New Gas Boiler help

littlemoney

I am considering replacing my 40 year old gas boiler with pilot light and hot water tank. I have to have hot water on even when I only want heating. There is no room thermostat control, only TRV on the radiators (which don't work very well) and a timer for on and off.

I know nothing about this nor what I should have/need. What questions should I asked when I get someone to give me a quote.any help/guidance would be appreciated. Thanks

CSI_Yorkshire

A first question for you to think about, and possibly get the opinion of people coming to quote, is do you still want a hot water tank?

oldernonethewiser

Are you looking to replace what you have with a combi boiler? 

No stored hot water.

FreeBear

Second question is - Do you want the boiler in the same location ?

If you want it relocated, that will bump the cost up, and there will be restrictions on where it can be located (mainly do to the proximity of windows & doors). I would advise against putting it in the loft or in a garage if you have one - Both locations could freeze during the winter which means setting the boiler to automatically fire up from time to time when the temperature falls below 5°C. Wasteful on gas, and a waste of heat. Stuff stored in lofts or garages also run the risk of being soaked in condensation, which won't do the electronics inside a boiler any good.

With a 40 year old boiler, you should consider replacing some (or all) of the radiators, and perhaps increase the size of them - Bigger radiators means you can run the boiler at a lower temperature and thus gain a little more efficiency out of it.

BUFF

How much hot water do you need & are you happy with the existing dhw flow rate & pressure? Do you live on your own, do you take baths or showers (if showers for how long) & how long do you intend to stay in this building?
The answers to these may inform whether you will want to replace like for like/with an unvented dhw storage tank or with a combi.

If you can afford it, at 40 years old it may well be worth complete system renewal (see post above about larger/higher output rads to allow boiler to condense better by running at lower flow temp.) especially if in a hard water area as the pipes & rads may also have scale etc. build up.
Any installation is going to require a room stat./controller [that ideally can use advanced modulation (Opentherm or similar)] & TRVs to meet current standards.

Also, ask installers about warranties - some manufacturers will have free warranty extensions (possibly up to 12 years) if installed by manufacturer approved installers (& subject to annual servicing).

blinko

lord a 40 year old boiler, I can't imagine that's the most efficient , what I had done in my place is I had all that and the water tank removed and had a combi boiler installed. I got more space as no need for water tank and also had hot water on demand.



you'll get a thermostat involved which will allow you to control radiators separately. 

post more questions here and we can help you but definitely a combi boiler based system is what you want

CSI_Yorkshire

blinko said:

but definitely a combi boiler based system is what you want

Completely disagree with such a blanket statement.

Consider a combi boiler, but by no means assume that it is the correct or only option.

FreeBear

BUFF said: If you can afford it, at 40 years old it may well be worth complete system renewal (see post above about larger/higher output rads to allow boiler to condense better by running at lower flow temp.) especially if in a hard water area as the pipes & rads may also have scale etc. build up.

In a hard water area here - After ripping out the old heating system & HW tank, there was surprisingly little scale in any of it. I suspect, in part due to the fact that the system was never run at full temperature (70-80°C). There was quite a bit of sludge in the radiators that were removed though..

One advantage of replacing the heating system entirely is that it gives you the opportunity to rationalise the pipework and future proof it for the day when a heat pump is the only option. Using 22mm or even 28mm pipes for the feed & return is prudent. And if you have good quality double double glazing along with a decent level of insulation, radiators can be moved to internal walls (no need to have them under windows).

twopenny

Someone told me about they replaced with an Eco Boiler and how much their bills had gone down.
Unfortunately she could give me no more detail and I was going to ask on here.

I have to disagree about the efficiency of a 40 yr old boiler. I had one and my bills were cheaper than friends newer systems and the little new one I have now. A heating engineer confirmed that a,good one was indeed, good.

subjecttocontract

Consider that if you do not have a hot water storage tank you are unlikely to benefit from any free hot water from a future solar panel installation.

BUFF

twopenny said:

Someone told me about they replaced with an Eco Boiler and how much their bills had gone down.
Unfortunately she could give me no more detail and I was going to ask on here.

I have to disagree about the efficiency of a 40 yr old boiler. I had one and my bills were cheaper than friends newer systems and the little new one I have now. A heating engineer confirmed that a,good one was indeed, good.

A 40 year old boiler is going to be potentially nowhere near as efficient (at a rough guess 60% vs 90% when  new) as a modern condensing boiler if that is run properly.
However, many modern condensing boiers are not run in a way to maximise their efficiency.