On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 21:14:29 GMT, Martin Evans
wrote:

o plumber 2 (who spent a considerable amount of time with me - what
patience) suggested going to a combi boiler (although he would fit a
conventional one) - in fact a Worcester Greenstar 440 floor standing
combi boiler. He said

a) at 20l/min at 35 degrees C rise, running on mains pressure (subject
to testing mains pressure which I'm given to believe is good) it was
more than sufficient to match my existing pumped shower and everything
else.

I have one of these. You only get the 20l/min for a short time, until
the internal thermal store is depleted. After that you get about 11/12
l/min (my estimate). I find it half fills a large bath before
dropping to the lower rate (you have to turn the taps down otherwise
you get cool water).

e) we discussed pluming etc and the flue would be routed outside and
up the wall to above head height.

I don't know what the fuss is all about pluming. It's only water
vapour and is rapidly dispersed.

f) we discussed reliability of Worcester 440 and he said he had fitted
loads, it was good, needed to be serviced once a year and although
slightly more involved than a conventional boiler was not time
consuming or expensive. On board diagnostics would even detect a leak
in my heating system.

Really? I don't remember mine reporting anything when I had a leak.
All I noticed was air in the system and the pressure dropping.

h) I mentioned past experience of combi boilers (over 12 years ago)
and he said the worcester 440 was miles ahead of whatever I had then
and I would not suffer from excessive reduced flow in winter. He did
go on quite a bit about what temperature my shower ran at and how I
was mixing alot of cold water with hot to get confortable.

In general combis are good for showers and not so good for baths.
YMMV.

j) all (optional but included in his price) would be in the boiler
itself except for a room thermostat. He pointed out the problem with
having a room thermstat in the hall where the radiator had a TRV.

Just get rid of the TRV on that radiator.

k) the worcester 440 had an in built 12l (I think) vessel which had
some advantage in the speed in which hot water reached my taps - not
sure exactly.

It has a thermal store internally (that's why it's so big).

Cost £2600 (for combi boiler worcester 440 floor standing boiler,
replacement gas supply to boiler, ripping out / bypassing old system)
- sealed system.

Seems a good price. The boiler itself is very expensive.

o on combi boilers he would do a quote for both but a combi would be
more expensive since it required ripping out a lot of stuff - somewhat
at odds with plumber 1 who said the exact opposite.

Maybe you could rip out the old stuff yourself to save some cash.

o on combi boilers and my concern over loss of output in winter and at
my main ensuite shower he said it would cope so long as someone did
not use any water elsewhere in the house (whether cold or hot). He
recommended not having a combi boiler.

I doubt that an ordinary combi would be very good at supplying two
showers at the same time.

o mains pressure was good in my area and not a worry.

Also check your mains flow rate to make sure that is OK. (16l/min).

o condensing boilers produce condensate which is slightly acidic and
has to have somewhere to drain away.

Can go in a dedicated soakaway.

Mark