Which boiler and what type of system?

Hi i had to move out of my apartment and move back with my parents to take care of them. i rented out the apartment and the boiler (an Ideal Istor HE260) has packed up. i had a British Gas Home care insurance plan and when the engineer came he closed the boiler down as he said there was a small leak from the heat exchanger. He said that's why the ignition electrode was corroding and then not sparking. Can i trust British Gas Engineers? Secondly if i replace the boiler what type shall i go with? I am torn between a straight combi, combi with a storage tank (like a valliant 938), or a regular boiler with a small unvented cylinder. I am concerned that if any future boiler breaks down then the tenant has no backup immersion. How long do unvented cylinders take to heat up? The apartment is small at only 650sq ft but has tow bathrooms. i want to be able to have good pressure when using two hot water sources if possible. I assume the incoming water pressure is good but i will get the plumbers to check when they quote. The trouble i find is that all plumbers say different things!

 

An immersion heater in a cylinder is a good thing to have as a back up. Removes the urgency to get a faulty boiler repaired by enabling the tenant to have hot water while you are organising the boiler repair.

 

Would one of those be suitable for two bathrooms? If, apart from when it’s not been working, you are happy with the performance of you existing boiler, why not replace it with another make of the same or greater output? Surely less work involved than converting to unvented?

 

The current boiler an Ideal Istor He260 is a system boiler with the tank in the lower half of the unit. the tenants were complaining that they have to wait for the water to heat up and that it doesn't give enough hot water for their needs. Before the boiler broke down and i was living there, it was fine for my needs (for a single person). The only issue i worry about with a combi is that if it breaks down and it takes too long to repair even under warranty!

 

I always thought a system boiler had a separate hot water cylinder. You say the 'tank' is in the bottom half of the boiler, isn’t that the expansion vessel or do you mean that the hot water cylinder is contained in the boiler? Must be a small tank if it is. I’m confused!

 

The boiler is an Istore, it has a very small equivalent of an unvented cylinder built into the appliance, this one is total crap and a very poor appliance , there are some good ones available though

 

@Raji I'd suggest a small unvented cylinder with a rapid-recovery coil, and a boiler capable of delivering a hot water priority setup. A Joule High Gain 125L and an Intergas boiler would do you very nicely in this situation.

 

How long would it take to reheat a rapid recovery coil say for example the one you have suggested , the joule high gain 125L?

 

10 minutes is the manufacturer's quoted time

 

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