Hi all
I've got a bit of a dilemna and after speaking to two plumbers, I can't seem to get a straight answer.
In short, we moved into our house 9 months ago. The house is a 5 bed detached (circa 2100 sq ft), 1 main bathroom with bath/shower, ensuite with shower and a downstairs w/c. Currently it's a gravity fed system; we have a perfectly functional Ideal boiler in the kitchen (can't remember the model, but it's 75% efficient), a header tank in the loft and a 165ltr cylinder in the airing cupboard.
There's a couple of issues. Firstly, as our family grows I'm thinking of a bigger 250lt tank. There's 4 of us, and although our daughters are young we plan to be here for a good few years.
That's more of an aside really, because water pressure for both showers/main bath upstairs is pretty poor. One is on a pump which has now failed and it takes 20 minutes to run a bath now! The ensuite shower (without a pump) is useable, but water pressure isn't great.
What I really want to avoid is installing a new pump, and another one for the ensuite. I can't stand pump noise, and it's made me think about making some changes.
One plumber recommended unvented, but he didn't even measure the water pressure coming into the house. Hmm..
Another plumber recommended either a 42kw Worcester Bosch combi or unvented system, or even just installing a central pump in the airing cupboard and sticking with the gravity system. He measured 3 bar pressure on the cold water tap in the kitchen, and the cold tap in the downstairs w/c, which is right next to the stopcock, must be hitting somewhere around 4 bar + in my opinion. But hot water is really poor....
The right course to take has me baffled. We're laying new flooring upstairs in the next few weeks so any big changes with the plumbing need to be done sooner rather than later. I've almost discounted the combi idea as I just think it will be too frustrating going forward when there's several taps running at once. The question is, do I go unvented, or stick with gravity and fit a decent central pump?
If I don't change the boiler, an unvented install with 250ltr cylinder is going to cost £1530 plus VAT. The wording in my quote is as follows:
Drain down existing heating and hot water system and strip out hot water cylinder. Install new 250l unvented hot water cylinder with expiation vassal and pressure relief valve running to the outside of the house. Re-connect pipe work to new cylinder and wire up to existing connections. Install new expansion vassal on the heating system converting from gravity to pressurized system. Connect mains water supply to filling loop on heating. Add water treatment inhibitor into heating system. Fill heating system and heat test.
The other thing this plumber mentioned was that the hot water cost will obviously rise as I'm not planning to change the boiler but making the cylinder alot bigger.
And thoughts or advice?
Thanks
[/i]
I've got a bit of a dilemna and after speaking to two plumbers, I can't seem to get a straight answer.
In short, we moved into our house 9 months ago. The house is a 5 bed detached (circa 2100 sq ft), 1 main bathroom with bath/shower, ensuite with shower and a downstairs w/c. Currently it's a gravity fed system; we have a perfectly functional Ideal boiler in the kitchen (can't remember the model, but it's 75% efficient), a header tank in the loft and a 165ltr cylinder in the airing cupboard.
There's a couple of issues. Firstly, as our family grows I'm thinking of a bigger 250lt tank. There's 4 of us, and although our daughters are young we plan to be here for a good few years.
That's more of an aside really, because water pressure for both showers/main bath upstairs is pretty poor. One is on a pump which has now failed and it takes 20 minutes to run a bath now! The ensuite shower (without a pump) is useable, but water pressure isn't great.
What I really want to avoid is installing a new pump, and another one for the ensuite. I can't stand pump noise, and it's made me think about making some changes.
One plumber recommended unvented, but he didn't even measure the water pressure coming into the house. Hmm..
Another plumber recommended either a 42kw Worcester Bosch combi or unvented system, or even just installing a central pump in the airing cupboard and sticking with the gravity system. He measured 3 bar pressure on the cold water tap in the kitchen, and the cold tap in the downstairs w/c, which is right next to the stopcock, must be hitting somewhere around 4 bar + in my opinion. But hot water is really poor....
The right course to take has me baffled. We're laying new flooring upstairs in the next few weeks so any big changes with the plumbing need to be done sooner rather than later. I've almost discounted the combi idea as I just think it will be too frustrating going forward when there's several taps running at once. The question is, do I go unvented, or stick with gravity and fit a decent central pump?
If I don't change the boiler, an unvented install with 250ltr cylinder is going to cost £1530 plus VAT. The wording in my quote is as follows:
Drain down existing heating and hot water system and strip out hot water cylinder. Install new 250l unvented hot water cylinder with expiation vassal and pressure relief valve running to the outside of the house. Re-connect pipe work to new cylinder and wire up to existing connections. Install new expansion vassal on the heating system converting from gravity to pressurized system. Connect mains water supply to filling loop on heating. Add water treatment inhibitor into heating system. Fill heating system and heat test.
The other thing this plumber mentioned was that the hot water cost will obviously rise as I'm not planning to change the boiler but making the cylinder alot bigger.
And thoughts or advice?
Thanks
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