new central heating

[jcox]

Never done this before but completely confused...we have a prehistoric Baxi Bermuda back boiler with a very dated gas fire in front of it.Over the years its played up but on the whole not too bad but the house is not as warm as it could be and we are noticing damp appearing.Decide to look into new c.heating systems.We have a 2 bedroom house and will be running 7 radiators off it.Were advised to get several quotes for peace of mind but are now more confused than ever...quote 1 £2400 a vaillant combi boiler new rads flush the pipes remove boilers header tank cylinder and advised to put an electric fire in the lounge.Quote 2 £4300-500 Worcester 30 combi boiler,new radiators and new pipes.Bit of a problem with the condensate pipe as the kitchen,the boilers new home has no access to any pipes leaving the house,so would have to fit a pump to go across the ceiling and join into existing soil pipe? Quote 3 still waiting...basically advised totally against a combi as our water flow not good enough would be better with a condensing boiler as our demand for hot water will be high as 2 small children in the house lots of baths,washing etc and a combi would drive me nuts! Quote 4 £4800 Worcester bosch combi 30 be absolutely fine new rads,new pipes etc would pipe out under the boiler outside into a soak away under my paving stones.And just to really upset the applecart had an engineer out to service the Baxi as completely fed up with it he replaced a wire inside and said it was in good condition plenty of years in it tweeked the pump not so hopeful about that might need to be replaced.A few weeks down the line very noisy heating system sometimes it heats the water and other times it doesn't.Really need some advice all we want is a warm house with hot water when we want it ....if I needed to bath a child during the day because of an accident can I if say for instance the washing machine or dishwasher is on downstairs????? I thought the whole point of getting out an engineer was for helpful advice but they seem to have confused us more and we feel we are back to square 1.

 

[stevetheplumber]

combis do have limitations but thousands of home live with them personally i would go with a combi in your situation hot water on tap anytime no waiting for cylinder to heat up
it does depend on your mains preasure though although ive only found two houses in 30 years that were to low for mains supplies do your neighbours have combis ?
go for a minimum of 28 kw 30 is better

 

[doitmyself]

quote 1 ... advised to put an electric fire in the lounge.

Why? If it's just to cover up the hole in the fireplace, then its a very expensive solution. And if it's to provide extra heat, a second radiator would be better.

Quote 2 ... Bit of a problem with the condensate pipe as the kitchen,the boilers new home has no access to any pipes leaving the house,so would have to fit a pump to go across the ceiling and join into existing soil pipe?

This problem will be common to all boilers fitted in that location.

Quote 3 ... advised totally against a combi as our water flow not good enough

That, and the water pressure, are the main factors to take into consideration when a combi is contemplated. The flow rate out of the hot taps will be the same as the cold water flow rate; and if you have two taps running at the same time, the flow is shared between them. Installing a boiler with an advertized flow rate of 20 litres a minute does not mean you will get 20 litres a minute if the water going in is 10 litres/minute. It does mean that the water temperature could rise to a dangerous level - though boilers do have thermostats to prevent this happening.

would be better with a condensing boiler as our demand for hot water will be high as 2 small children in the house lots of baths,washing etc

All boilers are condensing.

had an engineer out to service the Baxi as completely fed up with it he replaced a wire inside and said it was in good condition plenty of years in it tweeked the pump not so hopeful about that might need to be replaced.A few weeks down the line very noisy heating system sometimes it heats the water and other times it doesn't.

If the boiler is lighting but not heating anything , it does sound like a pump fault. There is a switch on the pump which varies the speed. Try the other speeds and see that effect it has on the noise. Using a screwdriver as a stethoscope (one end on pump, other against ear) can be helpful. The pump should just be audible as a hum. If you decide not to install a combi, you will still need a new pump.

If I needed to bath a child during the day because of an accident can I if say for instance the washing machine or dishwasher is on downstairs

If the machines are using hot and cold water, then it will effect the time taken to fill the bath. The same will be true if the cold water comes direct from the tap, and not from a cold water tank. It is actually better for dishwashers and washing machines to be fed from a cold supply only. If yours have separate hot and cold pipes, they can be connected together with a Y piece (from any DIY shop) and fed from the cold supply.

Where is your HW cylinder located. If it's in an airing cupboard which is in the bedroom above the boiler, is there enough room to mount the boiler on the wall? My son had a new boiler recently to replace his old back boiler and this was how it was done. Most of the pipe work was in place, apart from the gas which just had to be extended vertically about 12 feet. The only real problem was the condensate, which was solved by pumping it up and across the loft where it connected to the bathroom stack pipe.

 

[jcox]

Thankyou for all the replies you have been very helpful.Some of our neighbours already have combi boilers funnily enough fitted by quote 1 man and don't seem to have had any problems.All the quotes were based on a new boiler in the kitchen as it was an easier option than having it in the airing cupboard.When they remove the back boiler and gas fire we just wanted to replace the fireplace and put in a gas fire as the gas is already there but were advised this would be very expensive an electric fire would be a better and cheaper option if it was in effect just there for show not to have on all the time for heat.