Hi there,
I wonder if some of you guys might have an opinion on the following, I'd love some guidance as I'm not sure which direction to go with our heating system.
We are in the process of modernising our 3 bedroom detached house.
The boiler (a Potterton I think) and controls are about 15 years+ old and we want to update the sytem so that it is more efficient, cheaper to run (fuel prices the way they are going etc. etc.) and easier to maintain.
Some facts about our house, the current heating system and us...
- Population = me, the wife and two teenage kids.
- We have just one bathroom at the moment and it only has a bath but we want to do some work in the next 6 months or so to tart it up and install a shower (not a powershower or anything heavy duty, probably just a thermostatic mixer).
- We are also considering installing a small shower/wetroom downstairs in a year or so (this would be in addition to the shower we are installing in the existing bathroom upstairs) to achieve a bit less fighting over showers/baths in the mornings!
- We have 7 radiators currently, this might rise to 8 when we do some work downstairs as our dining room lacks a rad at the moment.
- As I say the boiler is a Potterton, conventional style one with a hot water tank in the airing cupboard a large and small cold water tanks in the loft.
- Oh and we have full cavity and loft insulation, if that makes any difference.
...our builder/plumber has said he thinks we ought to stick with a conventional boiler as a Combi will not be able to keep up with demand if both showers are going etc. I think he also had some concerns about the length of the run from the boiler in the kitchen to the upstairs bathroom.
Do you guys agree, or should we perhaps not be discounting the higher end Combi boilers (like those with storage)? Something like a Vaillant ecoTEC plus 937 perhaps?
My reluctance to stay with a conventional boiler is (probably wrongly) that they seem inherently wasteful? i.e. that a Combi would only heat the hot water that it was asked for? Am I being stupid? We want something that will be as efficient as possible and cheap to run but which will meet our needs obviously.
Any opinions/thoughts (particularly polite and insightful ones!) would be gratefully received.
Cheers,
Andy
I wonder if some of you guys might have an opinion on the following, I'd love some guidance as I'm not sure which direction to go with our heating system.
We are in the process of modernising our 3 bedroom detached house.
The boiler (a Potterton I think) and controls are about 15 years+ old and we want to update the sytem so that it is more efficient, cheaper to run (fuel prices the way they are going etc. etc.) and easier to maintain.
Some facts about our house, the current heating system and us...
- Population = me, the wife and two teenage kids.
- We have just one bathroom at the moment and it only has a bath but we want to do some work in the next 6 months or so to tart it up and install a shower (not a powershower or anything heavy duty, probably just a thermostatic mixer).
- We are also considering installing a small shower/wetroom downstairs in a year or so (this would be in addition to the shower we are installing in the existing bathroom upstairs) to achieve a bit less fighting over showers/baths in the mornings!
- We have 7 radiators currently, this might rise to 8 when we do some work downstairs as our dining room lacks a rad at the moment.
- As I say the boiler is a Potterton, conventional style one with a hot water tank in the airing cupboard a large and small cold water tanks in the loft.
- Oh and we have full cavity and loft insulation, if that makes any difference.
...our builder/plumber has said he thinks we ought to stick with a conventional boiler as a Combi will not be able to keep up with demand if both showers are going etc. I think he also had some concerns about the length of the run from the boiler in the kitchen to the upstairs bathroom.
Do you guys agree, or should we perhaps not be discounting the higher end Combi boilers (like those with storage)? Something like a Vaillant ecoTEC plus 937 perhaps?
My reluctance to stay with a conventional boiler is (probably wrongly) that they seem inherently wasteful? i.e. that a Combi would only heat the hot water that it was asked for? Am I being stupid? We want something that will be as efficient as possible and cheap to run but which will meet our needs obviously.
Any opinions/thoughts (particularly polite and insightful ones!) would be gratefully received.
Cheers,
Andy
