I've been reading through this forum's excellent resources which have been a big help in getting to grips with understanding boilers and regulations but I would really appreciate some specific advice on the my setup.
I live in a house built in 1990 which had an Ideal Mexico 2 fitted at the same time, the house is two storey, five bedroom detached with around 13 radiators, a bathroom and a toilet, plus a kitchen sink and a utility sink. The problem is the boiler is a bit of a mess (clogged up, SGN labelled it immediately dangerous) and looks like it needs to be replaced but due to needing to comply with newer gas regulations has meant each quote so far has been with a different suggested solution. The house has 15mm gas piping (it looks like it's 22mm into the kitchen and then splits to the smaller diameter to go up to the boiler and other gas appliances) which means new piping is needed for this boiler. Am I right in saying the 22mm piping is required to the boiler to meet regulations?
The combi-boiler option looks to be out the window straight off for the size of house and potential issues with pressure in the pipes which is fine with me as it makes the choice easier!
What I'm struggling with though is the choice between an open boiler system and a closed/system boiler. The current system is an open one with a header/expansion tank in the loft and the boiler/hot water tank just below in an airing cupboard. The first engineer recommended putting a boiler in the loft (which I assume is a closed system) as that would be the easiest way to get the new piping into the house as the pipe could run up the outside of the wall and straight into the loft which sounded fine.
However the second engineer recommended staying with an open boiler system due to the age of the house as apparently it could cope with slight leaks better, the risk with fitting a closed system would be that if there were any leaks (particularly with the slightly higher pressure) then they would need to be found and repaired which could be awkward. He wanted to fit a boiler in the same spot as the existing one and feed the new 22mm pipe straight up from the kitchen as he reckoned that's where the larger piping stops.
The third engineer initially opted for the loft as well with a system boiler, when I mentioned what the second engineer had said he replied that leaks were a valid concern and pointed out that if there were any leaks in the system they wouldn't be covered in the boiler quote. He quoted for both a closed and an open system (the latter cheaper) and his choice for the pipe route was to take up the floor on the first floor hallway and put the gas pipes through there to the outside wall and down.
The fourth engineer (who I didn't speak to) has also recommended a boiler in the loft which is why I'm posting this topic to understand whether the closed system is potentially as problematic as the second engineer made out. I'm also a bit puzzled as the fourth engineer apparently said that he would look into whether there were any boilers that could take 15mm piping which I thought wasn't allowed. I've only been passed the information on as a message so it may not have been picked up properly.
Just to be clear, each of the engineers have been gas safe registered and I'm absolutely not looking for any help on doing the work myself just in case that's implied at all. As is probably clear I didn't have a clue about any of this until a couple of weeks ago (and still don't have much of a clue!), the house has been without heating now for a couple of weeks but given the high cost and complexity of fitting the new boiler I don't want to rush into anything and make a mistake.
On a slight side note, in the FAQs Worcester are placed below Viessman but reading on the forum opinions seems to be mixed on the latter due to the variation in their service agents. The first engineer quoted for a Viessman, the third engineer a Worcester. If the solution was similar would a Viessman boiler be recommended over a Worcester?
Thanks for any advice,
John
I live in a house built in 1990 which had an Ideal Mexico 2 fitted at the same time, the house is two storey, five bedroom detached with around 13 radiators, a bathroom and a toilet, plus a kitchen sink and a utility sink. The problem is the boiler is a bit of a mess (clogged up, SGN labelled it immediately dangerous) and looks like it needs to be replaced but due to needing to comply with newer gas regulations has meant each quote so far has been with a different suggested solution. The house has 15mm gas piping (it looks like it's 22mm into the kitchen and then splits to the smaller diameter to go up to the boiler and other gas appliances) which means new piping is needed for this boiler. Am I right in saying the 22mm piping is required to the boiler to meet regulations?
The combi-boiler option looks to be out the window straight off for the size of house and potential issues with pressure in the pipes which is fine with me as it makes the choice easier!
What I'm struggling with though is the choice between an open boiler system and a closed/system boiler. The current system is an open one with a header/expansion tank in the loft and the boiler/hot water tank just below in an airing cupboard. The first engineer recommended putting a boiler in the loft (which I assume is a closed system) as that would be the easiest way to get the new piping into the house as the pipe could run up the outside of the wall and straight into the loft which sounded fine.
However the second engineer recommended staying with an open boiler system due to the age of the house as apparently it could cope with slight leaks better, the risk with fitting a closed system would be that if there were any leaks (particularly with the slightly higher pressure) then they would need to be found and repaired which could be awkward. He wanted to fit a boiler in the same spot as the existing one and feed the new 22mm pipe straight up from the kitchen as he reckoned that's where the larger piping stops.
The third engineer initially opted for the loft as well with a system boiler, when I mentioned what the second engineer had said he replied that leaks were a valid concern and pointed out that if there were any leaks in the system they wouldn't be covered in the boiler quote. He quoted for both a closed and an open system (the latter cheaper) and his choice for the pipe route was to take up the floor on the first floor hallway and put the gas pipes through there to the outside wall and down.
The fourth engineer (who I didn't speak to) has also recommended a boiler in the loft which is why I'm posting this topic to understand whether the closed system is potentially as problematic as the second engineer made out. I'm also a bit puzzled as the fourth engineer apparently said that he would look into whether there were any boilers that could take 15mm piping which I thought wasn't allowed. I've only been passed the information on as a message so it may not have been picked up properly.
Just to be clear, each of the engineers have been gas safe registered and I'm absolutely not looking for any help on doing the work myself just in case that's implied at all. As is probably clear I didn't have a clue about any of this until a couple of weeks ago (and still don't have much of a clue!), the house has been without heating now for a couple of weeks but given the high cost and complexity of fitting the new boiler I don't want to rush into anything and make a mistake.
On a slight side note, in the FAQs Worcester are placed below Viessman but reading on the forum opinions seems to be mixed on the latter due to the variation in their service agents. The first engineer quoted for a Viessman, the third engineer a Worcester. If the solution was similar would a Viessman boiler be recommended over a Worcester?
Thanks for any advice,
John