Boilers, Radiators and Quotes!

Siting a combi-boiler in the ‘correct’ place is an art. The first item is the positioning of the flue. Many older installations can no longer be reproduced due to new carbnn monoxide risk legislation. The second more subtle problem is the boiler condensate blow-down line. This effluent has a high concentration of dissolved acids, and if improperly routed can either dissolve mortar/cement or get frozen solid – if the latter your boiler stops working in the middle of winter. If poorly routed it can also get into problems with air-locks. I know of at least two friends who have found themselves tearing their hair out over their combi-boiler. breakdowns

Bottom-line not a job for a ‘Gas Safe’ cowboy, find someone with a good reputation (not necessarily BG as they have been known to occasionally employ incompetents just like any other large organization).

Stevie, while I understand your concern the regulations are in part a sop to the environmental lobby (mainly the ‘mental’ part) and partially to the lax way that some installations were killing people. The new equipment does need very careful positioning, but I do not think a working boiler should ever simply be junked to ‘save money’. From the studies that I did it should only ever be replaced when it is clearly end of life. The payback has to be reduced by the cost of servicing, both human and the money servicing. A possible saving of say £300pa less servicing costs, less the costs of servicing the financial outlay will rarely come out to a positive result. Positioning the boiler on an outside wall with a suitable location with respect to drainage and winds together with the plumbing is always something of a trade off. The requirement for flues to be sealed against leaks, yet be accessible for maintaining was directly the result of poisoning cases. Old flues can be lined (and old ones usually should be whatever is being done), but that does cause an issue with the need for visual inspections. Wood burning stoves have started to be a threat if not correctly installed.

I checked out our recent boiler. Bear in mind all houses are different and this one is about 25 years old and does have more insulation than it was built with but we have a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 24Ri with a rated output of 24kW. It is a five bed house with two main bathrooms and a cloakroom and the boiler is far from stretched to keep us warm. You may need a higher peek output for a combi-boiler due to it having to meet the instantaneous demand for water, we have the hot water storage tank to buffer the system. I am sorry that I do not have any planning guidance to point out the differences. We have 17 radiators suggesting that Steve’s suggestion of 1.5kW per rad is about the right point, (17*1.5kW is 25.5 kW); three radiators are towel rails. not all radiators are the same size and some may have been installed to produce a more even heat distribution in several rooms.

It is worth checking the existing insulation as this has a good payback if it needs to be improved, a day’s DIY can reap wonders.

Loft insulation is cheap and you can never have enouth. You can or could, get gov grants to cover the cost, or prtial cost, for both cavity and loft insulation. Though this may be on a county basis.

Sadly my house being over 100 has no cavities, and with lost insolation being so cheap, I never bother looking into the grant in my area.

About every second or third  year since I’ve lived here, I’ve added to the loft, Xmas gone being the last, and I think 6th layer. I boarded over it, or as usual, 2/3s done. Need to get back up there and lay the final 3rd.

Ironically for this thread, it’s the old header tank that stopped me, I ran out of time on the run up to Xmas, I literally worked upto Xmas eve evening. And had to put all the stuff, I had in the lounge back in the loft. As usual I never got started again once the festivities was over.

<i>Sounds like a plane. Get your self a nest thermostat or one of the salus wireless jobbies, they learn from your habits and you can adjust them on the fly. I have an old Salus wireless one, would like a newer more clever but they are a little steep. If I was getting the heating fitted I’d defo go for one. Well I did at the time and got one of the best avalible, but 8 years is along time. </i>

Alot of companies do the the smart thermostat now, so look around. Honeywell, hive, nest, Salus plus many more. All seem to be in the £100to 200 bracket.

Mine is around £30 now. Which I think is good value. It’s really simple to use, basically program the times you want to to come on, but add exceptions if the tempts above a set value it won’t come on. It’s wireless, so you can move the actual control unit around with you, untill you find the best fit for you.

You may also be intrested I’m smart valves for each rad, that they are quite expensive, I think Yi’s Xiomai ones are about £60 each, normal vales are around a tenner. Bit then you can set values for each room, so you can heat just the rooms you need, at the given set values. The £60 is probly a good investment, if a costly one. On your case £540 minus £90 (cost of standard ones that have been costed in). Maybe easier to stomach if you take BG quotes as the yard stick, but take the 3.8k offer up, boosting it to 4.4k.

I’m just chucking ideas about. I’m sure you have a referb list that far outstrips your purse at this point. We have had our house almost 15 years and its still not done, sadly they never are as long as you have a women!

Update these look good, they have Ifttt integration so you could set Google assistant or amazon elexa up to operate them, ie “turn lounge rad up to 18 degrees” or “turn all rads to winter mode” that sound quite cool.

I’m geek, I don’t need half the stuff I buy. Does anyone need a £700 phone? A £2400 mac book (once was) pro, or even a £1000 win laptop? not really. Do I need my lights to be wifi controlled? Of course I do, why wouldn’t I?

On a serious no, we do not nt need wifi controlled valve thermostat, we don’t really need central heating, we evolved for about a 50k years (or 4k if you subscribe to the bible) with out it. I have this argument with the he wife often. If we wouldn’t of had the last child, it’s doubtful we would of had central heating g installed. We was fine for the first 7 years with out it. Just put on an extra layer in the winter.

But i did say I was just Spit balling ideas. Letting him know what is out there. I’d say a wireless control unit is a must. It may an less wiring channels in the walles on installation, and it can be moved if you spend more time in the kitchen,loumge or upstairs. So for the extra £20 of the Salus one I have pays for it’s lf and five fold once you take labour to route the wire, and he cost of cable, which will be anywhere from £10 to £30 depending on where you want it, plus the time and effort he will need to pit the he wall right and decorate it. Thou I’d imagine the decoration will be needed anyhow. But a £30 Salus I linked to would be the bare minimum I’d expect.

I’m with Steve on the wireless control panel, when the heating had to be re-done at mum’s place (all the pipes, internal and external and new boiler) it was £150 in parts + 1 days labour to put a conventional wired panel in the location of the old one, £40 for a wireless one and I fitted it in the location of the old one.

It runs on 2 (iirc) CR2032 so there’s a load of them in the drawer that’s nearest to it but not needed to change the battery yet (9 months +).  Range is also pretty damn good, mum has in the past taken it into the garden and switched the heating on before she comes in for good.

I always thought bigger was better but that isn’t always the case.  My boiler is too big for the house (well, radiators anyway) and it often turns off every 10 mins because the return feed is too hot, i.e. tge boiler is too powerfull or radiators are rubbish.

bG are well know for being double what you should really pay (same as safestyle windows)