New Boiler - any help?

[Lemansky]

We are getting our kitchen done in the new year. The engineer came round yesterday as we would need the current boiler turned around and put on the wall in a different way - if we left it as it is, we wouldn't be able to access it when the new kitchen cabinets are in.

It's an old boiler that we were thinking of replacing anyway at some point. However, the engineer said that it would be against code for him to turn the boiler round because of the state it was in...or something to that effect. So it would be better if we replaced it, especially as the kitchen was being ripped out and it could all be done at once.

He then asked whether we wanted a combi boiler and I have absolutly no idea. I like the idea of not having a water tank etc, but aside from that I'm not sure of the benefits, or whether we should just have a normal boiler instead?

Does anyone have any advice or experience with this sort of thing?

thanks!

the combi boiler decision for me was easy...my brother has one and it is brilliant for him BUT there are only 2 of them in the house and they are out working most days. He saved space as no hot or cold water tanks needed and cut costs as no hot water stored and not used.

For my family with 4 DC, small foster children, animals and multiple showers, baths, dishwasher, sinks I don't think a combi would cope (or we wouldn't cope with a combi) as would have to make sure only one demand for hot water was on at a time. We use the water in the tank, it doesn't wait around cooling down so would be no saving energy.

HTH

how many baths and showers are in your house, and how many people that might turn on a tap at any one time?

what colour is your hot-water cylinder?

how old is the house?

Sorry for the late replies!

We have one bath with a shower. 2 people living in the house most days.

The hot water cylinder is greeny colourd.

The house is a 1930s terrace.

Thanks for your help.

I don't really know how either of them work, our flat was all electric heaters with a hot water tank for the water.

you could probably get by with a combi if you wanted, though you need to run the kitchen cold tap into a bucket, time it to full, and see how many litres per minute you get.

I incline more to a conventional boiler, which will heat your home and cylinder. The more bathrooms and people in a home, the less suitable a combi.

The combi boiler takes water from the supply and heats it as needed. no storage so no hot water tank. If the demand on the boiler is high (ie lots of people are trying to use hot water in different places) then the boiler won't be able to keep up with demand...someone gets a cold shower. If you have fewer people and lower usage then it will heat what you need when you need it.

A boiler and tank system heats water in the hot water cylinder according to the timings on the controls (most people heat water once or twice a day) the water goes into the cylinder and is heated up to temperature, if it is not used then the heat in the water gradually "leaks" away (faster or slower depending on the lagging and insulation on your hot water tank). If you use little hot water per day and have a large tank then you will be wasting energy by heating water that you never use.

Thank you both so much for your very helpful replies.

When the plumber initially mentioned it I think I was drawn to the idea of having a bit more space, by losing the water tank etc. I also think combi boilers are what he prefers, so he and the kitchen fitter gave me a rather hard sell about them!

However, in future I'd hope that there may be more people in the house, and we would also be looking to do an extension at some point with another bathroom, so it looks like a conventional boiler would be the way to go.

if you later go for an extension and an extra bathroom, that would be a good time to look into having a new, larger water pipe laid out to the pavement. That would give you an improved flow and the ability to upgrade to an unvented cylinder for more powerful showers. it involves digging a trench so is more convenient to plan into other building or plumbing work, or of you are taking up the kitchen floor.

Ok, that's also good to be aware of. It wouldn't be for a while yet, but I'll keep it in mind.