En-Suite and boiler advice

[debbiea]

We want to renovate our small ensuite and downstairs toilet. We also have a bathroom and like a bath now and again but won’t be changing that. We have a conventional boiler with tanks in the loft. Our boiler and hot water supply is great so don’t really want to change them just now, however we know we may need to look at a combi or system in the future. Our current shower flow is quite poor as we don’t have a pump. Are there taps and shower that can be used with both systems as I wouldn’t want to redo them again

 

[danfre]

Low pressure taps and shower

 

[debbiea]

but what if we change to a combi in say 5 years

 

[danfre]

Will still be okay on high pressure system

 

[fixitflav]

but what if we change to a combi in say 5 years

My tip is - don't

 

[Mottie]

Convert to an unvented hot water supply, as long as your water pressure/flow is adequate. ( If it isn’t, a combi would be no good either).

 

[debbiea]

how would you do that?

 

[denso13]

how would you do that?

Keep an open mind, a combi can work just fine.

 

[Mottie]

how would you do that?

You wouldn’t be able to do it yourself. You’d need to get a plumber/engineer in with the relevant qualifications as it’s a legal requirement and you need a certificate on completion. Look on the gassaferegister.co.uk enter your postcode and look on the services that those on there offer. You need to find one that is registered for unvented G3 hot water cylinders. You are looking for this in the services they offer.



You will basically have a new hot water cylinder, some safety valves fitted and your hot water will be pushed through the system by mains pressure instead of gravity pressure from the loft water tank.

 

[debbiea]

so do you keep your boiler and hot water cylinder?

 

[Mottie]

so do you keep your boiler and hot water cylinder?

Same boiler, stronger water cylinder.

 

[CarloHeatingEng]

On a gravity system the flow comes down to how far the water level in the loft tank sits above the shower head. If that’s only a metre or so, even a low pressure mixer will feel weak.


A small twin impeller pump on the hot and cold sorts it. If you go combi later the pump just comes out and the mixer stays.


Buy a mixer rated for both low and high pressure and you’re covered either way.

 

[denso13]

so do you keep your boiler and hot water cylinder?

Get a local installer to give you some options.

 

[ericmark]

The hot water cylinder can be DHW tube or CH tube, don't need to have a pressurised tank needing a yearly inspection. This is a silly price to install, so not saying go down that route, but I like having a hot water cylinder so in summer I can use solar to heat my domestic hot water.

Electric prices were tied to gas prices, it is anyone guess if that will continue, so we know electric is more expensive to gas, and as a result we have for years heated DHW with gas, but as soon as we get solar, batteries, storage heaters or an EV, we also start to look at cheap overnight electric, and then heating DHW with electric becomes a lot cheaper than with gas.

Back in mid 80s I fitted a shower using water from the boiler, and there is no question, a shower using water heated by the boiler, either direct or with a storage tank is better.

However, this house already had electric showers, so they have remained, and they work well, I would assume because the rose is matched to the shower, but it is simply not worth the effort to change them to fed from DHW. Since cold water tank in loft, and showers on the ground floors, there would be loads of pressure, but would cost too much to get the pipe work installed.

I have used a power shower, and yes very good, could actually wash the ceiling of the wet room with it, but was not permitted with a combi-boiler, so had to be swapped for a mixer shower.

I don't want a combi-boiler, all they are is a small tank crammed into the boilers casing instead of having a large cylinder, at least with oil, and we would loose the option to heat DHW with solar or off-peak.