Which plumber?

Elphaba2007

I am trying to decide which plumber to use now I've had 3 plumbers come to
my house to quote for a whole new wet central heating system. But they all
say slightly different things and now I'm not sure who to go for!

Background to house: 3 bed mid-terrace with upstairs bathroom, downstairs
loo, lounge-diner and large kitchen partly open-plan with lounge-diner.
Currently has a condemned hot-air system that only provided heat. Hot
water currently comes from an electric immersion heater. The shower is
also electric. I have no plans to replace the electric shower with one
from a new boiler as it works fine and the pressure is good. There is an
electric towel rail in the bathroom.

I am definitely going to remove the hot-air system and replace with
radiators and combi boiler.

Here is a summary of the differences between the plumbers on which I am
basing my decision:

Plumber 1: Glow-worm boiler size 24/30 (he recommended 24 but I told him
to give me a quote for a 30 as I thought 24 too small). 7 radiators
including large one in hall, small one in bathroom, and NOT one in the
kitchen or the downstairs loo.

Plumber 2: Worcester-Bosch size 28 (he recommended 31 on the phone but
then when he saw the house he thought a 28 would be perfectly adequate and I'd never see the benefits of installing a larger one). 8 radiators
including small one in hall, none in bathroom, one in kitchen and one in
downstairs loo.

Plumber 3: Vaillant 28. 8 radiators including none in hall, small one in
bathroom, one in kitchen and one in downstairs loo.

So I guess the main choice is, do I need radiators in the bathroom,
downstairs loo and hall, or just in 2 of those rooms, and if so which two?
The downstairs loo is very small and directly off the hall; would a large
radiator in the hall heat it up enough?

I am still waiting for 2 of the 3 plumbers to send their promised quotes
but ball-park figure for all 3 seems around £4500 - 5300 (is this
reasonable?). Plumber 2 includes plastering over the old hot-air vents in
his quote, which is nearer the top end.

If I got the plumbing all done for £4500, would the spare £800 be enough
to get a plasterer/builder in to sort out the old air vents separately?

Thank you for taking the time to read this! And sorry if I posted it in the wrong forum, I thought it fitted here better than 'Is this quote fair'.

EliteHeat

So the difference comes down to location of radiators?

You can always tell them where you want them. And, if it's worth anything, I would definitely have one in the hall.

andrew-b

Personally i'd want to have a rad in as many rooms as possible. If you dont put rads in all rooms now you could always add them at a later date (assuming the boiler you choose has spare power output for it)..although it seems more sensible to do it all at once.

I think you should decide exactly where you would like rads then go back to your 3 plumbers and ask them for a revised quote. Also i'd ask plumber 2 for a quote excluding filling in the vents and deal with that as a seperate issue. Is filling the vents something you could do yourself?

Andy

cattie

I wouldn't consider not having a radiator in the bathroom.

If it were me the bath rad would be essential, as would the hall & the downstairs wc. In my last house there was no rad in the downstairs wc & it was like an icebox during cold winters.

Rads don't cost an awful lot & it's better to have sufficient radiators than pay out for new ch only to find later that you could have done with siting them in rooms you chose not too.

As Eliteheat says, it should be you who makes the final decision on where you want radiators sited.

Elphaba2007

This is quite an old thread now, but I've been faffing around trying to decide and finally did go with the more expensive plumber who will put in more radiators and Worcester-Bosch.

Filling in the air vents isn't really something I want to tackle myself because some are on brick work and involve matching bricks, cement etc etc.

Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you to those who responded.