D_Hailsham:
The reason I don't think cavity insulation is not possible is mostly anecdotal based on the few plumbers who have come to the house in the last 2-3 weeks to give me a quote for the new boiler. However,the BGheating engineer, who contended I don't need more than 20 kW also stated that my house cannot take cavity wall insulation, reasons, I don't really know. When the B&Q ppl come to install the loft insulation, I'll ask them to check the building out and advise.
I understand a combi can not deliver both heat outputs simultaneously, but generally, hot water demand would be for fairly short bursts, we're not really bath ppl, a nice powerful shower is what we prefer, and given the house has only 1 bath (with a shower cubicle) and 1 shower room, and there are only 3 of us, myself, wife and 2.5 yr old son, I don't envisage simulatenous h/w usage to be a problem.
Thanks for your kind words; my family were supposed to return from the motherland tomorrow after being away for almost 5 weeks, was really looking forward to meeting the little one, however, with the latest heating debacle, I've told them to stay put while I get this sorted, so they're not coming back another 8 days.
SO, getting a new boiler is suddenly mega urgent.
The reason I'm keen on combi's is quitely simply, its seems a much simper system (on a macro level atleast), not h/w cylinder, no tanks in the loft etc etc. I was not too keen on combi's initially... the idea of a h/w cyliner with immersion heater backup was quite appealing, however, since the boiler went down last night, I've realised if the boiler ever goes down again, I'll not be staying in the house. Aberdeen winters are Baltic, and even right now I'm crashing at a friend's place.
The company I've been talking to [have gotten quotes from 3 installer, plus BG (who refused to quote) and HydroElectric (who were REALLY keen to quote and gave me a price almost 75% more than the highest quote I had received), and decided on this one], are authorised installers for Viessmann and Vaillant (and I believe Baxi too), and hence installing through them gets me 5 years warranty, which I'm really keen on, and hence, with the sudden urgency added to this rigmarole, your suggestion of Remeha Avanta would be difficult to pursue as I'll have to get another cmpany to come in, do the survey, then come back with a quote.
I think I have to choose b/w either the Viessman or a Vaillaint... combi system (I'm actually getting ALL the radiators in the house changes out too, the existing ones are about 30 (or maybe more) years old single panel radiators with no TRV (which itself may not be such a big problem), but also have about 15 coats of thick paint on them. So, all in all, I might as well go thru the disturbance all in the one go and get a combi installed.
So, again, millions quid question.... Vaillaint 837.. (with comfort start), or a Viessmann combi boiler... 100 or 200, I'm not sure, as don't really know what the difference b/w the two is!!!.
Thanks for your assistance.
Riz