Central heating/boiler advice needed!

[fifec123]

Hello, im new to the forum and im after a bit of advice. Basically I have just brought a house which i have gutted.

The central heating system is an old conventional one with a one pipe heating system (hot water cylinder and two cisterns in the loft). i have removed all 6 radiators in the house and binned them as they were corroded.

I am basically in a dillema, do i just replace the rads and valves and stcick to the old conventional system as the whole house has been gutted inc kitchen and bathroom or do i rip out the whole system and replace with a condensing combi, 2 pipe system!

I will be able to do everything myself except for the boiler.
Stupidly I didnt check the system before I started taking stuff out I was too eager to get started and didnt really intend to gut the place!!!! One thing i did notice is that the hot water bath tap flow was very very poor and just dribbled out!

So was just wondering what everyone else what do in this situation, any help or advice is welcome and thanks for reading.

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

Rip out the whole thing and put in a modern heating system, you are almost there anyway.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

rip it out and put new system ,how many bathrooms are in the house ?

 

[missplumb]

deffo rip out and start again, you'll be sick as a pig if once your all decorated and moved in and the system fails to work properly and you have to mess everything up.

 

[JUpton]

I have to agree with the other members. I have worked on one pipe systems and they can be a bit of a nightmare to balance up. Also if you are using a gravity system they can be difficult to bleed and tend to airlock when refilled causing hours of trouble. As you are obviously gutting the place it makes obvious sence to go the extra mile now and replace the whole system.

 

[Bartdude]

One pipe heating systems have well and truly been consigned to the last century.Rip it out and fit new.If it's copper you'll make a few quid in scrap.

A combi might not be the best option though,it depends on your hot water requirements.

 

[stevetheplumber]

one bath room combi minimum size 28kw, two bath rooms unvented cylinder and system boiler .Gravity is finished by todays standards most taps and showers are designed for mains preasure

 

[fuzzy]

i think a 28kw combi is ok for a 4 bed two bathroom house, i agree, any bigger than that go for a unvneted cylinder

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

Personally I prefer a Combi and hope to always live in a house which benefits from unlimited, never ending hot water.
Up to 2 bathrooms and minimum mains water pressure of 0.5 bar i would choose a combi.

 

[GrahamM]

Personally I prefer a Combi and hope to always live in a house which benefits from unlimited, never ending hot water.
Up to 2 bathrooms and minimum mains water pressure of 0.5 bar i would choose a combi.

Until the boiler breaks down!
If you have a cylinder you can always have your immersion backup.

 

[fuzzy]

a great adavnatage of a cyclinder is the back up immersion heater. on the flip side, you can put off getting the boiler fixed in the summer, at least having no hot water forces you to get it sorted?

still agree though!

 

[GrahamM]

Do you have a busy household? Will the two bathrooms be occupied at the same time on a regular basis? If not a good sized combi will do the job, otherwise as mentioned a cylinder would be best option, but definitely rip out the one pipe system without question.

 

[fifec123]

Thanks for all your replies looks like il be ripping it all out then!! it is just a 2 bedroom house with 1 bathroom so i guess a combi should be fine!!

 

[SafeGasInstall]

do you need a system upgrade quote ?
as you are not that far from me I can do it for you !

 

[fifec123]

do you need a system upgrade quote ?
as you are not that far from me I can do it for you !

No thanks, I am going to do everything myself except for the boiler have done a couple of heating systems a few years back, so im pretty confident doing it myself. Thanks for the offer though!

 

[SafeGasInstall]

I can fit you WB boiler and u get 6 years guaranty if you fancy it

 

[fifec123]

I can fit you WB boiler and u get 6 years guaranty if you fancy it

Just out of interest what sort of price would you charge for that?

 

[AWheating]

before you decide on a combi make sure you have an adequate mains water supply.

 

[fifec123]

before you decide on a combi make sure you have an adequate mains water supply.

Hello what do you mean by "adequate mains supply"? Is there a min. pressure for a combi??

Thanks

 

[SafeGasInstall]

your gas safe installer will be able to assist you with this ,on the day he visit you he will take the necessary readings and will be able to let you know whether or not you can have a combi with the current water supply

 

[GerrythePlumber]

I know it takes up room, but in your situation, I would definately fit an unvented cylinder. Wireles contols i.e. a two channel reciever, an rc programmer and rc room stat save you a lot of wiring and can be put anywhere in the house that suit you.

 

[fifec123]

The current system already has all the wireless controls you stated, i think i like the idea more of a combi though. I also checked the mains pressure from the outside tap and it was just above 3bar think that should be fine for a combi (if i remember correctly you need over 1bar for a combi).

Thanks for the advice!!!!

 

[SafeGasInstall]

combi is cheaper but not suitable for two bathrooms !

 

[fifec123]

I only have 1 bathroom so it should be fine,

thanks for your reply!