Combi boiler - victorian semi - possible?

vegasvisitor

Hi

We have viewed a 3 bed victorian semi, which has mixed heating. It has radiators fired off a back boiler (from gas fire in dining room), and then some convector heaters in the bedrooms upstairs.

The owner said they never liked warm bedrooms, hence the lack of real radiators. She then also said that the pump etc on the back boiler were new, that it was a baxi, and was good. My thoughts are that back boilers are old fashioned and I'd rather rip it out. Without saying this direcly I commented on us putting in a combi boiler. She said she'd asked the gas fitter about that and he'd said it wasn't possible for that type/size of house. It's not a huge house. It doesn't have stupidly high ceilings or rooms larger than about 5x4m.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? We're in Scotland and our heating cost us £1550 last in our current house for a installation from scratch. This was for fitting 8 small radiators (we bought a chrome bathroom one ourselves on top of this price) so I am supposing bigger house (bigger radiators and a few more of them) we'd be about £3k.

I need to know if it's possible to put in a combi (I had thought there were a range of BTU values to accomodate larger properties), and am I way off the mark on the price?

ormus

of course you can fit a combi, they make various sizes to suit virtually any house.
8 x rads is usually enough for a 3 bed semi.
you may need bigger rads and a larger boiler but bigger rad prices are not that huge and a larger boiler upgrade is only a few hundred quid more.
(generally).

the gas fitter was talking bo ll ocks.

Prudent

I live in Scotland. Two of my friends have Victorian semis. Both have combi boilers. One house is two bedrooms and the other is five bedrooms, three receptions etc. I don't see why they can have combi boilers and this house can't have one. I have a back boiler and feel it can be costly to run compared to a combi.

mikey72

May not be enough water pressure/flow, gas supply could be too low, may be no suitable wall for the flue, condensate pipe could be difficult, to list a few problems.
Get in a gas fitter to have a look at the house, and check the services.
They usually know what they're talking about.

munkypuzzel

I have fitted a combi in my large 3 bed semi victorian house, 8 rads, 1 towel rad and the system works fine.

I fitted this system when living alone and it was perfect, now with a wife and two nippers, its not so great. If somone is showering and then someone is running hot tap/putting on washing machine, it affects the quality of the shower.
Also, if the heating has just come on and is working hard, the shower wont get hot for quite a few minutes.
Running baths is also quite slow when the heating is on.

All in all I am pleased with the simplicity of a combi system, but if I done it all over again, i would go for a 'full' or megaflow type system.

If you have a house full of teenagers/adults it would be worth considering the options.

disclaimer: mine is oil driven, not gas, not sure if that makes any difference!

Welsh_Totster

Well we live in a large 4 bed victorian semi with 2 extra attic rooms, we have a condensing combi boiler that services 18 radiators around the house, so its definately possible!

vegasvisitor

Thanks all, I thought so.

There are 3 public rooms, one quite small and it connects to the kitchen. It may not need a radiator anyway (has gas fire anyway).

As for a wall to put it on....No space in kitchen, but there is a small utility and I think it could go there (might be difficult to pipe in though as it's in an extension). Other option is the back living room (long outside wall) however would need to hide it, but I guess a joiner can make a cupboard for that? I know it's best that it goes beside an outside wall (ie on wall right adjacent to it), I think that's possible, although maybe not ideal. When I say living room, that's the second living room anyway, so not the formal one.

Norman_Castle

Hi,it sounds as though the current owner has misunderstood the gas fitter.Its not possible to have a combi back boiler,behind the fire.But a combi boiler elsewhere should be fine.

vegasvisitor

Yes Norman. Either that or they have been trying to say I won't be replacing the heating system, I will be leaving it the way it is (so don't knock money off the price for it) maybe.

I just thought I'd run the story by the folks on here and see if anyone agreed with it just in case.

MRSTITTLEMOUSE

We live in a rather large victorian house with huge rooms and have a combi and it works realy well.

vegasvisitor

Thanks all.

Can anyone tell me the difference between a normal one and a condensing boiler? Saw a local advert for supply only of heating systems, and noticed there were 2 lists - one standard, one for condensing ones. Curious which is best?