This is a bit complicated so please bear with me:
I've been working with an architect to totally strip my flat down to its skeleton and then rebuild something different. We are about 1 week from finishing the specs to go out to tender, the specs had called for a new combi condensing boiler from Vaillant or Worcester Bosch. Construction would hopefully start middle to end of Jan.
I live alone in my London flat which is about 1100 sq ft and there will be one Grohe drencher style shower in the new flat and no automatic dishwasher and no bath. The Grohe showerhead I've chosen has a spec of 8 l/m at .5 bar as I remember. There are even more efficient ones that I've seen (5.8 l/m which would be ok too). I have a washing machine and there will be a guest bathroom. That's what's coming up shortly.
So of course this week my current boiler, a Vokera Mynute 28SE attached to a megaflow has decided to be a problem, it makes loudish banging like noises. I called a heating company with good local recommendations on the local forum and one of the workmen came over and after a brief inspection said that the problem was with the flue. He showed me that with the cover of the boiler off, that the boiler stopped making noises (he said) because the boiler was breathing properly. Put the cover back over the boiler and the knocking noises return. He said the whole thing is potentially dangerous because of CO and turned off my boiler. He told me that Vokera won't have that flue in stock anymore as its too old.
Then the heating firm's owner came over to give me a quote on a new boiler and I told him about the planned rebuild and the plans for a combi. He asked what kind of set up I'd be having when I was finished and I outlined the above specs. Then he did a quick water flow test with a plastic cup like device on my current kitchen sink and measured 10 l/m. He said he didn't think a combi boiler would be sufficient for a drencher shower (I hadn't gone into the Grohe details with him because at the time I didn't know them). He said I should get a new boiler with a megaflow or some similar type of storage tank.
Unfortunately there is no room in the new design for a storage tank.
In a perfect world I'd move out in Feb when the rebuild happens but this flue issue sounds scary and I feel I should do something but I can't see my way through this.
I'm using my current boiler intermittently with CO detectors all over the flat (they are the digital readout type and none of them are registering any CO though I realise they are less than totally accurate).
I've contacted Vockera to find out if there are any flues I can buy but haven't heard back from them.
So I'm totally stuck. I don't know if a combi will work for my needs or if I need a system with a storage tank (and some major redesign of my new plans).
The other complication is that a condensing boiler apparently needs a 3 degree downwards slope on the flue which means that it can't stay at its current location which requires a 3.7 metre flue. The drop for a condenser boiler won't fit in the ceiling cavity that's available. So I'll have to move the boiler once the rebuild starts. It's all too complex to figure out the best way forward.
Can anyone clarify what I will really need for the new flat, what is the easiest way to get through the next 8 or so weeks until the rebuild happens?
I've been working with an architect to totally strip my flat down to its skeleton and then rebuild something different. We are about 1 week from finishing the specs to go out to tender, the specs had called for a new combi condensing boiler from Vaillant or Worcester Bosch. Construction would hopefully start middle to end of Jan.
I live alone in my London flat which is about 1100 sq ft and there will be one Grohe drencher style shower in the new flat and no automatic dishwasher and no bath. The Grohe showerhead I've chosen has a spec of 8 l/m at .5 bar as I remember. There are even more efficient ones that I've seen (5.8 l/m which would be ok too). I have a washing machine and there will be a guest bathroom. That's what's coming up shortly.
So of course this week my current boiler, a Vokera Mynute 28SE attached to a megaflow has decided to be a problem, it makes loudish banging like noises. I called a heating company with good local recommendations on the local forum and one of the workmen came over and after a brief inspection said that the problem was with the flue. He showed me that with the cover of the boiler off, that the boiler stopped making noises (he said) because the boiler was breathing properly. Put the cover back over the boiler and the knocking noises return. He said the whole thing is potentially dangerous because of CO and turned off my boiler. He told me that Vokera won't have that flue in stock anymore as its too old.
Then the heating firm's owner came over to give me a quote on a new boiler and I told him about the planned rebuild and the plans for a combi. He asked what kind of set up I'd be having when I was finished and I outlined the above specs. Then he did a quick water flow test with a plastic cup like device on my current kitchen sink and measured 10 l/m. He said he didn't think a combi boiler would be sufficient for a drencher shower (I hadn't gone into the Grohe details with him because at the time I didn't know them). He said I should get a new boiler with a megaflow or some similar type of storage tank.
Unfortunately there is no room in the new design for a storage tank.
In a perfect world I'd move out in Feb when the rebuild happens but this flue issue sounds scary and I feel I should do something but I can't see my way through this.
I'm using my current boiler intermittently with CO detectors all over the flat (they are the digital readout type and none of them are registering any CO though I realise they are less than totally accurate).
I've contacted Vockera to find out if there are any flues I can buy but haven't heard back from them.
So I'm totally stuck. I don't know if a combi will work for my needs or if I need a system with a storage tank (and some major redesign of my new plans).
The other complication is that a condensing boiler apparently needs a 3 degree downwards slope on the flue which means that it can't stay at its current location which requires a 3.7 metre flue. The drop for a condenser boiler won't fit in the ceiling cavity that's available. So I'll have to move the boiler once the rebuild starts. It's all too complex to figure out the best way forward.
Can anyone clarify what I will really need for the new flat, what is the easiest way to get through the next 8 or so weeks until the rebuild happens?
Do you have any ideas of what it might be?
