What heating system?

CashisKing

Current system:
Glowworm fuelsaver F boiler (circa 1988 but very reliable)
Open vented system with tank & 16 radiators
1 ensuite shower (very feeble pressure) & 1 family bath


I wish to have:
14 radiators + wet underfloor heating in kitchen diner incorporating a new extension.
1 ensuite shower & family bath with shower over with decent pressure.

My choices seem to be:
A) Change to an unvented system (in which case do I have to change the boiler?)
Fit 1/2 pumps for the showers and add the UFH to the existing system

Any ideas?

gas4you

Personally if you have a minimum of 20 l/m flow on the cold mains and 3.5 Bar cold mains pressure, I would always go for the unvented option.

You do not have to have your boiler replaced, but may have to have extra controls added to the system depending what you have now.

Main unvented cylinders are at a very good price. They are the same as the Santons, but with less warranty, although made in the same factory.

baistow

Hi, we have a holiday home, no mains gas in the area, cant fit oil filled tank - no garden. Electric the only choice, what is the best to fit? We have a boiler (new) Ariston Classico 125 Litre Direct Cylinder STD125.

We also have a wood burning stove in place but this is only used when we are there at the house, infrequently.

Not sure what the best radiators or hang on the wall heaters to use to at a cost effective price.

Andy_WSM

baistow wrote: »

Not sure what the best radiators or hang on the wall heaters to use to at a cost effective price.

All electric heating has the same efficiency - 100%.

A cheaper to run solution would be a heat pump - these can be 300 or 400% efficient.

As it's a holiday home though it may not be financially viable to invest in heat pumps for short term use.

bengasman

If you are getting works done, now is probably a good time to change the boiler for a 21st century model. ( your current 80's model won't STAY very reliable)
Doing it now will be a lot more convenient than doing two separate jobs. It will also be less expensive than separate jobs (at least it should be)
And personally, as an installer I would be very hesitant to add a modern UFH section to an open vent system dating back to the 80's.

Pincher

I had virtually the identical set up in a five bedroom house.

Weak shower from open vented loft tank set up. It's easily solved by putting in a three bar pump. The booster pump has flow sensors, so you can connect it for only the shower, but it's quite diffucult to find a place so you can have maintenance access, so we put the pump next to the hot water cylinder. The only problem is the noise from the pump. I put in a countdown timer for the pump at the entrance to the shower room, so it only comes on when I want it to. You can't have an on/off switch in a bathroom, but you can put in a ceiling switch, with a pull cord. The problem with that is, people forget to switch it off. The loft tank pressure is good enough for filling the bath, so nothing needs to be done. Make sure the main distribution pipework is 22mm if you are replacing old pipework.

We dug up the concrete floor in the kitchen to put in underfloor heating. The pipe must not run under the cabinets, because food will spoil. Don't heat under the fridge, for obvious reasons.
Because you should only heat the exposed floor area, the heating pipe run is not too long, you don't need a separate pump. We basically pretend the pipe run is a radiator, and installed a wall mounted TRV valve. The TRV must not be directly above the heated floor, because it will shut down the flow too early. It is simpler to put in a manual valve, to limit the flow, just like a regular radiator. This means the flow through the pipe is NOT low temperature, which normal UFH should use. The pipe can take it, so can the concrete and tiles, but you must not do this if you had wooden floorboards. You must have adequate insulation underneath (we have 100mm Thermobloc=Kingspan) and at the walls, otherwise the heat just get lost into the earth and via the walls.

baistow

Thanks for the replys. The boiler is brand new! We put it in to allow power showers direct from mains. I dont want to spend too much money as we hardly use the house, but we need something to stop the smell of mustiness!

Pincher

baistow wrote: »

Thanks for the replys. The boiler is brand new! We put it in to allow power showers direct from mains. I dont want to spend too much money as we hardly use the house, but we need something to stop the smell of mustiness!

You need to put in some sort of permanent trickle vent.

The heating will not be on when you are not in.