Boiler Question - Clueless

Discussion in 'Plumbers' Talk' started by Phil Morgan, Sep 9, 2019.

  1. Phil Morgan

    Phil Morgan Member

    Hello everyone, I've just signed up to this forum as I've bought a 1930's semi and I have no idea what I'm doing from a plumbing point of view - I wondered if I could ask for some advice.

    It's a standard 3 bedroom 1930's semi, currently with a boiler in the kitchen (which we're eventually going to extend) and a hot water tank in the airing cupboard in the bathroom and a tank in the loft. The boiler in the kitchen is in good working order and has been serviced every year.

    Basically, we want to move the hot water tank because we're going to re-do the bathroom and open it all up. However, where the heck do we move it to? I've read that it's not a good idea to put it in the loft. We don't have a utility room yet as we can't do the extension for a couple of years. So my question is, do I just get rid of all of it and buy a combi boiler? Will this be good enough for this type of house? I've also read about the megaflow things which sound pretty good, but again, can this go in the loft? The loft is massive so plenty of room, but we also want to board this out and make into a bit of a room eventually so maybe not a good place to have the boiler.

    Any advice would be gratefully received!

    Thanks
     
  2. spirits are real 2016

    spirits are real 2016 Screwfix Select

    i would not put the boiler in the loft because of the distance to the kitchen taps it would take a while for the hot water to reach them, all the time your wasting gas and higher bills, yes i would rip it all out and put a combi in i would say 26KW would do you nicely (but others will say different)
     
  3. Phil Morgan

    Phil Morgan Member

    Thanks for the advice, I have a combi at the moment and the water pressure is rubbish - is this because it's not a very good boiler? I.e. if we buy a decent boiler, are we guaranteed a powerful shower and bath etc etc? Why do people opt for things like megaflows if combis are good enough?
     
  4. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    +1 for combi.

    First you need to know cold mains water flow rate from main fed tap,usually kitchen.

    What is mains water pipe, iron,lead,plastic?

    Here is how to measure your water pressure
    1. Get a water jug (preferably 1 or 2 litres in size)
    2. Get a stopwatch (usually found on most mobile phones)
    3. Place your jug under a tap and turn it on
    4. Time 6 seconds on your stopwatch & turn your tap off.
    5. If you're a whizz at maths, you can do the next bit in your head (or simply use a calculator - found on most mobile phones). Take the amount of water in the jug in litres (e.g. 0.8 litres) and multiply this by 10. This will give you your flow rate in litres per minute (e.g. 0.8 litres x 10 = 8 litres per minute).
    6. If your flow rate is less than 10 litres per minute, you have what is considered low water pressure. Anywhere between 10 and 15 litres per minute is acceptable but can be improved. A flow above 15 litres per minute is considered good.
     
  5. Phil Morgan

    Phil Morgan Member


    Thanks for the advice - I'm going to give this a try tomorrow and see what the pressure is like. If I get a new combi boiler and therefore remove the hot water tank from the bathroom - is it easy enough to move the combi at a later date? The reason I ask is that I need to move / get rid of the hot water tank so I can rennovate the bathroom, therefore if I buy a combi boiler and put it in the kitchen, I will need to move it again when I come to extend the kitchen? I just don't want to do the work twice if that makes sense. Another suggestion - I move the hot water tank from bathroom to bedroom next door (so I can make bathroom bigger etc), and get rid of it when I come to do an extension and get a combi in the kitchen then - would this be a good idea?
     
  6. Baxi Boy

    Baxi Boy Active Member

    The cold main pressure is high at my house,must be 15-20 litres a minute,but the Baxi platinum 28erp restricts the hot down to 10 litres in order to produce hot enough water.Currently I get 10 litres a minute at 39 degrees rise,cold 17 degrees c,hot at maximum 56 degrees.The boiler is governed at 58 degrees no matter if the cold main is warmer.Baxi claim 35 degrees rise and 11.5 litres,but it doesn’t work like that,and when cold main is 5 degrees 35 rise wouldn’t be enough anyway!
    If you want a really good flow rate I would go up to 34kw,the cost may only be £100 more.
     
    KIAB likes this.
  7. KIAB

    KIAB Super Member

    +1
     

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