Plumbing a townhouse - help pls

[adham]

I am in the process of buying a town house on 3 floors covering approx 130 sq/m. Please advise what type of boiler system will be best.

The bottom / ground floor will have a self contained apartment with a kitchen and shower room with 3 radiators

1st floor will have cloakroom/shower room and kitchen and 4 radiators.

2nd floor will have bathroom and 4 rads.

Total:

11 radiators
1 bathroom
2 showers with cloakrooms

Please help with what type of system would be best, and if it is worth having seperate boiler in the self contained apartment.

 

[mickyg]

you need to check the water pressure and flow first to see what your options are, but generally you would be best to fit a system boiler and unvented cylinder. The apartment can have its own zone, no need for another boiler.

 

[flameport]

A separate boiler for the apartment would only be of use if it will be considered as a separate dwelling, and therefore have it's own gas, elec and water supplies.

 

[adham]

It wont be seperate just a self contained studio.


Whats a goosd system boiler and tank which you recommend? Whats the main advatages over a combi?

 

[mickyg]

a combi would struggle to run more than one outlet adequately at one time. A seperate tank and boiler is generally more reliable, and alot of the system parts are more generic which aids maintenance. the only limit to water pressure and flow on a UV tank is how much goes in. So good water pressure/flow from your main = good showers and less interference when multiple taps are opened.
You also have the advantage of using a smaller boiler with a higher heating turn down ratio. If you look at boiler specs you will see a CH Modulation, which on a system boiler of 18kw would be something like 5-18kw. on a big combi might be 11-30kw. That means with small loads(ie just one small zone running) your boiler may cycle which is inefficient.
This situation I would recommend a Glowworm Ultracom2 Sxi, Glowworm cylinder and Systempro controls, the equipment is very sensibly priced, reliable and the control system is streets ahead of most other systems you could fit...

Untitled

• mickyg
• 14 Aug 2012
• 8

 

[adham]

Thanks Mick.

Will mega flow cylinder not be better than glow worm one?

 

[newbuildinstaller]

Thanks Mick.

Will mega flow cylinder not be better than glow worm one?

you could use a mega flow cylinder with a gloworm boiler.

a cylinder is a cylinder is a cylinder. The boiler is the part you want to get right. the cylinder is a place to hold water all are just about the same.

Im pretty sure a mega flow has a internal expansion allowance as opposed to an external vessel. I prefer the external vessels as they are easier to maintain.

If it ever comes down to cost spend less on the cylinder and more on the boiler/controls thats where you will see the difference.

 

[adham]

I have read a bit about Systempro controls, it seems very interesting.

How does it control the different zones for CH? does the plumbing need to be done in a certain way for each zone? or does it have to be done as per normal in a one loop

 

[mickyg]

i would use the glowworm cylinder that way you can use the glowworm cylinder sensor to get the most from the system. In any case the glowworm cylinders are alot cheaper than megaflos and if anything better, as they dont use the stupid internal air bubble design which is flawed.
I would never buy a megaflo, complete waste of money.

As for the setup, you just pipe the system up as you would any zoned system with regular motorised valves that are wired into the systempro wiring centre.