S
smokeyjon
Hi There
As you can see I'm a newbie, and am also not a plumber (oops). I hope you don't mind but I thought this might be a good place to get some unbiased advice on the installation of a new central heating/water heating system incorporating solar thermal panels. I'd be grateful for any comments which'd help me out. This is our situation:
- 3 bed mid-terrace house, probably loft conversion in next 5 years to give 1 more large bed (or 2 smaller) + 2nd bathroom.
- currently 2 people (the family thing's bound to happen sooner or later!)
- Current system comprises of 15yr old central heating boiler and separate multipoint boiler giving instant hot water (both nearing end of life), and electric shower (which also needs rewiring as it's overrated for its wiring!)
We're a bit ECO, so want to install solar, despite its significant payback period. My options seem to be a system boiler and unvented twin coil cylinder, or a solar compatible combi + thermal store to preheat DHW (both in loft and + solar panels). I'm leaning towards the combi option as we might not want to add the panels for a couple of years (ideally when converting the loft) and the preheated water option sounds more sensible for two of us as our water use is currently fairly low and irregular), but the solar installers say that the twincoil system is more efficient (but are unable to explain why!). Unless someone can convince me otherwise I want to go the combi route, but I am finding that there are only a couple of suppliers that can confirm that their boilers happily accept preheated water (eg ALFA, ATMOS, apparently also Viessman). All plumbers we've dealt with recommend Worcester Bosch or VAILLANT for reliability and aftersales reasons, but neither of these manufacturers seem to be able to confirm that their combis accept pre-heat.
Does anyone know anything about ALFA or ATMOS boilers or know of any others that will happily take preheated water (up to 60 deg), ideally without invalidating the guarantee?
Thanks in advance for any info. Sorry that was such a wordy post!!
John
As you can see I'm a newbie, and am also not a plumber (oops). I hope you don't mind but I thought this might be a good place to get some unbiased advice on the installation of a new central heating/water heating system incorporating solar thermal panels. I'd be grateful for any comments which'd help me out. This is our situation:
- 3 bed mid-terrace house, probably loft conversion in next 5 years to give 1 more large bed (or 2 smaller) + 2nd bathroom.
- currently 2 people (the family thing's bound to happen sooner or later!)
- Current system comprises of 15yr old central heating boiler and separate multipoint boiler giving instant hot water (both nearing end of life), and electric shower (which also needs rewiring as it's overrated for its wiring!)
We're a bit ECO, so want to install solar, despite its significant payback period. My options seem to be a system boiler and unvented twin coil cylinder, or a solar compatible combi + thermal store to preheat DHW (both in loft and + solar panels). I'm leaning towards the combi option as we might not want to add the panels for a couple of years (ideally when converting the loft) and the preheated water option sounds more sensible for two of us as our water use is currently fairly low and irregular), but the solar installers say that the twincoil system is more efficient (but are unable to explain why!). Unless someone can convince me otherwise I want to go the combi route, but I am finding that there are only a couple of suppliers that can confirm that their boilers happily accept preheated water (eg ALFA, ATMOS, apparently also Viessman). All plumbers we've dealt with recommend Worcester Bosch or VAILLANT for reliability and aftersales reasons, but neither of these manufacturers seem to be able to confirm that their combis accept pre-heat.
Does anyone know anything about ALFA or ATMOS boilers or know of any others that will happily take preheated water (up to 60 deg), ideally without invalidating the guarantee?
Thanks in advance for any info. Sorry that was such a wordy post!!
John