to the basic boiler output of 7li/min )

Tony

 

[muggles]

How do you rate the Intergas boilers?

I fit them because I think they're the best available. If I had gas in my house, I'd have an Intergas. Unfortunately, I have oil, and so I have a Hounsfield