What type of boiler is this and should I upgrade?

[Dan Robinson]

Plus £2-£3k to make a decent job of changing a powermax?

 

[muffking]

lol, it's a £230k 4 bed @ almost 15 years old. You gotta love Lincoln.

It's not just the £3k boiler that I've got to budget for, it's also the £2100 stamp duty, bathroom suite, new kitchen and some other stuff that needs doing. All adds up.

 

[Aquaheat]

With the house presumably being well over £300k
Tony

That's a fairly wild assumption Tony, even by your usual standards. The OP's in Lincolnshire - you can pick up 3-bed houses in that area for under £90k

Hey we're not all that poor up here in Lincolnshire . Our 3 bed cost me 140k

OP if you do decide to go down the new boiler route or need a good looking at the powermax then give us a shout.

Jon

 

[muggles]

With the house presumably being well over £300k
Tony

That's a fairly wild assumption Tony, even by your usual standards. The OP's in Lincolnshire - you can pick up 3-bed houses in that area for under £90k

Hey we're not all that poor up here in Lincolnshire . Our 3 bed cost me 140k

I know, my point was more that Tony's "well over £300k" could buy you a small mansion!

 

[Aquaheat]

With the house presumably being well over £300k
Tony

That's a fairly wild assumption Tony, even by your usual standards. The OP's in Lincolnshire - you can pick up 3-bed houses in that area for under £90k

Hey we're not all that poor up here in Lincolnshire . Our 3 bed cost me 140k

I know, my point was more that Tony's "well over £300k" could buy you a small mansion!

Well yeah I can get a house with 5 beds and a pool for 300k round here!

Jon

 

[flameport]

which shower type should I go for (been used to an electric cold fed shower for the last 10 years, so my opinion is biased)

Anything other than an electric one.
Electric showers are the most feeble, underpowered and useless type of shower you can buy. Generally only fitted where there is absolutely no other option available, or a cheap-o-matic installation is required.

Showers are:
electric - cold in, heats using expensive electricity. Ridiculously poor flow, feeble in the summer, next to useless in the winter.

mixer from combination boiler - heated using less expensive gas or oil, far more powerful (typical combi 30kW, best electric shower 10.5kW). Combination boiler can only supply 1 at a time. Only realistic for small properties with one bathroom.

mixer from mains pressure hot water cylinder - decent flow & pressure, multiple outlets can be supplied simultaneously (depending on incoming water supply). Cylinder heated by gas, oil, electricity or other fuels. Requires decent incoming mains water supply.

mixer from open vent hot water cylinder - low pressure, can supply multiple outlets, may be difficult/impossible depending on location of cold storage tanks relative to bathroom. Cylinder heated by gas, oil, electricity or other fuels. Can be used where incoming mains water is low pressure/poor flow/both.

mixer from open vent hot water cylinder with pump - as previous but with higher pressure, determined by pump. Location of cold storage not an issue. Pumps are noisy and cheap plastic ones do not last very long. Good quality brass ones are expensive.

Other variations are available such as showers with a pump inside, shower mixing units which are remote from the outlet and have fancy electronic controls, combination boilers with a small amount of storage inside, etc.

 

[muffking]

I like the sound of a mixer fed from a decent combi. I'm going to factor the boiler cost into the buying price and have a haggle with the agent (along with the other things I mentioned). I should know by Wednesday if this is going ahead, then I'm looking at 2-3 months to complete the purchase and have kept Jon's details just in case.

Great forum this. Not only have I got all the information that I need to make an informed decision about the house, but also have a contact to use if necessary