combi or system boiler??

[gingerboy]

hi im about to get a new boiler. the corgi fitter has suggested ariston as they come with free 5yr guarantee, which should i fit combi or system. i live in 3 bedroom house.

 

[Softus]

If you have already have a system boiler, in a three bedroom house I'd wouldn't have a combi, because that would require more installation work and would result in a poorer hot water service than you have now.

Also, you'd need to choose the combi carefully because they're more complex and require more fault diagnosis skills than conventional systems.

On the other hand (again), the advantages of a combi would be a new cupboard (when the cylinder is removed), and no tanks in the loft, so consequently fewer system components to go wrong and maintain.

 

[JohnD]

What have you got already? is theer a cylinder with an immersion heater, fed from the old boiler?

Have you got an electric shower?

Will it be a problem that if two people in the house run hot taps at the sane time, flow to each will be (approx) halved?

Will you mind that a combi takes a long time to fill a bath?

 

[gingerboy]

thanks guys. at present i have a very old glowworm system boiler in the kitchen. i am having it moved upstairs to the airing cupboard above the cylinder. also the shower (hans grober) is run straight from the cylinder via a pump (stuart turner) so the temp isnt affected if other taps are turned on in the house. cheers.

 

[JohnD]

If you have a combi, you will get less hot water in the shower, and if you have a shower and a tap, or two taps, turned on at the same time, hot water to each will be reduced. You can see I prefer a system boiler, as you already have a cylinder.

These problems would not matter if you had a small home with only one person in it to turn on taps!

 

[Softus]

also the shower (hans grober) is run straight from the cylinder via a pump (stuart turner) so the temp isnt affected if other taps are turned on in the house.

In that case, when you get a combi, throw away your expensive shower pump, because you can no longer use it, and expect the shower to be affected every time a hot or cold tap is opened anywhere in the house, because that's what happens with a combi.

If you're starting to think that the advice of your plumber/heating engineer is rather poor, then I would agree with you.

PS Wasn't Hans Grober the villian in the movie "Die Hard"?