We have a 3 bedroom semi which still has the dreaded electric Econ7!
I'd like to DIY install gas central heating using a combi boiler. 1001 questions but at the 'mo am looking at flow/rtn for the pipes. It is a good/bad idea to run these pipes from the boiler (sited in downstairs kitchen) to the loft and then use drops to both upstairs and downstairs rooms? In other words run two (well lagged) pipes to the loft and use them as a kind of "bus" arrangement to feed flow/rtn drops for both floors?
This would save a huge amount of work in not having to rip up some stairs and landing floorboards/carpets etc etc and allow for easier repairs in case of leaks. Thanks
Extra heat loss from the long pipe run, slightly slower to respond, extra copper cost and the pipes down the walls would be very visible. You might also suffer air locks in the pipework, normally the upstairs radiators are the high points, so are easy to bleed. Going over the top, you would constantly be going up there to bleed them unless you added an auto bleed.
You haven't mentioned how you intend piping the ground floor radiators up.
Ok I missed that, even so they are best run run both up and down from the same under floor space. The upstairs then gets the benefit of heat lost from the pipes, so no heat is wasted.
I agree with other posters that it would be a *bad* idea to take the pipework up to the loft unless there is living space - and radiators - up there.
Pipes for the upstairs rads should definitely run between the floors. If you use a manifold and individual pipes for each rad, you can probably get away with 10mm plastic pipe - which you can feed under the floorboards without having to remove too many.
What is the construction of the downstairs floors? If solid, you'll need to feed them from between the floors too - dropping pipes down to each rad. If it's a suspended floor, it's best to take the pipes under the floor in the same way as for the upstairs. Then you only have very short pipes visible.
Either way, give some thought to zoning - in particular whether you want to be able to control the upstairs and downstairs heating separately. If you do, even if all the pipes are between the floors, you'll need a separate manifold - and zone valve, of course - for each floor.
How is your water currently heated? Have you got an airing cupboard with a hot cylinder? If so, are you sure that you *really* want to throw that away[1] and rely just on "instant" hot water from a combi? I know I wouldn't!
[1] Figuratively speaking. If it's direct cylinder, you'll need to replace it with an indirect one - so it's the facility of having stored hot water that would be thrown away.
Up to you. Pipes running down a (living) room wall scream to me of cheapskate work. And even in a kitchen or bathroom they can be concealed. If I saw what you're talking about doing when looking to buy I'd wonder how many other corners had been cut.
It would be more understandable if you had expensive real wood floors that are near impossible to lift without damage - but carpets and ordinary floorboards?
It's what I did when our underfloor heating failed[1]. Not ideal, but pipes are mostly concealed in built-in wardrobe/cupboards. Flooring is tongue and groove chipboard, and runs under the internal walls, so alternative would have been taking out the downstairs ceilings, or a lot of patchwork.
I haven't had to do downstairs (solid wood floor) yet. I can probably reuse some of the pipework that's currently supplying the underfloor manifolds - dropping down from upstairs without looking a mess will be trickier than it was upstairs.
[1] Nu-Heat Contraflo. They don't use it any more, for good reasons.
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