Combination boiler in a 4 bed semi

ispookie666

Previously when I was renting. Had a new combi boiler fit in by the owner (the old one was 10 yrs old). Both of them had the same problem - when its just the shower, every thing is fine. The moment you open up any other tap - the shower switched from hot to cold to hot to cold. It was just a nightmare. May be its the water pressure. PS: it was a 2 bed flat with a single bath and toilet.

In my current home - four bed with two bathrooms,3 toilets, plenty of taps, it had a conventional central heating, hot water cylinder (recently replaced). I can run as many taps as needed and eveyrthing works fine.

cyclonebri1

ds1980 wrote: »

firstly im certainly no expert and have ridiculous mains pressure tbh. I only have the stop !!!! on a quarter turn. My views are based on ive either done it, have it or seen it first hand generally. Ive only ever had combis when growing up and in dozens of houses ive owned/lived in over the years. Never had an issue except recently but that was a boiler fault not anything else. Im sure there are good reasons to choose a cylinder or whatever but to completely shun them seems like nonsense to me. As you can see i live with one in a situation everyone seems to tell me is not possible so you can make your own mind up. I also fitted all the pipework, rads etc myself which i was told wasn't the best idea but 6 years in everything still works and never had a leak. The powerflush comment is the same, most people will say youll need one but again that's generally nonsense based on my experience (nothing else). I've never had one on any boiler ive ever had installed on any properties and never had an issue. Again there's probably a need in certain jobs but nowhere near as many that seem to get done or i hear about it seems. Find someone you trust, get a price you are happy with and do as they say but im always cautious over things thatll cost me more money and i cant find conclusive evidence of it being required.

You sound like me, I fitted the complete combi system over 17 years ago along with all the plumbing, I gutted my present home. It never saw a repairman or had a cert in all that time. Was only serviced once.

This year I had it removed, and a replacement that I mentioned earlier, another combi but condensing this time. I had it installed by a gas safe chappy simply because we may move in the next few years and given current requirements I wanted the paperwork to be in order.

Told him to expect the worst as it's last service was about 10 years before. He said "it's probably fine", and when he took it apart, I was re-selling it so he took care, it was. We got into the conversation about powerflushing. He said he simply looked at the water quality when draining and advised from there.
Mine had been drfained every 2 or 3 years as routine, and had radflush then fernox added. The water was fine and it didn't get flushed well, not powerflushed.

I may have been lucky to get a reliable boiler, but the install was done to the book and also the plumbing.

I too have water pressure that is of the scale.

What I'm saying is in agreement with the above poster, go with your own experience and find an installer who actually uses his brain before making blanket statements.

Seronera

Well I'm always in favour of 'each to their own' but i'd be tempted to say that the majority of people who work every day with heating and gas appliances would opt by preference to a system with a cylinder in preference to a combi for their own property, and I'd include myself in that group.

I'm not sure where the hype is supposed to come in as we can probably make more money putting combis in as its usually a lot quicker. Also its dangerous to generalise about the merits of a powerflush as I've seen enough new combis wrecked for the lack of one. In fact the Worcester 28i combi I serviced this morning was only one year old, yet required a new hot water heat exchanger at 6 months as it became clogged due to not being flushed properly. Luckily Worcester took that hit under warranty, but I see no good reason why they should have.

I can see the attraction of combis and have lived in two houses with them and they are ever so convenient and compact. The trouble comes when they stop working, and boy, do they stop working. In those circumstances in my house daily life is barely interrupted as we flick on the immersion and use an electric heater or two until the boiler is fixed.

I think there is a qualitative difference worth having when you keep a cylinder, but that is just my opinion and I'm not going to attempt a religious conversion of those who prefer a combi. Life is too short.

AVERAGEJOE_2

Few ways to go .. worcester 440i floor standing 20ltr per min flow combi nice boiler.. Or vailiant 937 combi 20ltr per min but this boiler has a 50ltr store built in so high demand can be met by having a few bathrooms large units but very nice boiler and highy recomend .
Or go system route system boiler + unvented cylinder 200/300ltr storage and have as much hot water as you could ever use plus you can fit shower pump with this route if you like a power shower feel.