New hot water system for Victorian Terrace.

[SimonVicHouse]

Hi, looking for some advice on the best hot water system to use in our 3-bed, 2 floor, Victorian Terraced house.
The current set up is with a conventional boiler in the utility room, a hot water vented cylinder in the first floor airing cupboard with an electric pump for the shower, and a cold water storage tank in the loft.

We have recently had our roof re-tiled and had full loft roll insulation laid down in the loft. I am concerned (not sure if I should be) that now the loft is properly insulated the roof space will get a lot colder in the winter and that despite the water tank and pipes being insulated they might freeze and cause the water tank to crack or bust and send gallons of water down in to our brand new bathroom and kitchen!

I am considering changing this vented to system to remove the cold water tank and to either have an unvented cylinder where the current vented cylinder is, or go for a combi boiler.

My questions are:
1. Are my fears of the cold water tank leaking a bit over the top? What are the chances of this happening? Are they generally fine?
2. Are there any safety issues with a pressurized unvented system?
3. I presume the water pipes in the house are reasonably old (all copper from what I can see). Will this be an issue?
4. Out of the three systems, which would suit a property of this age and size the most? Am I just better off keeping things as they are or should I change to a combi or unvented system?

Any other advice would be much appreciated.

 

[SimonVicHouse]

Any advice on this would be really helpful. I really don’t know what to do for the best.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

How many bathrooms?

 

[andyplumber]

Shouldn’t be any problems with your cold water storage tank as long as it got the bylaw 30 kit on the tank (lid an insulation wrap arond the tank). If you are thinking of changing your system me personally would go for a system boiler and unvented but the water pressure and flow rate need to be tested before you can have one fitted and find a route for safety dishcharge, safety wise as long as its been fitted by a G3 qualified engineer and serviced every year you should have any problems. Please bare in mind only engineers with G3 quals can fit unvented cylinders and inform building control of intent to fit one.

Combi boiler are ok but they only work on a one tap operation and will only work on one demand at a time so if you have your heating on, and someone runs a bath the boiler will switch to hot water and stop heating your central heating until the tap has been turned off

Hope this helps

 

[Rob Foster]

You could have a combi which does hot water for kitchen and short use hot water taps/shower. A cylinder heated by the combi when in heating mode and electric in summer or when when no heating on for bath water - then you can introduce a solar input to the stored hot water. Really tho ditch the combi idea and keep it simple.

 

[SimonVicHouse]

How many bathrooms?

One bathroom on the first floor with a shower and bath.

 

[AMGasServices]

One bathroom on the first floor with a shower and bath.

I think you’d be better with a combi. Anything with 2 or more bathrooms requires a hot water cylinder.

 

[SimonVicHouse]

I think you’d be better with a combi. Anything with 2 or more bathrooms requires a hot water cylinder.

Why would you suggest a combi?

 

[Rob Foster]

Its all to do with water volume and not always pressure. The best combi will deliver 10 litres + per min if you consume more then that the water will be shared and if your in shower you might not like it !
In London and other places at certain peak times you will be lucky to get 2 bar and 5 litres per min then a combi is useless and stored water is king. You can then get a mains booster and suck the water out of the mains ie steal your neighbours water water until they get a booster and you are back to square one - DONT GET A COMBI

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Its all to do with water volume and not always pressure. The best combi will deliver 10 litres + per min if you consume more then that the water will be shared and if your in shower you might not like it !
In London and other places at certain peak times you will be lucky to get 2 bar and 5 litres per min then a combi is useless and stored water is king. You can then get a mains booster and suck the water out of the mains ie steal your neighbours water water until they get a booster and you are back to square one - DONT GET A COMBI

How do all the unventeds cope then

 

[Rob Foster]

How do all the unventeds cope then

badly I suppose - never specified one or lived with one - tell me more I am always willing to learn. as a quick estimate my outfits over the years have fitted about 3000 combi's they are great in the correct place