Conventional or combination boiler?

cassieeeee

Hi,

We are replacing our entire heating system as the current boiler is about 30 years old, the radiators were huge and had micropipes. There is currently a conventional boiler set up with a hot water tank in the bedroom cupboard and the boiler in the kitchen.

The question I ask is should we just update our boiler and keep the current system, or should we go for a combination boiler?

It is a 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom bungalow and only 2 of us living there. However, we do plan to convert the loft one day and put in another bathroom up there and have a family. Whilst I have been advised that a combi is fine for us now, would it be sufficient in 10 years time? Or are we better off keeping and updating the conventional system? Would this be cheaper to do as well?

One factor to consider is that we want a decent shower and have specially designed the bathroom to fit a seperate shower cubicle - we do not want our efforts to be wasted if the water flow is rubbish. A couple of plumbers have said we have good water pressure and although I do not know the numbers, it comes out of the kitchen tap and splashes up at you and all over the floor!

This is our first renovation project, and indeed first home, so any useful advice would be much appreciated.

Cardew

This debate 'rages' all the time.

The advantage of a combi is mainly the space it saves.

There can be savings in that you heat water as needed instead of storing it in a tank. However the losses from a modern well lagged HW tank are not high - in practice less than 2kWh a day, so perhaps £20 to £30 a year.

EXCEPT

Much of the year that heat isn't wasted as it it warms the fabric of the house.


The downside of combis is their inability to deliver lots of hot water - particularly in winter.

Also depending on the length of pipe runs, you often have to run off a lot of water until the warm water reaches the taps. This is overcome on some combi's by having a small internal HW tank kept heated in the boiler.

I am not a fan of combi's - I have both systems. Others disagree.