New central heating options

[MetManMark]

Evening all.
This is my first post on the forum so be gentle

We are about to complete on a house that needs quite a lot of work - rewiring, new kitchen, bathroom, woodworm treatment etc. But the reason I am posting here is that the existing central heating system needs to be replaced. The house is 4 beds, 3 reception rooms, 1 bathroom - all about 15*15 ft with 2.7m high ceilings (mixed units I know...). The walls are solid brick / stone and the windows are large single glazed sash efforts. There is a big loft.

I was thinking that we would go for a large combi something like the Worcester Bosch Greenstar 37CDi. I had been thinking about a system boiler but my wife isn't too keen as she thinks that a combi would suffice and she thinks that the tank is a waste of space. we have a baxi combi in our current house and I am not massively impressed as the water temp varies and the flow rate isn't v high. We have a newborn baby and are likely to have another in the next few years. I am not fussed about showering as I cycle to work and shower there.

Top tips are very much welcomed concerning:

1) type of system to go for
2) brands to go for (value for money & quality is my preference)
3) other things to ask plumbers (eg whether they use plastic pipes - something I want to avoid)

Cheers
Mark

 

[gaspastemania]

Urrrghhh worcester overpriced , overated
veissman or vaillant 28 kw would suffice
Combi's can be a nuisance in future years but free up a cupboard as wont need cylinder ,

ofh and copper all the way

 

[Blackcatgas]

Urrrghhh worcester overpriced , overated
veissman or vaillant 28 kw would suffice
Combi's can be a nuisance in future years but free up a cupboard as wont need cylinder ,

ofh and copper all the way

Agree +1, I dont mind a bit of plastic pipe, it could save you a bit of money too.

 

[AWheating]

you will need to find out the pressure and flow rate of the cold main at the property before making a choice, if you are not very impressed with combis you could have an unvented hot water system which if your main is good enough would give you very good hot water output, about the same as the cold main.

 

[Plucky]

As above need to check flow rates before fitting a combi!

 

[MetManMark]

Thanks for advice. Which? magazine recommended Bosch or Valliant. Any comments?
gaspastemania - where abouts in Devon. We are just north of Exeter and could do with some recommendations of plumbers..

 

[GQuigley67]

I would go for Vaillant over worcester, fitted a couple of worcesters only been to a vaillant course but much better quality and they are around the same price

 

[SafeGasInstall]

I will go for wb boiler ,have fitted 20 since December NOT EVEN ONE CALL BACK !!!

get approved installer to fit and you can get 6 years guarantee !

I fit them and give 5 years as standard if boiler gets fitted before end of july you get 1 year more !

check me web if interest for getting work done !

 

[Puddle]

Thanks for advice. Which? magazine recommended Bosch or Valliant. Any comments?
gaspastemania - where abouts in Devon. We are just north of Exeter and could do with some recommendations of plumbers..

Not commenting on the boiler but one thing I am sure of is

''WHICH MAGAZINE'' is pants and any recommendation they make take with a very big pinch of salt

imho

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

Not commenting on the boiler but one thing I am sure of is

''WHICH MAGAZINE'' is pants and any recommendation they make take with a very big pinch of salt

imho

I agree. The mind boggles at some of their best buy boiler recommendations of the past.

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

If the water pressure is good enough my preference is a Combi - and I am a mother with 3 children. Unlimited hot water is good and in a family home I think that people know not to turn on other taps when someone is in the shower...
Where as on a personal level i have had way too many bad experiences with various stored hot water systems - which have involved running out of hot water.
There are downsides to a combi and they are not always suitable.

Look Value for money, good warranty good customer care from manufacturers then WB, Vaillant, Rehema - we have have the latter.

 

[GrahamM]

Only one bathroom and no plans in short term for adding a second, a decent combi would be more than sufficient. But if you decide you must have a cylinder then then this can be fitted in your loft. You may even want to put your boiler in loft as well.
As for the boiler-you may as well ask "what is your favorite car". Everyone has their preference. Do a bit of research and ask your installer his opinion.

 

[SabreHeatingLtd]

Biasi(any) or if you can find one on ebay a Heatline, Joking aside(they're terrible boilers), I would not recommend a combi for a house like that, I know there's only 1 bathroom at present but maybe you would like to add another at a later date what with the kids and everything or at least have reliable hot water? also if you are spending to the extent that you will be, the extra outlay would be relatively small compared to your total spend. I would recommend you go with a Vaillant EcoTec plus 630 (2 years warranty but, don't be fooled by long warranties they're only to help us lot sell you more of their boilers!) 180 Litre Unvented Cylinder Or 150 Litre DPS pandora thermal store heatweb . comhttp://www.heatweb.com/ (go to products and follow the menus for info) very good piece of kit, at least twice the price of the unvented cylinder but with none of the safety risks and much easier/quicker, ie cheaper! to install! You will need to separate the heating into zones to comply with building regs, I would consider underfloor heating while the house is in bits but thats just a suggestion! Also any good Installer would find you some where to put the cylinder out of the way. Hope this helps, remember it is only my opinioin based on the description above!

 

[MetManMark]

Thanks all. I have to say that the WB website is so much better than the Valliant one. Trying to do a comparison between V boilers is pretty difficult. I will ask the plumbers their thoughts when they come round. We have only had one chap to date and he just offered to do whatever we wanted - crossed him off the list straight away...
Cheers
Mark

 

[mfgs]

I would recommend Worcester, I have fitted a couple hundred of them over the past few years and have had very few problems.