New boiler???

jim8flog

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People seem to be labouring under the impression that once you heat the water in a tank it needs to be used straight away before it gets cold.
Not true. As I said before, modern tanks are so well insulated that losses are minimal. In the year we've been in the house with a combi boiler, we haven't noticed a reduction in gas usage compared to the previous house that had a standard condensing boiler.

Jim makes a good point about being able to reduce the temperature of the water. Hadn't thought of that one.

As said in a similar thread one of the problems with storage tanks and water temperatures is that every time you use some it is being replaced with cold water which cools it down. However because it starts off at 70 degrees you may well not notice the difference as most times the water is used you will be cooling it down with cold water, such as when taking a bath.
 

jim8flog

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But... The combi pumped water at a higher pressure than our old boiler with hot water tank in the attic. The result of this is that if you have old pipwork that has any potential issues then it will hunt them out. We developed a leak in our old pipework as a result of this and had to have it repaired which involved taking part of the wall out to reach the damaged pipe. A real mess.
This will be true of any change from a gravity fed and air vented system to either a combi boiler or a a standard boiler with a hot water tank. I found a couple of radiator valve fittings that needed to be tightened up when I changed mine.

At least going to combi got rid water tanks in the loft and I had a fairly big leak in the loft with the old air vented system.
 

Smiffy

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Depending on your budget, i would reccommend a Valliant 832 Ecotec Plus to be fitted with a Valliant filter and VRT programmable roomstat.
Guy came down this morning to estimate and he's priced the above boiler, Vaillant filter and a Hive controller together with a new shower bar for £4,320.00 all in.
10 year guarantee too.
Cheaper than the quote I had for a Vaillant ecoFit pure 25kw with no mention of the new shower bar...
I've paid the deposit and work starts as soon as we get back from holiday....
 

Canary_Yellow

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Another recommendation for the Vaillant. We have an EcoTec, not sure exactly which model. We inherited it when we bought the house, but it was relatively new. It's probably about 10 years old now.

Our gas engineer's view is that parts are generally pretty good value and therefore it should run for a long time with replacement parts as necessary.

We're a family of 5 with 3 bathrooms so a combi wouldn't be able to cope, and for that reason we have an unvented cylinder. It works well and the cylinder is very heat efficient. A combi is perfect where the demand for hot water is less - we had one at our previous house, (3 bedroom one bathroom) and it was ideal. Particularly where saving the space by not having a tank is more important.
 

Smiffy

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We've a three bedroomed semi, one bathroom and an existing electric shower we use regularly. Very rarely take baths, preferring the shower. Gas hob, electric oven. I think the combi will be perfect for us. I didn't realise that we would have to change the shower though, I've only just had it put in 😢😢😢😢
 
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Guy came down this morning to estimate and he's priced the above boiler, Vaillant filter and a Hive controller together with a new shower bar for £4,320.00 all in.
10 year guarantee too.
Cheaper than the quote I had for a Vaillant ecoFit pure 25kw with no mention of the new shower bar...
I've paid the deposit and work starts as soon as we get back from holiday....
Cushty, a very good price.

Do you need a Hive rob? I'm not a fan and prefer the valliant VRT 350.
 

cliveb

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We've a three bedroomed semi, one bathroom and an existing electric shower we use regularly. Very rarely take baths, preferring the shower. Gas hob, electric oven. I think the combi will be perfect for us. I didn't realise that we would have to change the shower though, I've only just had it put in 😢😢😢😢
Why do you have to change the shower? You say it's an electric one.
We have a combi boiler feeding a normal shower, and the other bathroom has an electric shower which works fine.

(Or do you also have a power shower? It's true that they don't work with combi boilers)
 

Smiffy

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Why do you have to change the shower? You say it's an electric one.
We have a combi boiler feeding a normal shower, and the other bathroom has an electric shower which works fine.

(Or do you also have a power shower? It's true that they don't work with combi boilers)
Because it's fed from the cold water tank in the loft, and that's being removed, along with the tank in the airing cupboard.
 

jim8flog

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(Or do you also have a power shower? It's true that they don't work with combi boilers)
As far as I can see there is no reason a power shower will not work with a combi boiler provided the boiler can output hot water at a fast enough rate. The Vaillant Ecotec boilers heat water at a different rating to that required for heating as far as I understand the literature


Power showers just need the hot and the cold to come from feeds at the same pressure

My own comment was based upon the fact that my water pressure is not good enough.
 

Bunkermagnet

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As far as I can see there is no reason a power shower will not work with a combi boiler provided the boiler can output hot water at a fast enough rate. The Vaillant Ecotec boilers heat water at a different rating to that required for heating as far as I understand the literature


Power showers just need the hot and the cold to come from feeds at the same pressure

My own comment was based upon the fact that my water pressure is not good enough.
I have very good water pressure, and was told you cannot have a power shower with a combi boiler. I can believe that as you still only have the one source of water, which is the mains cold.
 

cliveb

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Because it's fed from the cold water tank in the loft, and that's being removed, along with the tank in the airing cupboard.
Oh right. I'd assumed that electric showers were fed from the mains water. Obviously not always the case.
 

Smiffy

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Have been told that our water flow is pretty good and the new shower should give us a better "blast" than the current one.
We don't have a power shower at the moment, just a Mira Sport with "airboost".
 

jim8flog

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I have very good water pressure, and was told you cannot have a power shower with a combi boiler. I can believe that as you still only have the one source of water, which is the mains cold.
But you would have a cold feed direct from the mains and the hot feed from the boiler.

However theoreticly you would only need one feed from the hot as you can set the hot water temp on the combi boiler.
 

Smiffy

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Well, all done and dusted, everything working as it should. Boiler is now situated in the airing cupboard, leaving an unsightly gap between the base units in the kitchen. Still trying to work out what to do with that! New shower is a lot better, hive thermostat working well, have just ordered an additional one for upstairs.
Work was carried out efficiently by the two lads concerned, very clean and tidy, no problems there at all, and highly recommended.
Now looking at new front door.....😳😳😳😳
 

Bunkermagnet

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Well, all done and dusted, everything working as it should. Boiler is now situated in the airing cupboard, leaving an unsightly gap between the base units in the kitchen. Still trying to work out what to do with that! New shower is a lot better, hive thermostat working well, have just ordered an additional one for upstairs.
Work was carried out efficiently by the two lads concerned, very clean and tidy, no problems there at all, and highly recommended.
Now looking at new front door.....😳😳😳😳
A new piece of kickpanel cut to length? Or that and a cupboard door to act as a blank.
 

chellie

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Well, all done and dusted, everything working as it should. Boiler is now situated in the airing cupboard, leaving an unsightly gap between the base units in the kitchen. Still trying to work out what to do with that! New shower is a lot better, hive thermostat working well, have just ordered an additional one for upstairs.
Work was carried out efficiently by the two lads concerned, very clean and tidy, no problems there at all, and highly recommended.
Now looking at new front door.....😳😳😳😳

Why have you ordered another HIVE thermostat?

We have one and then I can also use the app on my phone.
 

PJ87

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Ahh, we don't have any of those on ours.

I ruled it out on price and I heard they fail a bit.. £50 a pop seemed a bit much when I have say 7 rads to have them. For what id actually want to use a normal trv seemed to be just fine (considering we already have them aswell lol)
 

Smiffy

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A new piece of kickpanel cut to length? Or that and a cupboard door to act as a blank.
Have ordered one of those butchers block things, with wheels on. Perfect width and height, and will hide the new pipes up a treat. Will also give us a little more storage space.
There's also a hole in the wall where the old flue used to go, got to get that filled and plastered.
Getting there......
 
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