Will a new Combi boiler improve shower flow??

[Rob Foster]

Hi,
Sorry but why?

Your speaking to the intellectually challenged here so I need as much info as possible and, at what cost? (best/worst case scenarios)

Its obvious, you are wanting high volumes of hot water a combi will just rob the unvented stored water and the system set up is ideal for your requirements ....combis are really for flats and little gaffs with one bathroom ...thats what they were designed for in Europe originally but they got railroaded in uk by basic heating outfits that dont know how to do anything else. Then the manus jumped on the bandwagon producing super combis that have a cat in hells chance of supplying the volume advertised because it is not available all the time from the utility whom have no legal responsibility to supply silly large volumes.....you could put in a conventional system with large volume high level intermediate cold water storage and never look back ...but its old fashioned ...I have one its ace.
centralheatking

 

[Welder]

It gets serviced every year and the engineers say they don’t make these any more....it’s also close to our living area and can get very noisy when it’s working. It’s a halstead finest platinum

They dont make my boiler any more either, but I'll not be changing it just cos some clutz who wants to make a killing at my expense says so...

Decide whats important here will you. Your shower performance via our advice or some chap selling you a new boiler. Your home. Your choice. However, pushing/waiting for advice to match half of what someone else has said is sure to pi55 us off

 

[Jkb]

They dont make my boiler any more either, but I'll not be changing it just cos some clutz who wants to make a killing at my expense says so...

Decide whats important here will you. Your shower performance via our advice or some chap selling you a new boiler. Your home. Your choice. However, pushing/waiting for advice to match half of what someone else has said is sure to pi55 us off

Sorry, it’s not my intention to pi55 anyone off and your advice is greatly appreciated but, is advice not something that’s fundamentally important to making the correct decision?
It’s shower performance that’s at the top of my priority and always has been. Quotes saying “it’s obvious” don’t actually help much either when in actual fact it’s defiantly not obvious (not to me anyway).
Then, after a dozen or so posts one comes back saying a system boiler is what I need to install, if it is then that’s what I’ll go for, pending further advice of course.
So, with a total outlay of about £11-12k coming up on a new bathroom with 2 decent shower outputs I’ll be pi55 img off a few more people till I get it right.
If I can take you back to the grass roots of advice, the more I have the more prepared I am at challenging the so called sales people who are knocking on my door and, are after nothing more than a commission based sale with what they want to sell me, as apposed to what I actually need i.e. British Gas quote of £4800 for a highflow 550CDi which would have made not a jot to my shower performance.

 

[Riley]

Don’t go with BG 100% advice

 

[Rob Foster]

Sorry, it’s not my intention to pi55 anyone off and your advice is greatly appreciated but, is advice not something that’s fundamentally important to making the correct decision?
It’s shower performance that’s at the top of my priority and always has been. Quotes saying “it’s obvious” don’t actually help much either when in actual fact it’s defiantly not obvious (not to me anyway).
Then, after a dozen or so posts one comes back saying a system boiler is what I need to install, if it is then that’s what I’ll go for, pending further advice of course.
So, with a total outlay of about £11-12k coming up on a new bathroom with 2 decent shower outputs I’ll be pi55 img off a few more people till I get it right.
If I can take you back to the grass roots of advice, the more I have the more prepared I am at challenging the so called sales people who are knocking on my door and, are after nothing more than a commission based sale with what they want to sell me, as apposed to what I actually need i.e. British Gas quote of £4800 for a highflow 550CDi which would have made not a jot to my shower performance.

Just do what you like, we the collective wisdom have all advised you the route you should take, there is little more to tell you. Strangely on this one we all agree on where you should head. Best advice in uk freely given let us know what you put in and how it performs
we like feedback
Rob Foster aka centralheatking

 

[Welder]

Sorry, it’s not my intention to pi55 anyone off and your advice is greatly appreciated but, is advice not something that’s fundamentally important to making the correct decision?
It’s shower performance that’s at the top of my priority and always has been. Quotes saying “it’s obvious” don’t actually help much either when in actual fact it’s defiantly not obvious (not to me anyway).
Then, after a dozen or so posts one comes back saying a system boiler is what I need to install, if it is then that’s what I’ll go for, pending further advice of course.
So, with a total outlay of about £11-12k coming up on a new bathroom with 2 decent shower outputs I’ll be pi55 img off a few more people till I get it right.
If I can take you back to the grass roots of advice, the more I have the more prepared I am at challenging the so called sales people who are knocking on my door and, are after nothing more than a commission based sale with what they want to sell me, as apposed to what I actually need i.e. British Gas quote of £4800 for a highflow 550CDi which would have made not a jot to my shower performance.

Best advice you'll get on here is:
1 - Put away any preconceived ideas
2 - Do not go with BG. Their business is sales, NOT your satisfaction.
3 - Find a local plumber, set out your 'problem' (note NO opinions) and ask for their honest advice. Listen to it, heed it.
4 - If #3 does not recommend an UVC then find another.

 

[Jkb]

Best advice you'll get on here is:
1 - Put away any preconceived ideas
2 - Do not go with BG. Their business is sales, NOT your satisfaction.
3 - Find a local plumber, set out your 'problem' (note NO opinions) and ask for their honest advice. Listen to it, heed it.
4 - If #3 does not recommend an UVC then find another.

Ok thank you. Will go for that advice. Thanks to all who chipped in. Sorry if it came across that I was not appreciative of everyone’s input, that was not my intention.

 

[Jkb]

Ok so,
After some sound advice on here, it Looks like a 300l unvented cylinder and, Worcester 27i system boiler, some pipes both gas and water upgraded/bigger diameter, Digital controls, thermostat and some other plumber speak stuff including electrics etc.... all for £4.2k..... does that seem about reasonable?

Thanks for everyone’s input

 

[Riley]

Seems reasonable

 

[siricosm]

Sorry, it’s not my intention to pi55 anyone off and your advice is greatly appreciated but, is advice not something that’s fundamentally important to making the correct decision?
It’s shower performance that’s at the top of my priority and always has been. Quotes saying “it’s obvious” don’t actually help much either when in actual fact it’s defiantly not obvious (not to me anyway).
Then, after a dozen or so posts one comes back saying a system boiler is what I need to install, if it is then that’s what I’ll go for, pending further advice of course.
So, with a total outlay of about £11-12k coming up on a new bathroom with 2 decent shower outputs I’ll be pi55 img off a few more people till I get it right.
If I can take you back to the grass roots of advice, the more I have the more prepared I am at challenging the so called sales people who are knocking on my door and, are after nothing more than a commission based sale with what they want to sell me, as apposed to what I actually need i.e. British Gas quote of £4800 for a highflow 550CDi which would have made not a jot to my shower performance.

If your mains pressure is high enough (i.e. your cold shower is strong enough), and you have space, I would go with an unvented plain steel cylinder that contains a single corrugated stainless or copper hot water coil. They are often called hygienic cylinders because the hot water that comes out does not sit in the tank, only in the coil, so there is no worry of legionella. This should cost around 1.5K for the cylinder, pump for the radiators, expansion vessels and bits, plus labor of course.

If you go that route, whether you change your boiler or not is an independent decision, but if you do, you don't need a combi (as Riley said), you just need a normal (system?) boiler that does not do hot water and is simpler/cheaper.

Disclaimer: I am not a plumber, but I do have decent showers. Cheers.

 

[Riley]

your understanding of unvented cylinders is wrong mate but all the same the OP should get one

 

[siricosm]

your understanding of unvented cylinders is weong mate but all the same the OP should get one

I am suggesting that if you have choice, it is better to have the boiler water in the tank, and the fresh in the coil, rather than the other way around.

 

[Riley]

What set up are you talking about????

 

[siricosm]

I have the 300l version of this:
Hygienic Buffer Storage Tank Vertical

 

[Riley]

I can’t see why a correctly installed and set up unvented cylinder poses a legionella risk

 

[Scott_D]

Thermal store?
Will use a lot more gas than a standard unvented cylinder unless you have another heat source that’s cheap/free

 

[siricosm]

It will if the temperature is too low. I run mine at 60C. Maybe in copper that would be OK.

 

[siricosm]

Thermal store?
Will use a lot more gas than a standard unvented cylinder unless you have another heat source that’s cheap/free

If you are going to keep 300l of hot water on standby I don't think it matters which side of the coil it is on.

 

[Riley]

I’m not convinced it’s anymore efficient

 

[Scott_D]

It will if the temperature is too low. I run mine at 60C. Maybe in copper that would be OK.

What temp at the tap at say 15lmp would a 60 heat store give?

 

[siricosm]

I’m not convinced it’s anymore efficient

It probably isn't more efficient, but it has some advantages. I listed them here a while ago. Sorry for the formatting, maybe I should repost it.

Experience with thermal store

 

[Riley]

So that’s the point it’s a thermal store not an unvented

 

[siricosm]

What temp at the tap at say 15lmp would a 60 heat store give?

Assuming the boiler can keep up with the heat load, it depends on the size of the coil. Ours is 4.5 square meters.

 

[siricosm]

So that’s the point it’s a thermal store not an unvented

I guess all hot water cylinders store thermal energy. The difference here is that the fresh water is in the coil, rather than the tank.

 

[Riley]

Yes but a big difference in terms of sizing and installing