F
fletch25
Ok here goes, any advice greatly appreciated and here’s our story…
Basically moved in to new house end Jan and knew it needed new boiler (15 -20years old!). It’s an old system boiler (only 87% efficiency), with hot water in airing cupboard and three tanks in loft.
House is 4 bed, 2 bathrooms (both with power showers) and 1 toilet. Total of 14 radiators (plus one extra would be added into utility)
(NOTE: the showers are virtually next to each other as bathroom backs onto the ensuite also).
The boiler itself is in the utility room and the main manifold is there too. All the pipework downstairs is below concrete floors and / or solid oak flooring. The main manifold is actually exposed in a large hole in the utility floor (wasn’t visible when we viewed house as they had shoes / boots on top of it!) and the manifold pipework is actually slightly above the concrete level and then part of the pipe is seemed to be bend under the concrete towards the boiler. Hence we don’t really have much confidence in the original build / pipework!
The bathroom hot water flow is a slow trickle (obviously just on gravity from the tank) and we’d really like to improve that – the bath is massive and takes 15 minutes to get a good sized bath! Hot water tank did run out for hot water the next morning when I had late bath, so not sure what storage capacity it has but I like lots of hot water for baths and showers. Showers are both ok as on pumps.
So we had several local plumbers round to quote us and also good old British Gas, we thought they’d tell us what’s best for the house (? Or maybe it’s what they want / like to install!) and have the following:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] – System boiler (keep set up exactly as it is)
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] – Combi (told us it wouldn’t make a difference with showers being so close together if both were on at same time) but other half is v concerned about pressurising the pipework (based on its potential shoddiness)
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] – System boiler again (recognising the prob with pressurising old pipework). HOWEVER still wouldn’t rectify the hot water pressure issue. So other half looked into thermal stores after this visit and really like the idea of one of
Them and it would solved the hot water pressure issue. This plumber then agreed this is a good option for the house later on, however didn’t know they came vented versions, he only knew of the specialist fit ones. Then told us he can install a vented one (don’t really trust the fact that he never knew about the vented ones but will install us one!)
4[SUP]th[/SUP] – BG agreed that thermal store be a good option, checked water pressure etc and all was good enough for it.
So, then we had combi man back. Explained really not keen on pressurising pipes but can see the benefits of the removal of water tanks etc, lots of hot water when we want it, not wasting energy storing hot water etc. But we are now about pipes under concrete leaking, not being able to use showers at same time/dishwasher, running taps etc. He then suggested re-doing all pipework (dropping from above, boxing in and putting in new manifold upstairs) and hence de-commissioning the potential dodgy pipework under the downstairs concrete floors. However that might work ok for the most of downstairs but we have a ground floor extension / garden room with both radiators on the opposite / window side so wouldn’t be able to “drop down” from upstairs and hence what to do with those!!!
We are so confused. Other half will ultimately make the decision, but he’s no expert (although has researched lots now!!) and we just want it to “work”, i.e. the old system is inefficient now but at least we get hot water etc. But if we had combi and then had the old can run both showers, or can’t have shower while dishwasher on (last an hour and 20mins) or run a tap etc, then that prob annoy us.
It’s just the two of us at the moment but we want a family and we’d like a CH & hot water system that will work for us now and in the future with babies / youngsters etc.
If you need to ask me any more questions, please do. Might need to confer with other half later but wanted to get this post on, so we could start receiving advice asap!
Amanda
Basically moved in to new house end Jan and knew it needed new boiler (15 -20years old!). It’s an old system boiler (only 87% efficiency), with hot water in airing cupboard and three tanks in loft.
House is 4 bed, 2 bathrooms (both with power showers) and 1 toilet. Total of 14 radiators (plus one extra would be added into utility)
(NOTE: the showers are virtually next to each other as bathroom backs onto the ensuite also).
The boiler itself is in the utility room and the main manifold is there too. All the pipework downstairs is below concrete floors and / or solid oak flooring. The main manifold is actually exposed in a large hole in the utility floor (wasn’t visible when we viewed house as they had shoes / boots on top of it!) and the manifold pipework is actually slightly above the concrete level and then part of the pipe is seemed to be bend under the concrete towards the boiler. Hence we don’t really have much confidence in the original build / pipework!
The bathroom hot water flow is a slow trickle (obviously just on gravity from the tank) and we’d really like to improve that – the bath is massive and takes 15 minutes to get a good sized bath! Hot water tank did run out for hot water the next morning when I had late bath, so not sure what storage capacity it has but I like lots of hot water for baths and showers. Showers are both ok as on pumps.
So we had several local plumbers round to quote us and also good old British Gas, we thought they’d tell us what’s best for the house (? Or maybe it’s what they want / like to install!) and have the following:
1[SUP]st[/SUP] – System boiler (keep set up exactly as it is)
2[SUP]nd[/SUP] – Combi (told us it wouldn’t make a difference with showers being so close together if both were on at same time) but other half is v concerned about pressurising the pipework (based on its potential shoddiness)
3[SUP]rd[/SUP] – System boiler again (recognising the prob with pressurising old pipework). HOWEVER still wouldn’t rectify the hot water pressure issue. So other half looked into thermal stores after this visit and really like the idea of one of
Them and it would solved the hot water pressure issue. This plumber then agreed this is a good option for the house later on, however didn’t know they came vented versions, he only knew of the specialist fit ones. Then told us he can install a vented one (don’t really trust the fact that he never knew about the vented ones but will install us one!)
4[SUP]th[/SUP] – BG agreed that thermal store be a good option, checked water pressure etc and all was good enough for it.
So, then we had combi man back. Explained really not keen on pressurising pipes but can see the benefits of the removal of water tanks etc, lots of hot water when we want it, not wasting energy storing hot water etc. But we are now about pipes under concrete leaking, not being able to use showers at same time/dishwasher, running taps etc. He then suggested re-doing all pipework (dropping from above, boxing in and putting in new manifold upstairs) and hence de-commissioning the potential dodgy pipework under the downstairs concrete floors. However that might work ok for the most of downstairs but we have a ground floor extension / garden room with both radiators on the opposite / window side so wouldn’t be able to “drop down” from upstairs and hence what to do with those!!!
We are so confused. Other half will ultimately make the decision, but he’s no expert (although has researched lots now!!) and we just want it to “work”, i.e. the old system is inefficient now but at least we get hot water etc. But if we had combi and then had the old can run both showers, or can’t have shower while dishwasher on (last an hour and 20mins) or run a tap etc, then that prob annoy us.
It’s just the two of us at the moment but we want a family and we’d like a CH & hot water system that will work for us now and in the future with babies / youngsters etc.
If you need to ask me any more questions, please do. Might need to confer with other half later but wanted to get this post on, so we could start receiving advice asap!
Amanda
