Combi boilers and shared water supplies

[Clippyjo]

Hi All,

I was wondering if you could help?

I need a new boiler and central heating system. I currently live in a ground floor, 1 bed flat, with a shared water supply to the flat upstairs.

I was looking at getting a combi bolier but was advised that this may not be a good idea because of the shared supply.

I have tried to get some informaition about this on the internet but there seems to be very little.
I was hoping perhaps some of you could shed some light on this?
Also, I'd like to be as energy efficient as possible so if I can't have a combi boiler what is my next best option?

Many Thanks

Jo
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[dontknowitall]

How is your water heated at the moment and do you have central heating?

On the face of it I can't see a problem but if you could answer above then it might be easier to give sensible advice.

 

[diamondgas]

As above but also, wat is your water flow like? By that i mean can you and upstairs use the cold tap, flush a loo, that sort of thing, at the same time?

 

[SafeGasInstall]

in the kitchen you should have mains water supply where your plumber can do the need it test ,to answer your question if you could have a combination boiler ! If you need professional help from a member from this forum just list your location and nearest person to you will be in touch !

 

[diamondgas]

Good advice safegasinstall !

 

[Clippyjo]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies.

We have a very old boiler and central heating system. I believe it is a condensor boiler - the gas boiler is in the kitchen and there is a hot water tank in the airing cupboard.

Our cold water supply has what I would consider a very storng flow. If I turn the kitchen tap on full I get very wet very quickly!

We have some companies coming round to give us quotes so perhaps I can ask them to do the test?

Thanks

Jo
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[SafeGasInstall]

If you list your location , nearest gas fitter from this forum can come and Give you a much better price on the job plus %100 workmanship !If interest please list you location ! I cover from London - 100 miles On boiler change jobs ! I fit Worcester bosch boilers and give 6 years Extended guarantee on the boilers !Stan

 

[AWheating]

what you can do it ask upstairs to run cold water for a couple of mins and during this period at your cold tap at your kitchen sink time how long it takes to fill a 1litre bottle. Then use this value to work out how many liters you could fill in one min, you then have a liters per min value.

do the test at the cold bath tap to to compare thye two readings.

ideally you want a flow rate of about 20 LPM and a cold water pressure of 1.5bar min.

 

[steadyon]

Just be a little bit careful if going the combi route. There are some blocks of flats where it is a condition of the lease that you may NOT install a combi boiler. This is done to stop one (or more) flats "robbing" the others on a shared cold water supply.