New House System

Discussion in 'Plumbers' Talk' started by James Murray, Apr 14, 2014.

  1. James Murray

    James Murray New Member

    Morning all,
    I am in the final stages of buying a house with what I believe to be a 20+ year old boiler and very old rads and threaded pipe work. I am looking to completely renew the entire system including the pipework and was hoping for a bit of feed back/advise on what I am planning to fit.

    After the planned extension is built the house will have the following rooms:

    Entrance Hall, Front Living Room, Back Living Room, Kitchen Diner, 5 x Bedrooms, 3 x Bathrooms

    I am planning on Zoning each section individually and using the following equipment:

    Worcester Greenstar Highflow 550CGi Boiler (30Kw 25Lpm)
    Manifold
    PEX Piping
    Double Pannel Rads (brand to be decided)
    Honeywell Evohome system in all 12 zones

    The few questions I have are as follows

    1. With this boiler will I need a hot water tank
    2. Is modern PEX piping suitable for the job
    3. Does anyone in the industry have any feedback on the Honeywell system or is there a better zoning system available
    4. Is using a manifold the best way to send the water to each zone or is there a better way

    Thanks

    James
     
  2. Sean_ork

    Sean_ork Screwfix Select

    I suspect you meant CDI ? - which is a combi boiler, so designed to work without an external DHW cylinder - but you can have one installed - plastic plumbing is very well proven, some systems carry a 50 year warranty - Honeywell make excellent control system but they don't produce a complete range of heating controls, unlike Wavin who produce both the controls and the required manifold and fittings

    you could avoid installing a manifold by the use of intelligent programmable rad stat - which then allows each rad to be it's own zone
     
    FatHands likes this.
  3. James Murray

    James Murray New Member

    I will look into them then. I guess the question I left out is will that boiler stand up to the potential use of 3 bathrooms and a kitchen for hot water without the need for the tank?
     
  4. Sean_ork

    Sean_ork Screwfix Select

    almost certainly not concurrent use

    are you intending to get a few installers in to quote as they'll likely come up with a few sensible configurations - with such a large DHW requirement have you consider solar thermal and a store (big insulated water tank) ?

    just fitting a large combi into a house of multiple occupation is an easy option but isn't going to give an optimal user experience
     
  5. James Murray

    James Murray New Member

    I was already looking at some of the tanks also made by Worcester to run along side the boiler but was debating if they system would handle it without one. Solar isnt something I had considered but know that the same range of tanks can be bought with dual coils to accommodate that facility. Essentially when myself and my partner are there it wont be an issue without a tank but given we are renovating to eventually sell to what I expect will be a large family i want it to be up to scratch. Is the location of the tank important? Currently the tank is on the first floor in a bedroom and is massive. We are hoping to move it to the ground floor in the garage along with the new boiler as currently that is floor standing in the kitchen and again takes up space we want to reclaim.
     
  6. Sean_ork

    Sean_ork Screwfix Select

    adjacent to the primary heat source would be ideal - if you do decide on a store, consider what other heat sources you might want to allow for during the refurb - such as a wood burner, which could also be linked to the store
     
  7. James Murray

    James Murray New Member

    There is an existing wood burner right behind the garage wall (in the living room) where we want to install the new boiler and tank. So might look into the potential of linking it into a 2 coil tank. Can the second coil of the tank be left unconnected to begin with and then be connected at a later date or does it all need to be fitted during the initial install
     
  8. Sean_ork

    Sean_ork Screwfix Select

    no problem at all leaving it unconnected
     
  9. James Murray

    James Murray New Member

    Amazing. Is there a general rule about the size of the tank in relation to the size of the house. Dont want to go through all this and then under spec the tank?
     
  10. Sean_ork

    Sean_ork Screwfix Select

    the bigger the better, within reason - a household with 3 teenagers in it is likely to use x? times the amount of hot water than one one containing just those who pay the bills - the size of it also depends on the capacity of the heat sources

    get a few properly qualified folks in to give you a proper design (which isn't the same as giving you a quotation) - let them work out what your actual heating requirements are based on the type and dimensions of the house, along with a worst case occupancy scenario
     
  11. G&W Plumbing & Heating

    G&W Plumbing & Heating Active Member

    You could have each rooms radiator off an under floor manifold with its own optimising room stat relative to the manifold actuator, have a twin coil unvented cyl depending on mains supply meets min spec, if not fit accumulators, solar is always a good option of coarse if in the budget margin, to zone each room is fine but it's nothing that a trv won't achieve, it's more for under floor so the slab stays at is temp
     
  12. If you live in a hard water area I'd suggest a water softener if you're planning on putting a sludge bucket, er, thermal store in.
     
  13. PJ Wales

    PJ Wales Member

    If you want zonal heating controls, you might want to look into z-waves and install Danfoss Living TRV and it can be controlled via any mobile/tablets devices using the free z-wave apps. Using danfoss living TRV means you don't need any form of links between the TRV and the boiler other than the heating is on all them as each value calls for heat as when needed. If you google z-waves there are many sites offering various products and explanation behind the z-waves.

    Good thing about z-waves is it can allow you to expand into other areas of home automation at a later date.
     
    James Murray likes this.

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