Anybody know about combi boilers?

Doozergirl

What is your plan for this house? Does it needs rewiring? I'm trying to establish the condition of the house and your backstory for it. If it's in less than perfect condition then you have false economies as you're going to need to replaster and reskim anyway.

Anyone buying it one day is going to see nasty trunking and pipes which scream 'cheap job' and the cost of doing it properly is the cost of doing most of it again. If I were buying, I'd be looking for where other corners had been cut. Plumbers make some damage to walls, but not that much - they should running under floors, mainly.

Ader1

The kitchen needs re-plastering and skiming. The rest of the house is lime-plastered and in good condition but may need a skim to get it looking a little better. Having recently removed the skirting, I found that partinioned walls have a gap from the floor a few inches high which is hidden by the skirting. I'm sure that many pipes will be able to be hidden behind this. The whole house needs re-wiring.

Doozergirl

Is this your first time renovating and is there wallpaper on the walls to be stripped?

If this house needs a full re-wire, full replumb and is old enought to have lime plaster, it is almost inevitable that plaster is going to start falling off with the wallpaper.

I don't think you're going to save anything by trying to lay piping over. First thing for you to do is rip everything out that you can and start from a point where you know you are building onto a solid starting point.

Start stripping the walls down before you commission the plumbing or you'll be redoing work over new pipes.

bridgedino

Mice / rats love plastic pipes. Bad news for you if they're buried inside walls.

Worth bearing in mind if you live next to a corn field or are aware of nearby rodents

MX5huggy

Seems pricey, but how big is the house? On the first floor I would expect the pipes to be under floor board, and the same down if you have suspended floors, with maybe one pipe drop. Otherwise you really do need have the pipes buried in the walls but don't get the plumber to make good, i have never met a plumber who could do this satisfactorily.

Ader1

It's a 3 bed house with bathroom, a kitchen, a sitting room and an utilty room and a small hall-way. I've telephoned another engineer to give me a third quote.

unclebulgaria

Alder1 unless you're planning to have dot and dab plasterwork done it wont be possible to hide 15mm copper piping under plaster work anyway. By the time its clipped it will sit about 25/30mm to the clip top off the brickwork. If its fitted with nailed clips you'll have to protect the copper piping everywhere its buried with tape to stop corrosion. You could bury microbore copper under the plasterwork but will still have to tape it up but, its a pain if you don't keep the central heating circuit clean as it blocks quite readily over time. Plastic piping is ok if its installed properly, it sometimes ticks during warm up which annoys people but, if they use this I would expect a lower labour bill as its very quick to install even though the plastic fittings can be a tad expensive, also make sure they're not installing it to suit themselves and not you as it means they get to finish quicker. Plastic piping also allows them to pull up less flooring during install which is a positive for both of you. The fittings do occasionally leak but a decent plumber will have checked the installation with a dry pressure test anyway. The boilers you've been quoted aren't bad boilers but you will find lots of us plumbers will have our own favs. Make sure the people who have quoted have tested your water pressure and flow rate on the cold water main at standing pressure and working pressure. If you have a great flow rate going for a slightly bigger KW will allow you to run your hot tap faster. Heating does not run at single figure KW unless its already hot or your radiators have started to shut down using the thermostatic rad valves. A small combi will manage 12 radiators easily but may struggle with a fast flowing hot water tap.

rustyboy21

We had a WB 32cdi fitted 4 years ago and had plastic piping done throughout the house. We have a cellar and an attic though so all the pipes are hidden under floorboards or in cellar.


Is a great boiler and no issues with pipes too. Had to change water pipes also as they were lead and water tasted horrible. Now water is perfect.

BristolS

Did either check your incoming water flow rate?
One may have sized the boiler based on that reading