any heating engineers/plumbers out there? Central heating advice needed....

rudedog_2

Hi all,

I'm planning on upgrading my central heating system in my top floor flat. Its in an old Georgian tenement building and the gas central heating system is at least 20 years old.

Currently, I have a conventional boiler with hot and cold water tanks in the loft. The boiler is situated in an old fireplace and the boiler vents up the chimney. The rads must be about the same age as the boiler as they have no controls (ie no thermostat). I have a boiler control timer in the kitchen next to the boiler, and a room thermostat in the hall.

My questions are these:

1) What is the best way to update and upgrade the heating system?
2) Can I simply update the boiler by swapping it out for a more efficient condensing type?
3) Can I use the existing pipe work and just swap over the rads for the modern ones? (there must be at least 10 rads in the flat)

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

dog

alanobrien

rudedog wrote:

Hi all,

I'm planning on upgrading my central heating system in my top floor flat. Its in an old Georgian tenement building and the gas central heating system is at least 20 years old.

Currently, I have a conventional boiler with hot and cold water tanks in the loft. The boiler is situated in an old fireplace and the boiler vents up the chimney. The rads must be about the same age as the boiler as they have no controls (ie no thermostat). I have a boiler control timer in the kitchen next to the boiler, and a room thermostat in the hall.

My questions are these:

1) What is the best way to update and upgrade the heating system?
2) Can I simply update the boiler by swapping it out for a more efficient condensing type?
3) Can I use the existing pipe work and just swap over the rads for the modern ones? (there must be at least 10 rads in the flat)

Any advice would be appreciated.

Cheers

dog

Suprised you have not yet received any answers to this so i will start you off

There are varying levels of update you could do but keep in mind when updating an old system that it will be full of muck so only updating the boiler for instance could be a false economy.

Sounds like a conventional boiler rather than a back
boiler ?

If so then you have several (condensing) options.

Straight replacement using the existing feeder tanks etc but i would personally not do this without replacing all the radiators and flushing the system lots of times.....but that's just me.

Other options include a system boiler or combi, all have their own requirements and advantages/disadvantages.

Rads with TRV's are a regulatory requirement these days as are minimum requirements for the control system.

I would suggest you get in a few corgi people to come round and quote you a system update. They will all have their own opinions on what is best for you so weigh up your needs against their suggestions before proceeding.

You can locate local installers here;

http://www.corgi-gas-safety.com/section_gas_law/about_installer_find_installer.asp