To Ed Sirett et al.

I read with interest your recommendations on choosing a boiler. I have

2b/r flat w. g.c.h. The boiler I inherited is an Apollo/thorn wal mounted type. I thought this was a combi. type but as I have a h.w cyl. ,maybe not. If I change to a wall mounted condensing combi ,can I retain m h.w.cyl as I find the immersion heater useful for heating up a smal amount of water for shaving purposes.I"m on my own so dont nee constant h.w. I follow the magazine " Which" recos. and their article Sept06 ha reco. the Pott.Gold C24 HE boiler. Does it fit in with your criterions? Thank you

-- mikehh

Reply to
mikehh
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With a combi (condensing or not) you get hot water on demand, ie, when you turn on the hot tap, the boiler fires up and heats the water as it passes through so you don't need to keep your hot water cylinder and immersion heater.

John.

Reply to
John

Depends on your point of view - some critics of combis reckon they don't deliver hot water fast enough, so some storage may be a good idea, what with the OP only having a 24kW combi in mind. I believe such hybrid combi/storage systems are available, though I'll defer to others who know more about it.

Some other points: when a combi goes dead you lose both HW and CH, whereas if the OP has an immersion heater as backup he'll at least have the luxury of hot water whilst it's being fixed.

Also, 24kW isn't a huge power rating for a combi, though adequate. Those connoisseurs of powerful hot showers may find 24 kW proving only about

9L/min at a temperature rise of 35C, and with cold groundwater in winter at maybe 5C, that won't provide even as much decent hot water as that.

If a powerful shower is required may I suggest 28kW minimum, and probably

30+ kW. Of course, a pressurised HW cylinder would probably allow a 24kW combi to deliver lots of HW for a few minutes so that might not be a problem if a cylinder is used.

Andy.

Reply to
Andy

Andy ( snipped-for-privacy@onetel.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

I have a Worcester Bosch 24CDi in a (abysmally insulated, to be frank) Victorian 2-bed house, and the capacity of it really isn't an issue - without the boiler even turned up full, the heating's fine and the shower's more than hot enough, even at silly o'clock on a bloody cold morning. No shortage of water, either - plenty of pressure in both upstairs and downstairs bathrooms (boiler's downstairs). No, it won't cope with two showers simultaneously - A lot of planning needed there...

Yes, it takes a few seconds to get hot to the tap - but you *very* quickly get used to that, and just run the tap for a mo before putting the plug in, or turn the shower on before you use the bog then get into the shower - and, let's face it, no hot water system holds hot in all the pipes all the time.

Does the OP need a 28 in a two bed flat? No.

Reply to
Adrian

Certainly not to heat the flat, but the argument over showers has raged on this NG before. The Power-Showerists complain that to get a decent hot shower in winter, 24kW isn't enough, nor is 28kW. Now I think they're being overly critical because they also complain a combi takes 10+ minutes to fill a bath, which is true but doesn't strike me as being an inconvenience.

They do have a slight point on the shower though: with my shower going at full lick, quite a lot of water ( not measured, but between 11 and 18 l/min, probably 14/15 l/min ), it doesn't get hot enough for my liking in winter so I have to throttle the flow back a little. I have a 28kW combi, so although my showers in winter are quite adequate they are not at full flow rate. Is this a problem? Depends on your point of view. I don't feel deprived.

FWIW I reckon it'd take 35kW to satisfy the power-shower purists in the dead of winter, which is quite a lot.

Andy

Reply to
Andy

Clearly the Pott. Gold must be a new design in order for it to have met Which's efficiency and emissions criteria.

What is not clear to me yet is whether Potterton's abysmal reputation for faulty electronics is up for reconsideration.

Even a Biasi [1] would have passed Which's tests.

Everything I think I can _objectively_ say about buying a boiler is cover in the FAQ. Beyond that I it as much prejudice (based in part on experience and in part on hearsay).

[1] Perhaps the 'Power Devil'? of boilers.
Reply to
Ed Sirett

I'll believe you but how much of this can be regained by a shower waste water recovery heat exchanger rather than adding more heating power?

AJH

Reply to
AJH

Aah, I've considered this and it would be the way to go if practical, all that hot water just jetting down the drain is criminal isn't it. I believe it is theoretically possible to recover all the heat going down the plug'ole, though not in practise, but even 30% would be good-oh.

You've got me thinking about it again now!

Andy.

Reply to
Andy

Andy ( snipped-for-privacy@onetel.com) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Now *there's* a surprise...

I've not measured mine, either. But - from a 24 combi - it IS most certainly hot enough and powerful enough for my liking - and I'm not exactly tolerant of a shower that dribbles luke warm at you...

But, hey, that's only my personal experience from every damn morning, so I can certainly see why it won't sway the opinions of many...

Reply to
Adrian

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