by krandolph

I Need a New Boiler. What do i need to know

If you have ever need to upgrade your boiler you will know what a nightmare it can be having to choose what  New Boiler you need for your home.  What brand do I need?  Where should I put it?  How long will it last?  The questions are almost as serious as buying a new car or buying a home.  Purchasing a new boiler is after all a capital purchase, and serious consideration needs to be given in selecting the right brand and where it is going to be sighted.  Kitchen, Bedroom, or Loft, there are loads of spin off questions that come from the need for a new boiler.  First of all don’t worry,  there are hundreds of heating engineers that are highly qualified that can help you with your problem and if you are cold and have no hot water, dont get forced into decisions without assessing the options first. The old saying react in haste repent in lesiure is a true statement when choosing and installing a new boiler.

There are normally two types of customer that we come accross that need a new boiler.  1. Customers that need to have a boiler installed yesterday.  2. The customer thats planned their installation carefully because they know that there old boiler has been costing allot of money to run.

In both cases the questions will start to come and go .  So firstly get a pen and a piece of paper and write down what questions arise,  that way when you need to remember them, you have a record of your thoughts to dicuss with your installer.

There are considerations that you need to think about and there are some things that are taken out of customers hands due to Building regulation compliance ,so ill try to be brief so you can get an idea of what things customers can focus on to discuss.

Its important to identify what system you have!

Do I have a hot water cylinder?
Do I have Tanks in the loft, and how many tanks there are?
Do I have a room thermostat?
Do I have a programmer?
Do I have Thermostatic radiator valves?
Do I have a power shower

By finding out the answers to the above questions will help simplify what you need to discuss with your installer  Remember The size of your house is a large consideration when you have a property that is larger than three bedrroms. Purely because normally a 3-4 bed house starts to have other bathrooms and en suits,  more hot water taps than are found in a 2-3 bed home. thus the need for a larger volume of water being supplied to the hot taps. to avoid flow reduction if multiple taps are turned on.

Hot Water Cylinders.
If you have a cylinder in your home you will either have a fully pumped or gravity system an S-plan or C-plan system installed.
Here we go you may think?,  Not so.  If you have a cylinder in your home and its a three bedrromed house then 90% of our customers opt to have a Combination boiler installed in their home (On the whole they are far more efficient).  Its normally being upgraded from either of the systems that i mentioned above. So try to relax and discuss with your installer what you think you need.  He will explain what system you have when he call to give you a quote and survey your home.

Tanks in the loft.
If you have tanks in the loft or above your boiler and system, you have a few considerations for them.  Any exposed tank ie a tank without a sealed lid on it has to be upgraded so that it is sealed,  Galvanised tanks have to be removed so check what type of tank you have .  You have to have whats called a By law 30 kit to both tanks installed so if your opting to keep your existing system design and just get your boiler upgraded then water by laws state to all installers that this has to be done.

Room Thermostats.
You may have a room thermostat in your home thats been installed with your central heating system, or you may have had it installed after an old one has broken down.  You may not have one at all.  If you are thinking of just upgrading your old boiler again you have to consider a room thermostat.  Under current building regulations your new boiler has to have whats called a boiler interlock.  That is the control of heat by a combination of room thermostat and thermostatic radiator valve controls.  Your installer will tell you more about this but if you have not got them,  you will need to have them installed so that you system conforms to current building regulations.   Having them installed will help save huge amounts of gas and reduce that monthly gas bill considerably.

Thermostatic radiator valves.
Thermostatic radiator valves come in many shapes and orientations but the most common feature is a control that regulates the temprature of the heat that is in the room.  either by detecting the radiator panel temprature or the ambient temprature of the room the radiator is installed in.  As i explained in room thermostats these are mandatory if your system does not have them and they will help save you around £300.00 in gas anually.

Do i have a Power Shower.
This is where carefull consideration needs to be given.  If you are in a 2-3 bed house and you have a power shower and think.  I can not have a combination boiler because i have that type of shower you would be wrong.  Combination boilers come with many different flow rates some offer up to 19.1 ltrs a minute and still provide enough heat for the heating system and hot water.  With a combined incoming cold mains flow and the hot water flow  you should experience a combined flow rate through your shower in excess of 24 ltrs per minute.  You will find that your shower pump provides water flow rates of around this mark,  so upgrading your system to a combination boiler (certain checks have been made) could still provide the hot water you need for your shower to operate without the noise and electricity from the pump.

Will it be Combination or System Boiler

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This is the inside of a normal system boiler.  All of its main controls are on the panel at the front of the boiler and its system controls are ouside the boiler.

Because of building regulations you would have to have installed with this boiler the following from the top of your system to the bottom:

Upgrade tanks and By Law 30 kits.**
Install 3 port valve kit or S-Plan System.**
Upgrade old cylinder.
Re Orientate existing pipework.**
Install Room Thermostats.**
Install Thermostaatic Radiator Valves.**
Upgrade Gas pipe to boiler ( Not in all cases)
Install condensate pipework from new boiler to drain**
Install flue basket If situated below 1.8m outside.**
Exterior components not under Manufacturer guarantee.

This is the inside of a combination boiler, you will have noticed from the picture

above that all of its controls are outside the boiler but on this boiler all of the controls are on the inside there are only a few considerations that we need to take into consideration to have one of these installed

Gas Supply needs upgrading
Install condensate pipework from new boiler to drain.**
Install room thermostat.**
Install Thermostatic Radiator Valves.**
Remove excess pipework and seal system.*
Can Be re sighted easily.
More flueing options.
Higher combined efficiency.
All components under  manufacturer guarantee.

Choosing controls that are Effective and look ok too.

Installing efficient controls that are not only effective but pleasing to the eye are the best controls that you can choose.  If you are spending the time to have your system upgraded then its common sense to choose something thats not an eye sore.  some controls such as this Easy stat from Alpha have a radio device on the left of the picture that fits neatly into the boller .  It communicates with the Easy stat by radio frequency and it can be sited up to 60 meters away from the boiler, it operates through walls and does not need line of site to work.  When having a thermostat like this installed meens less wiring.  Means less over all cost.

The Costs.

The cost of a new replacement system boiler taking into consideration the nessacery upgrades that have to be done are between £2100.00 – £4000.00 depending on the upgrades that need to be applied,  if you are lucky and you have all the controls that are needed to comply with building regulations then you could expect your system to be installed for under £2000.00  obviously prices will differ depending on when and who you get to install it.  Be sure of one thing whoever you get to install it.  They have to be Gas Safe Registered and they have to have part L for registering there appliance with your local building regulation department.  If they are not registered part L compliant then expect to get a bull from building control for around £200.00 for registering your product.

A combination system up to around 35KW fully installed is around £2000.00 – £3600.00 depending on flue type and control set.  these systems are far more efficient so you will recover installation costs alltot quicker than you would a system boiler.  guarantees range from 3,5 and 10 years with the prices given above and all the boilers have to have a Gas Safe Registered engineer to install them again they also need top be Part L compliant.

Remember VAT goes up to 20% in 2011

Have your boiler installed by us before the VAT increase  and we will give you up to £100 in Marks & Spencer vouchers.  You will also receive A Free Adey Magna Clean or A Free Fernox TF-1 Filter to increase the life of your boiler.  Fully installed free of charge

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