Please help. Which boiler/showers should i choose?

[Cab]

Hello to all .

I'm after some advice/ guidance on choosing a new boiler/system for my home. I'm currently having an extension built on my house and the old boiler will need replacing to cope with the extra radiators and extra bathroom. The current conventional boiler is about 10/12 years old and not big enough to cope with the extra output needed. The house is 10/12 years old, detached with 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (both upstairs), lvg room, dining room, kitchen, play room, conservatory and downstairs tiolet. Upstairs has small single panel rads fed by microbore piping, downstairs is larger single panel rads (double panel in conservatory that never gets fully hot) also fed by micro bore piping. I have a copper cylinder upstairs in the airing cupboard and there's a large storage tank in the attic.

The dilema i have is which sort of system to go for. The criteria for the system is simply to have two decent showers and be more efficient/cheaper to run.

Your help on this matter would be much appreciated. The plumber who is doing work in the extension has advised which systems are available. However, it would be nice to seek advice/recommendations from more than one plumber.


Cheers

Nigel

 

[stevetheplumber]

generally for this sort of property id suggest system boiler and unvented cylinder if there is sufficent preasure and flow from existing main
sounds like youll have to check out the existing pipework to rads as well as what ever you fit i probably wont correct any existing faults

 

[Cab]

Cheers Steve . What do you think of running a system boiler, keeping the exisiting copper cylinder and putting a pump on the showers so as to keep installation costs down?

Cheers

Nigel

ps. are the any other advantages to having a pressurised cylinder other than a boost in pressure?

Thanks again

 

[stevetheplumber]

Cheers Steve . What do you think of running a system boiler, keeping the exisiting copper cylinder and putting a pump on the showers so as to keep installation costs down?

Cheers

Nigel

ps. are the any other advantages to having a pressurised cylinder other than a boost in pressure?

if possible i prefer to raise the tank depends on the construction of the loft but prior to having a mains fed system i had a raised tank abour 6 ft above shower and it was perectly adequate i prefer a lot of water at lower preasure to being flayed onto the shower tray

Thanks again

yes that would be ok if its big enough might need to upsize it for extra water
especialy if your pumping showers

 

[NickH]

Personally I dont think theres much to beat a "traditional" system wiith cold water storage tank in the attic and a nice big vented hot water cylinder. Get a good pump for the showers and you'll have a consistant and reliable system.

 

[Cab]

Thanks Steve and Nick

I have also thought about going down the route of having a decent combi boiler with electric showers. But i guess that having two power hungry 10.8kw elec showers would defeat the object of having a super efficient cheap to run combi boiler in the first place

Do you know which would be cheaper to run - combi + elec showers versus a system boiler + power showers?

Cheers again and thanks for your help so far

Nigel

 

[Plucky]

Another vote for a systems boiler and unvented cylinder. It really is a gfood set up. You will need to check if your mains pressure/volume is up to the job.

A traditional cylinder would be OK with pumps but pumps are noisy and can go wrong. Plus as stated you'd need to be looking at a larger cylinder, maybe a 1200. So if your going to replace you may as well pay a bit extra and have a 210l unvented unit fitted.

Forget the combi you will struggle in a property of your size for HW demand. This is only my opinion but if you can avoid fitting electric showers then do so. I dont like them

 

[migoplumber]

hot water is always cheaper when heated by gas.
gas is used to make electricity, and there are always losses involved in energy transfer.
system boiler is the way forward with a proper design.
using the above ideas, call your local plumber/s round for some further advice and price.

 

[Cab]

Thanks to all for your help This is greatly appreciated.


Cheers

Nigel