Replacing system with combi boiler
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ArdillaRoja
Posts: 2 Newbie
Hi,
We got a house late last year, 3 bedroom/1 bath, just my wife and I living there. We're novices to home renovation and we're having a new bathroom fitted from a high street store (existing one is dated and leaking).
The contractor they've given the installation job to came round to scout out the situation and advised us we should upgrade our existing boiler to a combi boiler before the bathroom is fitted to support the new shower and it'd probably be wise to replace radiators with modern double ones and thermostatic valves while he's at it.
Our existing shower uses hot water from the tank with a pump and it's pretty awful, if the immersion heater is not on the hot water will run out within 10 minutes and whoever's next needs to leave it for a while to build up again. So when he says the new shower will empty our hot water tank too quickly I'm inclined to believe him. He also said that there's a risk of getting air into the tank when the pump empties it which is bad for the system, no idea if that's true.
The quote I received from the plumber was:
Price inc. all materials and new Boiler £5780
Breakdown:
1. Change of system of heating Combi Boiler Vaillant eco Tec plus 838 £1500
2. 6 double radiator and thermostatic valve £680
3. Power flushing £480
4. Gas safety certificate £80
5. Wireless thermostatic and install £420
6. Materials (copper pipes,valves,magnaclean,condensing pipe etc) £410
7. Labour £1940
8. Remove Rubbish £270
My father-in-law spoke to his trusted family plumber and had 3 concerns:
1. Don't put combi boiler in a house, they're for flats
2. You don't need a powerflush, you're changing the radiators
3. Plumbers don't charge to remove the rubbish, they get money back for the scrap
So I'm pretty confused. After doing some research it doesn't sound unusual to put combi boiler in a 1-2 bath house and the one quoted looks like a good one. But we don't know what we're doing, we're at the end of our budget and don't want to be taken for a ride.
So we'd be really grateful for an independent take on this from the wisdom of the MSE crowd :beer:
Is a combi boiler appropriate for us or what other options could we explore to support the shower throughput?
Does the quote seem reasonable?
We got a house late last year, 3 bedroom/1 bath, just my wife and I living there. We're novices to home renovation and we're having a new bathroom fitted from a high street store (existing one is dated and leaking).
The contractor they've given the installation job to came round to scout out the situation and advised us we should upgrade our existing boiler to a combi boiler before the bathroom is fitted to support the new shower and it'd probably be wise to replace radiators with modern double ones and thermostatic valves while he's at it.
Our existing shower uses hot water from the tank with a pump and it's pretty awful, if the immersion heater is not on the hot water will run out within 10 minutes and whoever's next needs to leave it for a while to build up again. So when he says the new shower will empty our hot water tank too quickly I'm inclined to believe him. He also said that there's a risk of getting air into the tank when the pump empties it which is bad for the system, no idea if that's true.
The quote I received from the plumber was:
Price inc. all materials and new Boiler £5780
Breakdown:
1. Change of system of heating Combi Boiler Vaillant eco Tec plus 838 £1500
2. 6 double radiator and thermostatic valve £680
3. Power flushing £480
4. Gas safety certificate £80
5. Wireless thermostatic and install £420
6. Materials (copper pipes,valves,magnaclean,condensing pipe etc) £410
7. Labour £1940
8. Remove Rubbish £270
My father-in-law spoke to his trusted family plumber and had 3 concerns:
1. Don't put combi boiler in a house, they're for flats
2. You don't need a powerflush, you're changing the radiators
3. Plumbers don't charge to remove the rubbish, they get money back for the scrap
So I'm pretty confused. After doing some research it doesn't sound unusual to put combi boiler in a 1-2 bath house and the one quoted looks like a good one. But we don't know what we're doing, we're at the end of our budget and don't want to be taken for a ride.
So we'd be really grateful for an independent take on this from the wisdom of the MSE crowd :beer:
Is a combi boiler appropriate for us or what other options could we explore to support the shower throughput?
Does the quote seem reasonable?
0
Comments
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sounds like you just need a bigger immersion tank0
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If you've a combi boiler why would you need a tank? Surely the combi bolier heats the water as needed?0
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glentoran99 wrote: »If you've a combi boiler why would you need a tank? Surely the combi bolier heats the water as needed?
We've got a normal boiler, he's suggested we replace that with a combi boiler, get rid of the tank in loft and the hot water tank in airing cupboard. Said it'll save us money on bills and we'd be able to control it with Hive. So some positives as well but just wondering it it's overkill or there are major downsides to having the combi boiler instead of our standard system. (And also whether he's overcharging for the job)0 -
ArdillaRoja wrote: »We've got a normal boiler, he's suggested we replace that with a combi boiler, get rid of the tank in loft and the hot water tank in airing cupboard. Said it'll save us money on bills and we'd be able to control it with Hive. So some positives as well but just wondering it it's overkill or there are major downsides to having the combi boiler instead of our standard system. (And also whether he's overcharging for the job)
apologies, I misunderstood
We switched from oil to combi last year in 3 bedroom house, its perfect for our needs.
Ours was £2780 to switch from oil to combi and move a radiator to another wall.
but that was keeping existing radiators but added theromostatic valves to the ones that needed them (4 I think)
You don't need a flush if your changing radiators0 -
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Sounds expensive, I would get a couple more quotes.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Some of the labour costs seem to be doubled up, for example a wireless stat will cost about £120 so the £420 quote has £300 added to 'install', then a separate £1,940 is added as 'labour'[/FONT]0 -
If you replace the radiators with double ones will they be half the size?
If so you will need to redecorate.
Our bedroom ones are singles and are twice the size of any of the modern doubles but are slim and no point replacing as it will knock out the same heat.
I could be wrong but if you have a combi and only one shower why is he fitting an 838 which is a storage boiler with a built in second storage tank. Maybe if you had two bathrooms but you only have one.
Cant help wondering if contractor is only taking on the installation jobs so he can flog you additional work.
Also a bit surprised they have a gasfit engineer doing bathroom installs for a local bathroom shed. Is he doing the work himself or is he on commission to get someone else in to do it?0 -
glentoran99 wrote: »apologies, I misunderstood
We switched from oil to combi last year in 3 bedroom house, its perfect for our needs.
Ours was £2780 to switch from oil to combi and move a radiator to another wall.......
"oil" is a fuel source and "combi" is a bolier type - you can have any fuel type (oil/gas/electric) with any bolier type (system/combi) - the only real difference with a combi is the water is heated as it is used rather than preheated and stored in a hot tank0 -
"oil" is a fuel source and "combi" is a bolier type - you can have any fuel type (oil/gas/electric) with any bolier type (system/combi) - the only real difference with a combi is the water is heated as it is used rather than preheated and stored in a hot tank
My bad, only ever heard of combi boiler in relation to gas0 -
Ridiculous boiler choice, way over kill for your needs
How old are your rads ?I'm only here while I wait for Corrie to start.
You get no BS from me & if I think you are wrong I WILL tell you.0
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