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 £5k 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.

wrote:
snip
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.


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.



One quote I had from a reputable vetted.com plumber was �5k ex VAT for
boiler + megaflow system.

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

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....


really? mine is about 6ft tall with about 600m diameter..
One other question - can you use a megaflow with a water softener?

Yes.
I do.

We
have a block salt water softener on the house... does this reduce
pressure/flow too much?

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


Any advice gratefully received.


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.


Thanks.