Help choosing a new combi

NEH

ginvzt wrote: »

I suggest your boiler is not up to scratch. I never had this problem. My OH parents live with a combi boiler all they life in Italy and this never happened. My parents have combi boiler and both systems do work simultaneously. The only thing that I can say and have experienced, that sometimes it can't heat enough water fast enough to supply hot water to 2 taps (i.e. shower and kitchen at the same time). But I think that can be solved with a more powerful boiler.

What boiler do you have (brand/make)? Maybe someone else can confirm your experience or tell you that it is not supposed to work like it does?

Check out this thread recently...Think Ormus gives the technical reason...

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?p=29190079#post29190079

heating-eng

ginvzt wrote: »

Never heard of that one! We lived in two houses with combi boilers, and both heated the house at the same time as the hot water was used. In the first one, we could run two showers simultaneously and heating would still work.

this is in fact ture ..combis will always do hot water first ..although i have never heard of this been a problem in the past

roses

I have a combi (worcester 440cdi) and the heating does not work at the same time someone in the shower. That it the way combi's work.

I have never had a problem with a cold house as I my showers only last 10 minutes.

Worcester after care is excellent. Always respond to email enquiries within 24 hours, they sent an engineer out within 48 hours when I said my boiler was making a noise louder than it should have (functionality was not affected).

The only downside is warranty is only valid provinding you can prove you get it serviced annually ie a £100/year maintenance cost. They are also the most expensive boilers on the market.

I have a 3 storey 2 bathroom house. All plumbers told me NOT to get a combi but I didn't want a storage water tank so I got a combi 1 year ago and have not regretted it once. It copes fine with 2 showers simultaneously.

heating-eng

roses wrote: »

I have a combi (worcester 440cdi) and the heating does not work at the same time someone in the shower. That it the way combi's work.

I have never had a problem with a cold house as I my showers only last 10 minutes.

Worcester after care is excellent. Always respond to email enquiries within 24 hours, they sent an engineer out within 48 hours when I said my boiler was making a noise louder than it should have (functionality was not affected).

The only downside is warranty is only valid provinding you can prove you get it serviced annually ie a £100/year maintenance cost. They are also the most expensive boilers on the market.

I have a 3 storey 2 bathroom house. All plumbers told me NOT to get a combi but I didn't want a storage water tank so I got a combi 1 year ago and have not regretted it once. It copes fine with 2 showers simultaneously.

you should be able to get the boiler serviced for around £35 - £50 a year ..

NEH

roses wrote: »

I have a combi (worcester 440cdi) and the heating does not work at the same time someone in the shower. That it the way combi's work.

I have never had a problem with a cold house as I my showers only last 10 minutes.

Worcester after care is excellent. Always respond to email enquiries within 24 hours, they sent an engineer out within 48 hours when I said my boiler was making a noise louder than it should have (functionality was not affected).

The only downside is warranty is only valid provinding you can prove you get it serviced annually ie a £100/year maintenance cost. They are also the most expensive boilers on the market.

I have a 3 storey 2 bathroom house. All plumbers told me NOT to get a combi but I didn't want a storage water tank so I got a combi 1 year ago and have not regretted it once. It copes fine with 2 showers simultaneously.

I would say i take longer being a woman but with a name like roses you must be one too...:rotfl:

We have a 3 storey, 2 bathroom house but can't use the upstairs shower as it's only a mains shower and the downstairs one is a power shower and once that's on the upstairs bathroom hot water taps slow to virtually nothing so it does mean when guests are staying we still have to take it in turns having a shower despite there being two bathrooms...

CandleFan

Haven't had any probs with heating not working while using showers - but then we have electric showers, I assume the others weren't?

Yes, the only thing with the 5 year guarantee was that you have to have it serviced yearly, but then should do this anyway - will cost me £45 each time for worcester approved local engineer. (who also fitted system.)

macman

A combi stops heating the CH while the shower is on (unless you have an electric shower). However this is hardly an issue unless someone spends half an hour with the shower on continuously, for a typical 5 minute shower the house is not going to cool down that much.

roses

NEH wrote: »

I would say i take longer being a woman but with a name like roses you must be one too...:rotfl:

We have a 3 storey, 2 bathroom house but can't use the upstairs shower as it's only a mains shower and the downstairs one is a power shower and once that's on the upstairs bathroom hot water taps slow to virtually nothing so it does mean when guests are staying we still have to take it in turns having a shower despite there being two bathrooms...

To have two showers on simultaneously you need a boiler capable of providing a hot water flower rate of 18 minimum.

NEH

macman wrote: »

A combi stops heating the CH while the shower is on (unless you have an electric shower). However this is hardly an issue unless someone spends half an hour with the shower on continuously, for a typical 5 minute shower the house is not going to cool down that much.

Well my husband takes about 10 mins in the shower on a normal day longer if shaving and I take about 20 mins but i have a long term illness and quite often need help and to slow down and I also have long hair so within that half an hour the house does cool down....as i said in the other thread it doesn't help that our bedrooms our downstairs and our main bedroom has 2 and a half exterior walls...

Still marvel at how people have a 5 min shower but usually it's men that don't have the problem of long hair....:rotfl:

macman

But 10 minutes in the shower room (if that's what you meant) probably equates to only 5 minutes in the shower with the water running, which is what's relevant here.
Maybe a survey is called for...