Hi, I have an old heating system that consists of an Ideal Mexico Super 480FF boiler which has gravity hot water to a regular insulated copper cylinder. 11 radiators with one grundfoss pump. Honeywell Evohome TRV's on all radiators and a control valve connected to the return line of the hot water loop to prevent cycling the gravity hot water when the heating is on.
The mains water pressure is rubbish and cannot be increased as I've checked this out at great length with my water authority. So I have a DAB cold water booster with 250l break tank in an outbuilding which has enough output to send continous 3 bar at my taps.
My hot water pressure is also rubbish as the cylinder is vented and it's a flat roofed house so the cold water tank sits on a shelf directly above the cylinder. I've got a 3bar shower pump on the cylinder output to boost the hot water to taps.
There are two bathrooms and a WC, one bath and two electric showers (installed before we owned the house and added Honeywell control and cold/hot boosting).
At the moment it works and gets us by. But we would really like to get rid of the electric showers and fit mixers instead. Ideally I'd like to go with a high flow combi boiler as I'd like to get rid of the cylinder, cold water and f&e tanks to install a shower cubicle in that cupboard. As at the moment the shower is over the bath but thats getting replaced with a Japanese soaking bath (don't ask...OH's idea and is a deal breaker if not installed).
So finally, my questions.
Can I run a combi off my cold water booster? It has a loop with non return fitted that will allow the rubbish mains pressure/flow to continue to flow to the house should the pump/power fail or break tank run dry. I think its about 7bar max from the pump, currently set at 3bar with variable flow to maintain 3bar with more than one outlet in use.
If I put in mixer showers and combi, will I run the break tank dry in a matter of minutes?
I'd guess even a high flow combi won't output the same flow as I get from my cold booster, so I guess I could turn the CWB down till the flows balance?
I've tried googling a lot online, but I haven't managed to find answers to my specific issues.
The mains water pressure is rubbish and cannot be increased as I've checked this out at great length with my water authority. So I have a DAB cold water booster with 250l break tank in an outbuilding which has enough output to send continous 3 bar at my taps.
My hot water pressure is also rubbish as the cylinder is vented and it's a flat roofed house so the cold water tank sits on a shelf directly above the cylinder. I've got a 3bar shower pump on the cylinder output to boost the hot water to taps.
There are two bathrooms and a WC, one bath and two electric showers (installed before we owned the house and added Honeywell control and cold/hot boosting).
At the moment it works and gets us by. But we would really like to get rid of the electric showers and fit mixers instead. Ideally I'd like to go with a high flow combi boiler as I'd like to get rid of the cylinder, cold water and f&e tanks to install a shower cubicle in that cupboard. As at the moment the shower is over the bath but thats getting replaced with a Japanese soaking bath (don't ask...OH's idea and is a deal breaker if not installed).
So finally, my questions.
Can I run a combi off my cold water booster? It has a loop with non return fitted that will allow the rubbish mains pressure/flow to continue to flow to the house should the pump/power fail or break tank run dry. I think its about 7bar max from the pump, currently set at 3bar with variable flow to maintain 3bar with more than one outlet in use.
If I put in mixer showers and combi, will I run the break tank dry in a matter of minutes?
I'd guess even a high flow combi won't output the same flow as I get from my cold booster, so I guess I could turn the CWB down till the flows balance?
I've tried googling a lot online, but I haven't managed to find answers to my specific issues.