which boiler - big old house?

carpool72

Hi,

I've had a quick scam through the posts but can't see anything which answers my question...

We live in a Victorian terrace with 5 bedrooms over 3 floors, though we don't have heating on the top floor. Our central heating is dire - the radiator in our bedroom is barely warm, my toddler's room & the living room aren't much better while the rads in other rooms are roasting. It's all pretty old and the boiler is a 6yo Sime Friendly Format 80E.

We're tossing up whether to replace the gas fire in the living room with a big wood-burning stove in the hope that it will take the pressure off the central heating and reduce our gas use, or just get a decent gas fire & put the rest of the money towards upgrading/replacing the central heating. My OH has asked me to check out the following boilers - Alpha, Mains & Vacera (sp?). Does anyone know anything about these, or could you recommend a boiler? We have 9 radiators, which we'll replace with decent new ones.

Thank you!

03022242

we need our 17 year old vailant boiler replaced in the next year! weve had some quotes and a couple of engineers have suggested the worcester bosch 30 cdi.. which roughly costs £900 and about £400 to install....we have about 12 radiators

andrew-b

Vaillant or Worcester-Bosch - though i'd go for a vaillant again with it's stainless steel heat exchanger rather than aluminium of WBs. Probably not much major difference other than that really.

03022242, £1300 sounds a bit low to me - add another £700 at least for a decent job. 17 years is a good innings..i'd definitely stick to the same make!

carpool, a system clean (probably a powerflush or even just flushing through with system cleaner) might be enough to get your system working properly. I'd think there is some more life to be had out of a 6-year old boiler yet.

Andy

Canucklehead

Good evening: My OH installs Vaillant and Viessmann boilers (he has installed Alphas but wouldn't touch a Main or Vokera product) but keep in mind, a boiler is only as good as its installation and annual servicing. Price is will vary according to your location in the UK and the specification of the installation. A RGI,after conducting a site survey, would be best placed to advise you. In the meantime, you might find this guide from the Energy Saving Trust useful. Gas fires are not energy efficient. If you choose to have a wood burning appliance installed you can get further advice from HETAS.

HTH

Canucklehead

KT1985

We have very recently has a WB Greenstar 42 cdi fitted (finally got heat on friday!) and I already think its great. Our 5 bedroom + attic room hous is finally warm, and water pressure is really good.
We wanted a wood burning stove, but couldn't justify the £1000+ cost of buying and installing one, when the CH is perfectly adequate. We are now having a gel fire in the front room as a feature/focal point.

richardc1983

Have you tried balancing all the radiators? If some are hot and some are warm it suggests a balancing problem!

spakkker

richardc1983 wrote: »

Have you tried balancing all the radiators? If some are hot and some are warm it suggests a balancing problem!

Exactly. This was my first thought on reading op

richardc1983

People are all too quick to chuck things away these days.

hel1811

Hi

My OH says he wouldnt bother with any of the boilers you mentioned. He recommends Worcester and says the extra cost is well worth it in the long run. He also suggests shutting all your radiator valves fully throughout the house and gradually open them all as you work your way away from the boiler. ie. open the first a little bit, the second a little bit more, and so on till you get furtherst away which will be fully open. He says this should force the heat round the radiators evenly. He says make sure your pressure gauge is set at 1 or 1.5 when it is cold and all the air is out of the system.

Hope this helps:j