N
NJlookingforhelp
Our ~15-year-old boiler just broke down (the spark igniter gave out), and set out a discussion to go ahead and replace it, as it's starting to kettle as well, and it will probably just be downhill from here.
Background: 1905 built (renovated in 2010) Edwardian terraced. The house is 2 floors and runs 2 different systems and hot water. It's an unvented system with a DHW tank.
On the ground floor, we have water-based underfloor heating with tile and wood floors, each room having its own thermostat. On the first floor, we have a series of 5+1(towel rack) aluminum and steel radiators, hooked up to a Nest thermostat in the hallway, all of them still have a manual valve (so no zoning is possible at the moment). The system has 2 valves: Heating and Hot Water, so if the heating downstairs comes on in a single zone, the upstairs heating does as well.
Now with all the fuss around Air-source heat pumps, is it still worth getting a replacement gas boiler for the next ~10 years, so we don't have to rip out our floors to get the piping for the Heat-Pump to the DHW cylinder?
My thoughts right now are to ride out the winter with the current boiler and then replace it with a new gas boiler in the early summer, and:
Sounds like a smart plan, or stupid thinking?
I guess the alternative could be to run the whole system on an electric system boiler, but I fear that could be immensely more expensive, even with the current high price of gas.
Background: 1905 built (renovated in 2010) Edwardian terraced. The house is 2 floors and runs 2 different systems and hot water. It's an unvented system with a DHW tank.
On the ground floor, we have water-based underfloor heating with tile and wood floors, each room having its own thermostat. On the first floor, we have a series of 5+1(towel rack) aluminum and steel radiators, hooked up to a Nest thermostat in the hallway, all of them still have a manual valve (so no zoning is possible at the moment). The system has 2 valves: Heating and Hot Water, so if the heating downstairs comes on in a single zone, the upstairs heating does as well.
Now with all the fuss around Air-source heat pumps, is it still worth getting a replacement gas boiler for the next ~10 years, so we don't have to rip out our floors to get the piping for the Heat-Pump to the DHW cylinder?
My thoughts right now are to ride out the winter with the current boiler and then replace it with a new gas boiler in the early summer, and:
- Add in another valve to zone the upstairs
- Add an expansion vessel, so we don't suffer from any pressure swings
- Upsize the 5 radiators so they're ready for whenever we upgrade to an ASHP and add TRVs to each of the 5 radiators
Sounds like a smart plan, or stupid thinking?
I guess the alternative could be to run the whole system on an electric system boiler, but I fear that could be immensely more expensive, even with the current high price of gas.
