What to replace a British Gas 330+ with and where to find someone to do the work ?

[Talay]

I bought a property a few months ago which need a refurb and it has a British Gas 330+ boiler installed in 2008.

The property has 2 bathrooms and one kitchen and will need, via one technology or another, to be able to supply unlimited hot water to both bathrooms at the same time. I understand combi boilers can do this for one outlet but they do not do this well for more than one outlet.

The second bathroom is being refitted as a walk in shower only without a bathtub but I would strongly prefer not to have an in shower cubicle electric shower. Assuming this cannot successfully be run from the combi boiler and have unlimited hot water, is the answer something like an instantaneous electric water heater such as a Stiebel Eltron DCE-X 10/12 Premium 10-12kW ?

In these circumstances, what would you replace the British Gas 330+ with ? What's the best combi boiler or alternative ?

 

[muggles]

The ideal setup is a system / heat only boiler and unvented cylinder. You need to know your mains pressure & flow rate to establish whether it can keep up with demand though. If you're in Surrey, VitoEnergy will be able to help you https://www.vitoenergy.co.uk/

 

[Talay]

The ideal setup is a system / heat only boiler and unvented cylinder. You need to know your mains pressure & flow rate to establish whether it can keep up with demand though. If you're in Surrey, VitoEnergy will be able to help you https://www.vitoenergy.co.uk/

Isn't this "old technology" where you heat water you don't know you will need in the hope that you might ?

I'm in Surrey but not London where https://www.vitoenergy.co.uk/ are based sadly. Looking for a company around Farnham (GU10).

 

[JonathanM]

My installer said this sort of thing is popular in America now. But presumably a bit smaller.

https://www.plumbnation.co.uk/site/andrews-ecoflo-ec380-740-condensing-water-heater-natural-gas/

 

[flameport]

Isn't this "old technology" where you heat water you don't know you will need in the hope that you might ?

Modern unvented cylinders will keep the water hot for days.
Unless you intend to heat the cylinder and then go on holiday for a week, the water that is heated will be used.

Old technology is the futile effort of attempting to heat a decent amount of hot water on demand either by using an electric piece for a useless 4 litres/minute, or a grossly oversized gas boiler.

My installer said this sort of thing is popular in America now

The fact it's favoured in America is all you need to know.
It will be an inefficient heap of junk, and at nearly £9k plus a lot more for installation it has to be the most expensive option available.

 

[muggles]

Isn't this "old technology" where you heat water you don't know you will need in the hope that you might ?

I'm in Surrey but not London where https://www.vitoenergy.co.uk/ are based sadly. Looking for a company around Farnham (GU10).

No, not at all. Unless you live to a very irregular pattern it's possible to time hot water to be on when you're likely to need it. Some systems even self learn your patterns and adapt to you.

In any case modern unvented cylinders are very well insulated so they can stay hot for a couple of days or so if not used.

VitoEnergy are based in Mytchett, less than 15 minutes from Farnham

 

[JonathanM]

The fact it's favoured in America is all you need to know.
It will be an inefficient heap of junk, and at nearly £9k plus a lot more for installation it has to be the most expensive option available.

I realise now that's a commercial one. I think this is a proper domestic American one. It does sound awful! Only $600 though.

 

[sxturbo]

Do not go for a combi boiler, it just will not do what you need it to be doing.

As muggles stated, a good efficient boiler and a large invented cylinder will likely be the way forward.

Modern cylinders are really well insulated.

Only downside is you have to use an installer who is g3 certed, same goes for when it comes to servicing, but chances are you use the same guy to service it as installed it.

 

[Talay]

No, not at all. Unless you live to a very irregular pattern it's possible to time hot water to be on when you're likely to need it. Some systems even self learn your patterns and adapt to you.

In any case modern unvented cylinders are very well insulated so they can stay hot for a couple of days or so if not used.

VitoEnergy are based in Mytchett, less than 15 minutes from Farnham

How do you know how big a store or tank of hot water you need ?

My only two points of reference are a Megaflow 300L I put into my London property in 2000 which was fine and a much smaller immersion heater in a property I had which was far too small.

My overriding requirement is not to run out of hot water, not economy or anything else.

 

[Talay]

... VitoEnergy are based in Mytchett, less than 15 minutes from Farnham

Yes, I see that now. I'd just read about their directors living in London and saw their registered address was moved from Aldershot to Mychett to a virtual office / letterbox drop in London at 11 Leadenhall Street, London, United Kingdom, EC3V 1LP, which is where I got the London connection from on their website.

I have online sales businesses so I know you can spoof local phone numbers and even addresses so I tend to dig around a bit when I find a company I don't know who I want to contact.

 

[JonathanM]

My overriding requirement is not to run out of hot water, not economy or anything else.

I think many modern cylinders re-heat really fast, due to having large heating coils. And you can set up many new boilers to direct all their output to the cylinder at high flow temperature, to make them heat even faster.

EDIT: For the sort of shower you seem to be looking at, I can't imagine instantaneous electric heating would provide anywhere near what you need.

 

[muggles]

How do you know how big a store or tank of hot water you need ?

My only two points of reference are a Megaflow 300L I put into my London property in 2000 which was fine and a much smaller immersion heater in a property I had which was far too small.

My overriding requirement is not to run out of hot water, not economy or anything else.

It depends on a number of factors including size of property, occupancy, likely water usage, system setup etc etc. Your chosen installer will be able to size it to your requirements. A well set up system on hot water priority will need less storage than you might think though.

 

[sxturbo]

It depends on a number of factors including size of property, occupancy, likely water usage, system setup etc etc. Your chosen installer will be able to size it to your requirements. A well set up system on hot water priority will need less storage than you might think though.

On the note of priority hot water.

I have a small 200ltr open vented tank, we've got 1 bathroom and 3 of us use it in the morning, the shower is pumped so it burns through water in no time, I'm first and I love a long shower (some of my best thinking is done in the shower) so tend to use most of the water prior to my wife and son getting in.

As I've got priority hot water and the coil in the tank is pretty efficient I don't run out of hot water the boiler seems to be able to heat it as fast as I'm using it meaning no one gets a cold shower