One boiler or two for a new family home with two separate floors/apartments?? Help!!

[Janet]

Hello! We have nearly completed building a two-floor family home with two separate apartments on each floor. Each apartment has an area of approximately 200 square meters. It's now time to commit to either one or two boilers; we've gotten conflicting advice. Division of utility bill costs and the issue of selling the house later are not a concern. Our dilemma: would it be more efficient - in terms of initial cost, fuel consumption, operating and maintenance costs, etc. - to install one larger boiler for the two floors, or two separate boilers, one for each floor?

We're down to the wire on this decision. ANY ideas or suggestions at your earliest possible convenience are most appreciated!! Thank you in advance!

Janet

 

[gassafe]

Re: One boiler or two for a new family home with two separate floors/apartments?? Hel

If you have nearly finished completing the build then surely the decision has been made and the property piped accordingly already? You make it sound like a last minute decision such as choosing blinds or curtains lol!

I would go with 2 seperate boilers... Are you having combi's or a seperate hot water cylinder on each floor too?

 

[Ray Stafford]

Re: One boiler or two for a new family home with two separate floors/apartments?? Hel

If you have no worries about ever splitting them up, and with such a large area (800 m2), I would not do either option.

I would have a pair of boilers, serving the whole set up, from a central boiler room. That way, if one boiler failed, there would still be 50% capacity for everyone, rather than 2 apartments being fine, and the other two having nothing.

 

[Ermintrude]

Re: One boiler or two for a new family home with two separate floors/apartments?? Hel

Or sort you self out properly and set it up with a SLME cylinder and then two boilers, solar and bio mass could be set up. If u box clever you can get an mcs installer sorted and set up a non domestic RHI district heating system. This has an advantage in that u get paid for being green. If u mix any other renewable other than solar with gas you will need metering but solar and gas good combo and means cheap hot water for all. I would re come s central heat plant and central water with relevant controls . That way upgrades and efficiency are both well catered for.

 

[Janet]

Re: One boiler or two for a new family home with two separate floors/apartments?? Hel

If you have nearly finished completing the build then surely the decision has been made and the property piped accordingly already? You make it sound like a last minute decision such as choosing blinds or curtains lol!

I would go with 2 seperate boilers... Are you having combi's or a seperate hot water cylinder on each floor too?

Thank you for such a quick reply! I am writing from Amman, Jordan, and the construction is all concrete - so MOST of the pipe is already laid. This sort of construction is new to me. So, at the point we find ourselves, one must make the decision about one or two boilers. We are to use fuel oil (diesel?) boilers (she says, barely knowledgeably). We won't be having combi's, but will have a separate solar-heated water cylinder on each floor.

Some people here have said that as our downstairs apartment won't be occupied right away, that it would be wasteful to fire up a large boiler for just the upstairs (the main floor - it's on a hill). Others have said that it won't be wasteful, that it will fire up the heat that much more quickly.

Thanks again!

 

[Janet]

Re: One boiler or two for a new family home with two separate floors/apartments?? Hel

Thank you for your suggestion, and so quickly! We'll be meeting with the plumber and the boiler and radiator people next week, and will include your point in the discussion.

 

[Janet]

Re: One boiler or two for a new family home with two separate floors/apartments?? Hel

Thank you for responding so quickly! I'm not sure all these options are available here in Amman, Jordan - and the concrete construction that is standard here is all new to me. In any case, we'll be meeting with the plumber and radiator and boiler people next week, so we can discuss these ideas.

 

[Gray0689]

Re: One boiler or two for a new family home with two separate floors/apartments?? Hel

Air conditioning
And water heater is more common in your area I'd be thinking!!