I went by the installers recommendation. I had 3 quotes, all recommended Vaillant Ecotec Plus, 2 recommended the 418, the 1 selected (not the cheapest by the way) went with the 428. I knew nothing about heating systems at this point in time, still dont really, just got a bit addicted to this forum early this year, so knew nothing about boiler sizing, etc. He opted for the 428 as we informed him we would be adding some rads and some sort of heating to the kitchen over time. It was range rated at installation.
Noise in Central Heating Pipework
- Thread starter DenG1
- Start date
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I can see the sense in that. But another 12kW of rads?
That's good. But was it rated for the current installation? Do you know what it is set to? It's option d.0
The pity is that all installers you asked made too many assumptions when sizing the new boiler. The most serious was that the existing boiler was the correct size. Boiler sizing was very much a case of "you can't go wrong with the largest one the customer can afford". So 20kW boilers were fitted in houses which only needed 10kW. Now that customers are getting more energy conscious, the installer has to be more careful and should really calculate the boiler size and show the customer his calculations. (Though there are still plenty of "experienced, time-served engineers" who think the way they learnt from Harry the Heat is best).
I forgot about the British Gas quote!! The British Gas quote was the only one that calculated on number of radiators, insulation etc. I think we only needed about 12kw, however the other would be installers seemed to think we would need more as our house is quite cold. We do not have a hall just a large porch (no heating) then the lounge, the stairs go up from the lounge, the kitchen has no heating which is off the lounge, so 2 opted for the 418 and the one we went with rated it to 18kw. I still get the S53 sometimes but as the boiler is in the loft and the rads and hot water are usually hot I do not go to check it regularly (much to my husbands joy he thinks Im a bit paranoid about it all). Do you think it would hurt to rate it down even lower? Our plan is to instal a small rad in the porch, one on the landing and one in the conservatory and some sort of kick space in the kitchen and get cavity wall insulation. With regard to our noise, our heating engineer came for a proper listen on Saturday and is coming to drain down today and hopefully get rid of it. Thinks its a bit of solder trapped in the new pipework in the airing cupboard.
For once BG did the job properly!. Putting in a 28kW boiler when you only have a max of 15kW of rads will not make the house any hotter. You have to add more radiators to do that.
You haven't said what rating your boiler is set to. You can find this out as follows:
• Press the “i” and “+” keys simultaneously. The display shows “d.0”.
• Press the “i” key. The display shows the boiler output.
• Release the “i” key
• Press the “+” key until the display reads d.40
• Press the “i” key. The display shows the Flow Temperature
• Release the “i” key
• Press the “+” key until the display reads d.41
• Press the “i” key. The display shows the Return Temperature
• Press the “i” and “+” keys simultaneously.
Post the information.
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This may sound a stupid question but is it ok to do this whilst the boiler is on. I will get this information as I am very interested myself but it will probably be after Christmas now. We had a few problems after the drain down yesterday with airlocks and the boiler not firing which got sorted (still have the tapping tho!!!)and I am under strict instructions not to touch the boiler or any controls!!!(So will wait til husband and son go out 
)
)Yes. All you are doing is obtaining information, not changing anything. In any case it would be a bit difficult to measure temperatures with the boiler off.
Yes, it's OK to adjust output with the boiler running.I will redeem myself by saying I meant adjusting the range rating if necessary, not the temperatures!!!!
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