Help needed on my hot water cylinder

[MrWaterstone]

I would like to ask the very learned contributors on this forum for some advice...
I need a new hot water cylinder installed because my one only gives my dear wife about a third of a bath of hot water and I have had 2 plumbers/heating engineers round and both have given me conflicting advice. My Heatring system is at the moment powered by a 40,000BTU boiler and I also have a underfloor heating system that has its own pump and 2 towel rails that are seperately pumped. My Hotwater is done by a Gas powered cylinder in my loft and I have been told that it is open flued and unvented.
Quote one (Who was a very nice chap) told me that he would do as much or as little as I wanted but he would recommend that to bring my system up to a highly efficient standard he would propose to extract the hot water cylinder and in it's place he would put a Megaflow and also a system boiler in the loft next to it that would be able to work both hotwater and heating from that set up and dispose of my old 40.000BTU boiler and adjust all the pipework so that the towel radiators and the bathroom Radiators would come on with the hot water and the rest would only come on with the heating.
Quote two (Who was from an engineering company) told me that he could just replace the hot water cylinder with a new gas powered one, this would obviously be cheaper because everything would stay the same but the efficiency would not be very goog with a lot of wasted gas being burnt. I called Quote one and told him of this proposal and he told me that he thought a new gas powered hot water cylinder would probably not comply with the efficiency regulations but he would make some enquiries to see if they are still made.My friends have had a lot of work done by this company and they are trust worthy and the standard of their work is excellent but I thought I would make my own enquiries to see what my options are.
I would appreciate any help you chaps could give me.

 

[heatingman]

Quote 1 sounds the better option, assuming its a RGI with unvented ticket?

 

[MrWaterstone]

Yes he has shown me is Unvented card and he is an accrdited Worcester Installer, like I said I know the quality of his work is very good because of my friend job. I just didn't know if the second option was one worth considering because it would mean leaving my old boiler just doing the heating.

 

[heatingman]

Go green and more important, he/they come recommended. Cant go far wrong with a WB. Suprised no mention of a solar panel to supplement hot water.

 

[MrWaterstone]

What sort of efficiency are those water cylinders. And have you fitted any ? Are they still available? I must admit I don't really fancy having a unsealed burner in my loft.

 

[heatingman]

Megaflow/santon units are still available, have installed lorry loads over the years, not had to many problems. In a loft situation good quality lagging is vital to eliminate heat loss.

 

[MrWaterstone]

The cylinder that I have has a permanent pilot light, would this still be the same if I went for the cheaper Quote 2, or do they now only light the gas on demand under the cylinder.?

 

[doitall]

What sort of efficiency are those water cylinders. And have you fitted any ? Are they still available? I must admit I don't really fancy having a unsealed burner in my loft.

Do a google on Andrews water heaters, if that is what he means, then tell him to take a hike.

No way in a million years would I install an open flued appliance in the loft, in fact I doubt it's legal.

 

[MrWaterstone]

Mny Thanks Do it all. I have just looked on Google and think they are not what I need. They seem to list uses as commercial which is not what I asked for. I think you have all been very helpful and would like to thank you all for your input. I will call my Quote one in the morning and get a new efficient system put in.
Many thanks

 

[doitall]

They are Commercial, and the mind boogles if that what what he had in mind.

They are good though

 

[Agile]

The Andrews and similar makes are not condensing and therefore do not meet the regs for a domestic property.

They are still widely used in launderettes, hair salons etc as they can still be installed in commersial uses.

The pilot light's heat still goes into the water so its not completely wasted.

Tony

 

[MrWaterstone]

Thank you Agile. I have made my mind up to go with the Unvented & System boiler option.
Many Thanks