DIY central heating instalation

[ffetsnomis]

hello people
i'm sure you've heard this a thousand times....

i have ambitions to instal a new central heating system in my 2 up 2 down terrace house, there is no existing system.

i'm going to use a combi, this will be plumbed by a pro'. i was wondering what level of power the boiler will need to be. its a small house and i will have 5 rads to heat.

a friend sugested having one circuit and running all rads from that and dropping the the lower rads from above as i have concrete floors does this sound sound?

basically i don't have the money to hire a pro to do the whole job so i have to do the labour my sen. any advice will be crucial

thanks

 

[gas4you]

Go for a 31Kw combi. Only use a 24Kw if you want to take at least an hour to run a bath in mid winter.

If you have baths and nothing else then I always recommend the 37Kw.

Always size a combi for your HW needs and get the engineer to range rate it for the rads upon commissioning.

 

[sambotc]

Hi,

If you really can't afford to have an engineer to fit it all then my advise would be:

Don't even think about the boiler, leave this to the engineer you pay to do the job. Get a few quotes and explain what you want to do rather than make up other excuses on why you only want him to do the boiler. (many people do) You will get a better result doing this and the engineer will be able to give you some guidance on your specific property requirements. Some may not want to touch the job or put in a higher price to make it worth there while if they do though!

Dropping from above is the most ractical option for concrete floor, make sure each drop in pipework has a drain off at the lowest point so you can get the water back out!

You may find using plastic pipe works out cheaper and easier for all the runs under the floor, although copper for anything visible is more pleasing to the eye! (IMO)

Pay a little bit more for quality radiators rather than the trash they sell in screwfix (from previous experiances) I find purmo's or biasi radiators good value for money, and i think they stock biasi's in my local B and Q for reasonable prices. Shop around though!

Fit thermostatic radiator valves to all rad's except in the hall (prefered position for me) where a room thermostat should be fitted to comply to current building reg's.

HTH a little, Sam

 

[Doctor Drivel]

Hi,

If you really can't afford to have an engineer to fit it all then my advise would be:

Don't even think about the boiler, leave this to the engineer you pay to do the job. Get a few quotes and explain what you want to do rather than make up other excuses on why you only want him to do the boiler. (many people do) You will get a better result doing this and the engineer will be able to give you some guidance on your specific property requirements. Some may not want to touch the job or put in a higher price to make it worth there while if they do though!

Dropping from above is the most ractical option for concrete floor, make sure each drop in pipework has a drain off at the lowest point so you can get the water back out!

You may find using plastic pipe works out cheaper and easier for all the runs under the floor, although copper for anything visible is more pleasing to the eye! (IMO)

Pay a little bit more for quality radiators rather than the trash they sell in screwfix (from previous experiances) I find purmo's or biasi radiators good value for money, and i think they stock biasi's in my local B and Q for reasonable prices. Shop around though!

Fit thermostatic radiator valves to all rad's except in the hall (prefered position for me) where a room thermostat should be fitted to comply to current building reg's.

HTH a little, Sam

He would be better with a Baxi 130 HE combi. Good flowrate and he can fit TRVs on each rad.

 

[Agile]

If you want something really cheap I saw a Heatline 24 kW combi in B&Q at a clearance price of £299 !!!

Tony

 

[gas4you]

He would be better with a Baxi 130 HE combi. Good flowrate and he can fit TRVs on each rad.

A Vaillant ecotec Plus with a VRC400 can have trv's on all rads as well.

AND breaks down less

 

[ffetsnomis]

thanks every one, really helpful.

what are TVR's?

i've read that cutting into joists to lay pipes under floor boards(up stairs) weakens them. should i drillholes? but wont it prove difficult to feed in long lenghts of pipe?

so many questions. can i chase in down pipes oin to the walls and skim over?

 

[mikej2005]

what are TVR's?

Thermostatic Radiator Valves

i've read that cutting into joists to lay pipes under floor boards(up stairs) weakens them. should i drillholes? but wont it prove difficult to feed in long lenghts of pipe?

It does weaken them, but you can often get away with taking a suitable chunk out without too much of an issue, provided the joists are thick/deep enough and provided there aren't too many notches close together in the same beam. I don't have any links but there are guidelines as to what you can get away with - I'm sure you could get hold of these with a bit of searching. I'd definitely read up on this before you start cutting !

I've never seen pipes pushed through holes, probably for the reason you mention.

can i chase in down pipes oin to the walls and skim over?

Yes, although they'll probably have to in some kind of trunking to allow for expansion which will minimise the risk of the plaster cracking.

 

[mikej2005]

He would be better with a Baxi 130 HE combi. Good flowrate and he can fit TRVs on each rad.

Are there combis that don't allow the use of TRVs ?

I didn't come across any when I was researching my combi choice recently.

 

[MarkBarl]

He would be better with a Baxi 130 HE combi. Good flowrate and he can fit TRVs on each rad.

Are there combis that don't allow the use of TRVs ?

I didn't come across any when I was researching my combi choice recently.

You may have mis read the post. I think that he was saying that you can install TRV's on all radiators rather than leaving one without, as some boilers have a built in bypass circuit to enable you to do this. Not that you can not use TRV's

 

[mikej2005]

You may have mis read the post. I think that he was saying that you can install TRV's on all radiators rather than leaving one without, as some boilers have a built in bypass circuit to enable you to do this. Not that you can not use TRV's

Yes, sorry - I realise now that's what he meant.

I thought that, in order to satisfy Part L requirements, a TRV should be omitted from the radiator in the same room as the thermostat, meaning that you're going to need a rad without one anyway ?

 

[gas4you]

Not with the Vaillants fitted with the VRC400 plugged into the front of the boiler.

 

[sambotc]

Call me whatever you want, but the OP is asking about things as simple as notching joists and TVR's? (trv's) so surely the last thing on his mind would be wether it is really necessery to fit a certain boiler which allows you to get away with fitting 1 more TRV to your system?

OP:

If you go down the route of plastic pipe you would get away with drilling through the joists, but IMO it's not really an issue and would more than likely require a drill with a right angle chuck to get in and drill through straight.


Sam