New boiler. Have i considered all essential bits?

[ranj]

Hi fellow edugeekers

 

Hoping someone can advise?

 

I currently have an Ariston combi boiler which isnt working fully, having already spent a considerable amount of money trying to get it repaired it hasnt worked so am looking for a new combi boiler to be fitted when the weather gets a bit better.

 

The current issues are lack of hot water, pressure build up on boiler and at the moment i am having to drain the system down periodically. In the last 6 months a replacement expression vessel has been installed as well as a replacement pressure relief valve. These two parts havent fixed the problem. The heating is working ok. The boiler has been on the premises over 15 years. The last person i had in said initially he didnt feel we needed a new boiler however having replaced a part which hasnt solved the problem he now thinks its not worth spending more money on it

 

So at the moment my thinking is a new boiler. With a young family as well and when the Boiler last went down it was a very difficult period. As it does it went down at the worst possible time with the weather taking a turn for the worst.

 

I am also looking to move the new boiler into the Garage, the gas feed into the house is very close to where the new boiler location as well as the current boiler location which is in the kitchen isnt too far from the garage so there shouldnt be a huge amount of work to redirect the pipework. There is a flat roof on the garage which should be suitable for the flue. The rationalle in moving is in the future we planning on doing an extension in the kitchen, in the current location it would need to be moved.

 

As its going in the garage do i need to consider other factors? It does get cold in there. i would like insultation on the pipework to prevent any freezing. We also currently dont have a magna clean solution on current but would like this installed as part of any works. Is this essential? There are in total 10 radiators. All of the smaller kind but are double radiators. Majority are pretty old. Would say certainly over 25 years old but all are working fine. As part of the work's i been advised to flush of the existing system before new boiler is installed. Is this done anyway?

 

In terms of boiler manufacturers i wish to stick with one of the more highly rated ones such as valliant or worcester bosch, both of these brands are constantly receiving high praise having spoken to many people and reading many articles and forums and decided i just going to take the hit and hopefully it pays off, also installing a suitable boiler to handle the pressure and demands. We plan to in the future install a downstairs toilet and basin as well as a shower which will be ran of the combi.

 

Finally i am looking to replace the existing thermostat with a more inteligent wireless one which i can control from a mobile device.

 

Does anyone advise on anything else i should consider when looking for a replacement, your thoughts are appreciated...

 

Many thanks

[3s-gtech]

You’ve thought through most things I can think of. Magnaclean is definitely worth having - more important for new rads but still a good thing. You’ll need to run the condensate pipe into a waste outlet, and that’ll need to be lagged too. I was going to go for a Worcester Bosch, but was convinced to have an Ideal and I like it a lot. Nice piece of kit.

[elsiegee40]

Worcester Bosch comes with a ten year guarantee as long as it is serviced annually.

 

Yes, you will need a drain for the condensate from the boiler.

 

If fitted in the garage the fitter will want to install a frost-stat too to ensure the boiler fires if it gets too cold (assuming the boiler doesn’t have one built in)

 

+1 for Magnaclean

 

Boilers vent through a wall not a chimney/ceiling these days.

 

How old is your hot water tank if you have one? We replaced ours at the same time due to its antiquity.

Edited February 6, 2019 by elsiegee40

[webman]

What's the diameter of the gas pipe from your meter into your boiler/does it change? We recently had to install a new boiler, and the previous one was 15mm but new installs require 22mm.

 

Current Gas Safe regulations state that a 22mm supply pipe must be fitted from the combi boiler to the meter. It may also have to be upgraded to 28mm and 35mm in sections if the gas line is a particularly long distance, has many bends and turns in the route it takes or services many appliances.

 

A lot of old, non-combi boilers were fitted with a 15mm gas supply pipe as this was all they needed to heat the water via the hot water cylinder slowly over an hour or so.

 

(https://www.superwarm.co.uk/combi-boilers-why-you-may-need-to-upgrade-your-gas-pipes/)

 

Thankfully the pipe reduced from 22 to 15 only a few metres away in the roof void, but it could have involved ripping up half the floors... something to check!

 

The boiler we got was a Baxi Platinum with a wireless digital room thermostat.

[MatthewL]

If you are keeping existing piping and radiators get them to power flush the system and then install the magnaclean.

 

I've got issues with my combi at the moment, its around 12 years old and have intermittent issues with hot water, could be PCB or diverter valve, always works when plumber comes around, takes me a few resets but does fix. He said he would just be chucking money away best bet to try and get a few years out and then replace.

 

Different plumbers seem to favour different brands, key thing to look at is the warranty on them, some are doing 12 year now.

[ranj]

 

Yes, you will need a drain for the condensate from the boiler.

 

If fitted in the garage the fitter will want to install a frost-stat too to ensure the boiler fires if it gets too cold (assuming the boiler doesn’t have one built in)

 

+1 for Magnaclean

 

 

Boilers vent through a wall not a chimney/ceiling these days.

 

How old is your hot water tank if you have one? We replaced ours at the same time due to its antiquity.

 

Thank you

 

That's fine we do have a drain close by for the vent.

 

I Thought there were options for a flue to be on a roof?

 

I dont have a hot water tank. Just a combi setup.

[elsiegee40]

I Thought there were options for a flue to be on a roof?

 

 

Not that I am aware of. Condensing boilers have a fan flue and that goes to a wall not the ceiling. I’m not a boiler engineer and I may be wrong.

 

EDIT

The jury is out... you need to ring a boiler engineer and ask!

Edited February 7, 2019 by elsiegee40

[Achandler]

I'd be sceptical about how good the 10 year warranties actually are, they sound to much like the extended used car warranties you buy, where everything is a a replaceable part or an excuse of, oh we don't make that part any more so it's not covered...

 

That valve, that's a replaceable part, that bit broke because your radiator internals broke down to much, so your system was full of gunk, so it's not covered.

 

I have a Viessmann boiler, it has a rubber pipe in it which attracts all the gunk (not by design), which then means all the gunk is essentially inside the boiler and then gets into the heat exchange plate and eventually it needs replacing. Replacing/ cleaning the pipe or replacing the heat exchanger aren't covered in the warranty as Veissmann say it isn't a design flaw. However, on the newer models of the same boiler, this pipe has been replaced by a copper one instead, which doesn't attract the gunk and then doesn't cause the problem... So the none problem has been fixed.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

With regards to flues, you can have them out a roof if you want, my parents is.

[ChrisH]

I have read that boilers that support Opentherm will work better with the smart stuff as it gives it more control over the heating rather than all or nothing type scenario.

[MatthewL]

I am currently looking at 2 flu's out the roof from boilers in attic space from my window.

[LeMarchand]

Ours packed up on the day before Xmas Eve! (Luckily we have a separate immersion heater that we keep for emergencies and a gas fire in the living room).

 

The people we contacted both included the Powerflush and Magnaclean as part of their "standard" work. Both were Worcester Bosch shops, and the model recommended comes with a wireless thingie - the person we have picked is upgrading it to a Hive device. Definitely worth getting more than one firm around as there was quite a price difference for what seems to be the same work, though we may have got some sort of "recommendation discount" from the guy we picked as our normal guy (who's retiring soon and not taking on bigger jobs) is affiliated to him.

[Andrew_C]

I Thought there were options for a flue to be on a roof?

Yep, mines upstairs and vents through the loft to the roof.

 

Just had a service, and guy was v please it was Valient. Says they are good, and easy to work on if required.

[Michael]

I've had a Worcester Bosch for years and recently a Google Nest thermostat - manage everything from your phone, it's great!!

[witch]

Daughter just sorting out changing boiler - and the previous comment about pipe size caught them out too - best check

[Mr_Jiminy]

The boiler we got was a Baxi Platinum with a wireless digital room thermostat.

 

Snap, can't fault it.

Comes with a 10 year warranty

[Homer]

WB are OK but make sure you get it serviced annually and not just a flue gas analysis, a proper service to make sure everything is OK. I'd recommend Baxi, Vaillant and ATAG above WB however with ATAG being the most expensive ones.

 

Make sure the system is power flushed properly, if you have any really old rads it would be worth upgrading them as you would be able to run the water at a lower temperature but still heat the rooms (saving money) and the chances of them sludging the new system up are small.

 

Make sure there is specification for a filter, and possibly de-aeration devices as well and this will keep the system clean. WB (and I think the others) require a filter on the system to be compliant with the guarantee.

 

You can have vertical flue options and your fitter will be able to discuss this with you to make sure the location is suitable, a frost stat is required to run the system if it gets too cold and make sure the condense pipework is run in larger than 22mm diameter pipe and lagged.

 

Above all else, don't use British Gas and don't accept the cheapest quote! British Gas just sub their work out, and if you go for something too cheap you'll likely end up with a rubbish installation.

 

Good luck!