Boiler Recommendations

[bluestreak56]

Thanks all, I'll look at worcester bosch and vailant.. now the people on money saving expert are saying if I have a property with 3 showers in it a combi wont be suitable as they wont all be able to use them together??

More research required I fear

 

[Havard]

Thanks all, I'll look at worcester bosch and vailant.. now the people on money saving expert are saying if I have a property with 3 showers in it a combi wont be suitable as they wont all be able to use them together??

More research required I fear

Ok. I'd like to think I was your ideal man for this. I run a water services and heating pressurisation business. http://www.flowtech.org.uk/

Question I would ask is what is the possibility of you wanting to use all three showers at once? Is this a realistic situation or are you looking for perfection? Also, the ability to run three showers will be down to a lot more than just the heat source, the spec of the showers, your incoming mains pipework, internal distribution inside the house and the pressure coming in will all play important parts in getting the desired result.

A few years ago, I wanted to run both our showers at home at the same time and bought a combi doing 16 l/min, which at the time was the biggest on the martket. Considering a normal shower is 9 - 10 l/mimute and the water is mixed probably 60/40 in favour of hot, I thought I had done my sums right. Reality was that our house has been piped in 15mm copper throughout and even though I had the right boiler, without ripping out and upgrading the central pipework I was knackered.

If you do want three showers running the it may be better to look at a decent storage cylinder and a conventional heat only boiler. Most people waste a lot of money trying to get something that they never actually use. the one day a year when all three showers are requested is nothing compared to the couple of grand people have spent on the perfect system.

H.

 

[Havard]

If it is found to be the expansion vessel there is no need to condem the boiler , these can be fitted externally relatively easily

OK thanks for the info Mr W, didn't know that

Dr John, how long is it between top up from the mains? Be mindful that introducing new water into the system really needs some system additives (inhibitor) to stop premature corrosion within the system. Sentinel X100 is good.

If you are losing pressure it is either a shrader valve (tyre valve) on the air side of the vessel that is leaking or there is water physically being lost from the system. If it is say once a week/fortnight then that could just be the vessel. If it is less regular than that it could just be weeping from valves in the system or it may be a slight crack in the heat exchanger of the boiler. What boiler do you currently have?

Hope this helps.

H.

 

[bluestreak56]

Im just thinking worst case scenario. At my home there are 4 of us and 3 of us shower at the same time due to work .. in a flat with 3 double bedrooms and 3 shower rooms (potentially 5-6 people) this could also be feasible but I just dont know...

Perhaps a safe assumption would be to have 2 on simultaneously?

 

[Havard]

Im just thinking worst case scenario. At my home there are 4 of us and 3 of us shower at the same time due to work .. in a flat with 3 double bedrooms and 3 shower rooms (potentially 5-6 people) this could also be feasible but I just dont know...

Perhaps a safe assumption would be to have 2 on simultaneously?

That would be the more realistic option. It is very rare for numerous water outlets to be utilised at exactly the same time. Worst case is when a toilet is flushed at the same time as the washing machine/dishwasher is filling and then 2 showers running etc.

It also depends on how quick people take a shower. My daughter can spend half an hour in the shower which is why I switch the boiler off after 15 minutes and tell her the hot water tank has run out......

H.

 

[bluestreak56]

Im just thinking worst case scenario. At my home there are 4 of us and 3 of us shower at the same time due to work .. in a flat with 3 double bedrooms and 3 shower rooms (potentially 5-6 people) this could also be feasible but I just dont know...

Perhaps a safe assumption would be to have 2 on simultaneously?

That would be the more realistic option. It is very rare for numerous water outlets to be utilised at exactly the same time. Worst case is when a toilet is flushed at the same time as the washing machine/dishwasher is filling and then 2 showers running etc.

It also depends on how quick people take a shower. My daughter can spend half an hour in the shower which is why I switch the boiler off after 15 minutes and tell her the hot water tank has run out......

H.

If only you were closer! Right I need to find someone local who knows what they are doing and decided if I should go for 2 boilers and try and find space for tanks or if I should go for 1 boiler and 2 heat meters to calculate the costs for the flats? Although that seems very manual..

 

[bluestreak56]

Ok I think I'm going to go for:

Downstairs : Baxi / Ideal / WB / Vailant Combi Boiler
Upstairs : Baxi / Ideal / WB / Vailant System Boiler

I realise the Baxi and Ideal boilers do not have great track records however with 7 year warranties and an initial cost under £800, they should work out to an outlay of around £100 a year (estimate)

vs an outlay of about double for a Worcester Bosch / Vailant. I also am factoring in that in 5-7 years the energy ratings of both systems will been completely surpassed and it will be better to replace them anyway.

For downstairs considering a Baxi Duo-tec 33 HE (flow rate 13.5 l/min) £820 with 7 year warranty / Vailant Ecotec Pro 28 (flow rate 11.5 l/min) £905 with a 2 year warranty
For upstairs considering a Baxi Megaflow System 32 HE £820 / Vailant Ecotec Plus 618 £890

 

[Steven4018]

Hi,

I've picked up this thread a little late by the looks of it.

I'm a BG breakdown and servicing engineer, have been for the last 5 years or so. I would say your best bet, as originally advised, is to go for anything German. Valiant in my opinion is the best option. Very rarely make calls to broken newly installed ones. Worcester are also very good, but seem to be faulty more than valliant.

I would also stay away from a combi system for your set-up. The flow of water needed, wouldn't be able to be provided even by a large KW combi. Personally, I would fit a system boiler with a mega-flow/unvented hot water tank. This would provide you mains water pressure at every hot tap in the property. No matter how many hot taps you had running at once.

Regards,

 

[inkey$]

Another big +1 for Worcester Bosch. Fitted a condenser version (Greenstar) when I enlarged the house a few years back. Heats more space and half the gas usage of an old style Potterton.

As mentioned above the right output is as important as anything...

Another +1 for the Greenstar. We have a 24i Junior and other than a few replacement parts, it's 8 years old and going well.

 

[jamesditchy]

Try the Baxi Platinum, 10 year parts and labour warranty as long as its serviced. That warranty blows all the others away, an extra 3 years on top of vaillant/worcester is impressive. I have been fitting them for ages, no problems and customer support is very good too.

 

[Geezah]

Baxi, gulp! I bought a brand new one around 10 years ago, world of pain! Boiler lock outs, explosive ignition, you name it, Heap of crap, known faults, no repair available. They rolled out a substandard product. Binned it after 5 years and bought a Viessmann. I'll never give Baxi a penny of my money, con merchants.

 

[jampudding]

Can any of the people here who know people in the trade (eg. Mr Wilks) tell me how much I would be expected to be charged for installing a Vailant 637 and Telford 250l (mega flo type)?
I'd be most grateful. Thanks.