Central heating/boiler upgrade, advice please!

GSDog

I'm in the process of completely renovating a bungalow and the current central heating system is very old so will need upgrading.

The bungalow currently only has one bathroom but we are planning to make it into a 4 bed house with 3 bathrooms in the near future. For those reasons I have been told that it makes sense to have a sealed system boiler which will allow us to remove the tanks in the loft (which will be converted).

What are the best branded sealed system boilers and hot water storage tanks? I want one which will be reliable and hopefully with a decent warranty should it go wrong.

Is it usually cheaper/better to buy the boiler and tank myself online instead of through a plumber, or should I just let the plumber order all of the equipment needed? I like to get the best deals on everything but don't want to really complicate things.

Lastly, I haven't yet received a quote and wanted to know roughly how much it'll cost to have a partial replumb and to install a new sealed system boiler and water tank. It's a 2 bed bungalow with one bathroom, kitchen, lounge and dining room. I know you wouldn't be able to give me an accurate figure without knowing more, but very roughly how much should it cost?

Many thanks in advance.

Pincher

2 bed 1 bath into 4 bed 3 bath?

I'm in a semi-detached two story bungalow, 5 bed 3 bath.

The Boiler Scrappage scheme prompted me into spending £4,000
on a boiler upgrade from an open vented to a sealed system.
The boiler was only £800, but the mains pressure hot water cylinder was £1,100 (250 litre Megaflo). Don't underestimate the smaller bits: there are a lot of them. How many TRVs? Even at £10 a pair, you are looking at over a hundred pounds for all the radiators.

Do the upstairs with under floor heating pipes.
It's really quick if the floorboards are already up.
Just make sure all your downstairs ceiling electrics are finished before you start with the UFH. That is what you meant by "partial re-plumb", I presume. Don't forget the five core cable for room thermostats. They go to the manifold.

GSDog

Thanks.

I know I started this thread a month ago now but we've been a bit delayed what with the weather and Christmas, etc. However, we now want to shoot ahead with the plumbing.

We probably won't be converting the bungalow into a 4 bed/3 bath for a while yet, or we might not even end up doing it at all depending on what the market does. However, we'd definitely like to have a sealed system installed to get rid of all the tanks in the loft, etc.

Our budget is up to about £3,500, though we aim to spend a lot less than this if possible - we should be able to remove the existing tanks and pipes ourselves to save money. We'd like a new sealed system boiler and tank fitted, as well as new radiators, pipes to the radiators and any other necessary items.

What I really need to know now is what boiler and cylinder to get and whether it's a good idea to order it myself online and get the plumber to fit it, or just let the plumber order the whole lot. I'm guessing I'll save money by ordering it all myself? I don't know exactly what I need though.

Pincher

I went through this stuff earlier in the year, and posted quite a few stories already.

Looking back, I didn't have to go for a pressurised system boiler.
Open vented is less hassle because you don't have all the expansion pressure vessel, pressure relief valve and annual maintenance check. Even with open vented, you can still get mains pressure hot water by using the Gledhill thermal store.

The Gledhill copper store corrodes from limescale attack due to the higher temperature it maintains. Leaks after ten years, as a whole complex of apartments found out. I recommend a cylinder tray with a water alarm. To reduce the effect of lime scale, I would also put in an electronic descaler where the mains come into the house.

Unless you have ridiculously good pressure, you can't supply three showers simultaneously from one cylinder. I have two cylinders. One is mains pressure (2.2 bar) and supplies the kitchen and en-suite, the other one is loft tank fed, and supplies two bathrooms and two additional face basins: the hot and cold go through a 3 bar booster pump. You cannot pump mains water directly, and the buffer tank is effectively a loft tank, except it's not in the loft, so I might as well have a loft tank.

The loft tank also alleviates the limited flow problem if you still have the smaller bore (15mm) supply pipe from the pavement.

macman

Buying your own kit is really not a good idea where CH is concerned. Even assuming that you can find an RGI who is willing to do an install only (which won't be easy, as they get perks from the boiler manufacturers for spec'ing their products), then should you get problems within the warranty period you will be in a 3 cornered fight between installer and manufacturer-each will blame the other and you will be stuck in the middle.

gas4you

I fit customer supplied boilers, but make it clear that I offer NO warranty of any kind on anything I haven't supplied.

GSDog

That's interesting to know, thanks. I'll probably get them to supply it all then.

Is there anything I can do to help reduce the cost? I don't mind getting my hands dirty and would consider removing all of the existing tanks and pipe work in the loft myself to help save on labour costs.

I'm going to phone a couple of local plumbers tomorrow and get some quotes.

gas4you

No harm in you stripping all old stuff out, makes it easier for the installer, but don't be surprised how little it would save off the total cost, maybe only around a £100 or so.