Pros and Cons of a megaflow

[dawson_nick]

I live in a big house (6 bed) with 3 bathrooms... young kids at present so water consumption is low... We have only lived in the house for 18 months and inherited a badly designed hot water system, which has been modified as the house was extended. Bit of a botch in a sense as the the pipework is horrendous to follow above the hot water tank. We have a traditional vented hot water system, (large cold water tank in the loft), conventional gas boiler and hot water tank, linked with a conventional vented central heating system (header tank in the loft). The central heating system was retrofitted some years back as the house used to be hot air heating.

We have 3 power showers fed from 2 shower pumps. The pumps have been fitted so as to pump all the taps upstairs (hot and cold) presumably as some of the pipe runs are quite long into the extended part of the house. This is bad in a sense as the dual head shower pumps often run just hot or cold at the sink taps (not both at the same time as they should do).

Recently the main shower pump failed and it clearly needs replacing as it is a very old Stuart Turner pump (plumber advice has shown it to be not repairable which I believe). I am thinking of investing in a megaflow as a means to do away with the shower pumps. The hot water system is poorly designed (air is drawn into the system as the inlet to one of the pumps is incorrectly placed) and I intend to stay in the house for a good few years (15-20years+ probably)... Wife just wants the shower pump swapped out, but I am keen to take this as an opportunity to invest in a future proofed hot water system for a big house.

Wondered what the views of people are who have gambled and invested in a megaflow system. I know that they arent cheap, but I am also intending on changing out my boiler this year as it is an old 55% efficient Ideal Mexico, and is costing me a fortune to run each month.

One quote I had from a reputable vetted.com plumber was =A35k ex VAT for boiler + megaflow system. He suggested putting the megaflow in the garage adjacent to the boiler as it would be too big to fit into the cupboard where the tank is right now....

One other question - can you use a megaflow with a water softener? We have a block salt water softener on the house... does this reduce pressure/flow too much?

Any advice gratefully received.

Thanks.

[The Natural Philosopher]

They aren't exopesnive either. We converted a small open tank type boiler to pressurised and put in a PHW tank for £1300 all in.

If teh boiler is in ther as well, that sounds a little steep, but not a ripoff.

really? mine is about 6ft tall with about 600m diameter..

It can, if the pipework is small or the softener won't take 22mm..

Do it, but carefully. You need to audit the pipes to see what runs may need upgrading, or indeed replacing.

One advantage is the tank can go almost anywhere. Mine is in the loft.

Run direct runs to showers etc from the tank - hot and cold both - if you want best performance.

Check local mains pressure and delivery rate too.