Am I being sold the right boiler

[Countrygirl]

Hi I live in an old one level converted barn and currently have a vaillant turbomaxvuw vuw 282 LPG boiler . It was installed approx 1997 by prev owners, we feel and breakdown engineers have suggested a more powerful boiler may be better,there are 3 bathrooms ,10 radiators. Vaillant are offering a scheme of fitting new boiler for £1860 and guy who surveyed barn has offered vaillant ecotec plus 831 LPG to vaillant. We are concerned they could be offering only older models and is this a more powerful option without changing all the current pipe work. We thought he was going to reccommend a boiler with a 30k output.
any advice greatly appreciated

 

[Countrygirl]

Hi I live in an old one level converted barn and currently have a vaillant turbomaxvuw vuw 282 LPG boiler . It was installed approx 1997 by prev owners, we feel and breakdown engineers have suggested a more powerful boiler may be better,there are 3 bathrooms ,10 radiators. Vaillant are offering a scheme of fitting new boiler for £1860 and guy who surveyed barn has offered vaillant ecotec plus 831 LPG to vaillant. We are concerned they could be offering only older models and is this a more powerful option without changing all the current pipe work. We thought he was going to reccommend a boiler with a 30k output.
any advice greatly appreciated

 

[Howsie]

Boiler sizing depends on many factors. Nothing wrong with that boiler at all. A more powerful is rarely necessary and sometimes will actually end up costing you more in gas.

 

[Rickster123]

The vaillant 831 is a lovely boiler in my opinion. But with 3 bathrooms a combi would be a bad choice. If it were me I'd go for a system boiler and unvented cylinder. If you are expecting a huge difference with hot water flow from the new combi, any combi, prepare for disappointment I'm afraid.

 

[Masood]

The vaillant 831 is a lovely boiler in my opinion. But with 3 bathrooms a combi would be a bad choice. If it were me I'd go for a system boiler and unvented cylinder. If you are expecting a huge difference with hot water flow from the new combi, any combi, prepare for disappointment I'm afraid.

Wholeheartedly agree with all of this. A combi will struggle with 3 bathrooms.

 

[Countrygirl]

Re: Am I being sold the right boiler cont

The current vuw282 operates on a combo system at one end of the barn(kitchen and annexe bedroom ,shower upstairs above) and the rest of the barn is one level and I have to heat the water via boiler for other shower rm and bathroom. Our current boiler output says 30k and the 831 suggests 24kw. There are only two of us most the time and we use the combi end cos cheaper. Is there a newer version of 831 been around a number of years I was worried they might be trying to get rid of older makes on this scheme, thanks again for help

 

[Alpha man]

Get another couple of quotes!

 

[Rickster123]

The vaillant 831 runs at 31kw for hot water. It is more than big enough for your heating requirements and is an up to date A rated boiler. Nice bit of kit! But as I've said in my opinion wrong for your set up.

 

[Mike Jackson]

The vaillant 831 runs at 31kw for hot water. It is more than big enough for your heating requirements and is an up to date A rated boiler. Nice bit of kit! But as I've said in my opinion wrong for your set up.

Sounds like they also have a cylinder so this strikes me as an ideal set up to minimise heat losses and over long pipe runs. Bathroom near the combi fed from the combi. Other bathrooms, remote from combi, fed by a cylinder. This is exactly the sort of set up I would recommend.

 

[Rickster123]

Sounds like they also have a cylinder so this strikes me as an ideal set up to minimise heat losses and over long pipe runs. Bathroom near the combi fed from the combi. Other bathrooms, remote from combi, fed by a cylinder. This is exactly the sort of set up I would recommend.

You may be right mike. Didn't read anything about a cylinder tho.

 

[Howsie]

How big is the barn?

 

[Countrygirl]

The vaillant 831 runs at 31kw for hot water. It is more than big enough for your heating requirements and is an up to date A rated boiler. Nice bit of kit! But as I've said in my opinion wrong for your set up.

Sorry, I'm female!! Forgot that infoIf you mean immersion cylinder yes we have one. How long is the barn? Don't know but just paced 47 paces,hope that gives idea. Thanks for all the interest

 

[Howsie]

Around in a circle?

 

[Countrygirl]

Sorry don't understand Howsie comment

 

[Dotty]

Moving to the ch forum.

 

[Countrygirl]

47 paces end to end!!!!

 

[Dotty]

47 paces end to end!!!!

Pigeon steps?

 

[Dotty]

Whereabouts are you? One of us could come and take a look for you. Most of us have their own teeth and hardly ever bite.

Plus we're all certified housetrained.

Except Howsie.

He's just certified.

 

[Rickster123]

47 paces end to end!!!!

Lady steps?? Or strides?!

 

[lame plumber]

have you looked at oil as an alternative to lpg, which is probably the most expensive form of fuel bar electric!

 

[Countrygirl]

Barn80/90 ft long according to husband.

 

[GArlington]

Barn80/90 ft long according to husband.

1) If your current (old) boiler was correctly sized, and it looks like that it was because otherwise you would have been freezing last winter, than there is no need to replace it with the more powerful one, especially at this price. If the boiler IS close to capacity you may be better off investing in extra insulation instead of new boiler.
2) If the problem is with hot water: heat losses over long pipe runs are easily (and cheaply) reduced by adding pipe lagging/insulation and replacing the copper pipes with plastic pipes.

You should consider installing a wood/multi-fuel burner/boiler with heat store which will be able to provide both heating and hot water.

 

[Countrygirl]

1) If your current (old) boiler was correctly sized, and it looks like that it was because otherwise you would have been freezing last winter, than there is no need to replace it with the more powerful one, especially at this price. If the boiler IS close to capacity you may be better off investing in extra insulation instead of new boiler.
2) If the problem is with hot water: heat losses over long pipe runs are easily (and cheaply) reduced by adding pipe lagging/insulation and replacing the copper pipes with plastic pipes.

You should consider installing a wood/multi-fuel burner/boiler with heat store which will be able to provide both heating and hot water.

Because of cost LPG we use central minimally. We have a log burner. Have considered putting in back boiler to allow wasted heat to heat bedroom at far end of barn but have been put off cos of length it has to travel. All our pipes run down one side of barn concealed. We live near wincanton,somerset if anyone's interested.

 

[Countrygirl]

Have been advised by service contract engineer surprised that oh serve still agree to offer all inclusive maintainence contract cos of age1997. So we are waiting to get letter they won't renew

 

[GArlington]

Because of cost LPG we use central minimally. We have a log burner. Have considered putting in back boiler to allow wasted heat to heat bedroom at far end of barn but have been put off cos of length it has to travel. All our pipes run down one side of barn concealed. We live near wincanton,somerset if anyone's interested.

I was suggesting multifuel boiler, if I understand your layout correctly you need something more powerful than the average log burner, there are few good and not expensive boilers that should provide enough heating and hot water. The boiler is around £1200-2000 and heat store (LARGE water cylinder) is another £1300. This can be installed with few changes to the your existing central heating system, though you may need an additional/new chimney for the boiler.
The advantage of this setup is that you get heating and hot water for free for the rest of the system's life (10+ years).