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Should I replace my conventional boiler with a combi?

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If you’ve just purchased a new house, your current boiler has divided or maybe the boiler that you’ve is more than twelve years old, then you definitely should perhaps look into an alternative. Combi boilers are great, as they offer space heating in addition to drinking water on demand – you are able to eliminate the warm water tank.

If you’ve a regular heat only boiler is it really worth making the change?
Your current heating system

To begin with, it’s essential to set the existing heating system you’ve and the kind of arrangement you’re searching for. This can impact on the new boiler quote and whether a combi boiler is suitable to install in the home of yours.

When speaking about’ conventional systems’, we’re usually talking about a heat only boiler, that has 2 cold water tanks in the loft room along with a warm water tank, generally present in the airing cupboard.

A system boiler is a lot like a heat only boiler, except you do not need the feed and expansion cold water tanks in the loft.

A combi boiler, as mentioned earlier, works through water that is hot without the demand for a cold or hot water tank. Essentially, in case you turn the warm water tapping on, the boiler will fire up and heat up the water coming from the pipes. Because you do not have to keep the hot water before using it (i.e. there’s no warm water tank), these are inclined being viewed more effective.
What exactly are the causes for adding a combi boiler?

Among the primary causes for adding a combi boiler is the reality you are able to eliminate the water tanks and it clearly frees up a great deal of room. This’s particularly crucial in small houses and flats where room is in a premium. Imagine suddenly being ready to make use of your current airing cupboard for extra storage space. You still have to have a room for the boiler of course, though it’s typically comparable in dimension to a standard heat-only boiler and may go in the exact same room.

Related to the prior point is the point that the combi boiler does not produce and store water that is hot. With a typical boiler, water that is hot has a tendency to be created twice one day, regardless of in case it is used or perhaps not – in the early morning and within the evening. Right now obviously this involves the boiler to fire up to create the warm water, of course, if for what ever reason it does not become used the water just cools down, which happens to be a misuse of energy. Combi boilers just create the warm water whenever you want it (i.e. you switch the shower or a tap on), so clearly for lots of individuals this creates substantial energy savings.

Combi boilers are excellent when you’ve fairly little warm water need at any single time. If you need water that is hot feeds in several outlets at the identical time state you would like to put two showers at exactly the same period in the morning, subsequently a combi boiler will not be ideal. In this case a standard or maybe system boiler may well be more appropriate.

The last issue is the fact that with a typical system or boiler boiler once you’ve used all of the hot water, that’s it; you will have to hold back until the boiler fires up and also has new warm water as per your coder settings. With a combi boiler you can in theory produce limitless popular bath although the mains water pressure is the output.

Of course it’s really worth mentioning efficiency – a brand new combi boiler must be around ninety % effective (as would a brand new program or maybe standard boiler), therefore in case your boiler is especially old you may like to use a brand new boiler only at that stage.

When can I put in a combi boiler?

You are able to in principle replace your home heating system almost any moment, though the very best moment to do this’s possibly during a broad refurbishment (provided the boiler is functioning okay!). Carrying out this job once you refurbish can help minimise upheaval since small things like running brand new pipes under floor surfaces are complicated if there’s a good carpet in place! Including any fresh radiators on the program will certainly make this a large task, as will a method transformation if you shift from a program or maybe heat only boiler (with tanks) to some combi.

In case you’re performing refurbishment work, you need to also attempt to install the maximum amount of insulation as you are able to simultaneously as adding a brand new heating system – this can decrease your gasoline demand since heat will make the house slower and consequently you need to see much larger energy savings.

We also suggest trying to use a boiler before the winter months, since at this particular time there is often a huge hurry on plumbers, which drives the cost up just a little – replacing the boiler throughout the summer months must thus be slightly more affordable.

The last issue is connected to positioning the brand-new boiler – with respect to where current flue and boiler currently sit. If the boiler is now being replaced then the flue is going to have to sit down on an outside facing structure, which might require actually relocating it. This will contribute to the costs of yours. A plume diverter might also have to be put in depending exactly how close the latest flue is in proximity to your neighborhood neighbours.