Selecting a new central heating boiler
Selecting a new central heating boiler
When you choose your next gas fired boiler there are a number of things you need to take into the decision. expense will be high on your list but you also require to think of other matters, you have to consider how much hot water you will be likely to need, the space accessible in your house and how economic your new gas fired boiler will be.
The main gas fired boiler types are:-
Stand alone domestic back boilers
It is not uncommon to see back boilers in older housing stock, these back boilers were typically fitted in the chimney space out of sight, the back boiler being obscured behind the fire. If you are going to change or boiler you will not be installing one of this type as they had certain disadvantages and in particular low water pressure, they take up space to install and you will need a place to both install and hide this type of boiler. Having said this your best alternative could be a replacement if you currently have this type of boiler.
In the past domestic back boilers have not been noted as being very cost-effective, nonetheless of late large improvements in efficiency have been realised, so by substituting your old back boiler, you might make a large savings on your heating bills with improved boiler efficiency.
Modern Combination boilers
The most popular type is now the combi gas boiler. Combi gas fired boilers are small enabling them to be squeezed into cupboards and they are cost-effective. Heating water direct from the cold mains takes away any wait time for hot water – as a result you have endless hot water.
Combi central heating boilers are more cost-efficient than the other central heating boiler types. There is no hot water storage tank reducing heat losses in the central heating. A drawback of this can be that the system cannot supply hot water to several water taps at the same time.
Unvented central heating gas boilers
central heating central heating boilers store hot water in a hot water tank. This means that the space requirements are larger. Many of the component parts of the heating and hot water central heating are built in, which means that installation is speedier, cleaner, simpler and more cost-efficient.
Running several streams of hot water from diverse taps at the same time is now possible. central heating system heating boilers tend to give high internal water pressure.
Open vent central heating system heating boilers
Most homes will have an open vent boiler fitted. They come with 2 water cylinders to be installed in the loft., additional space is also called for for the hot water storage cylinder fitted in the airing cupboard.
The first cylinder in the loft feeds mains supply water to the hot water storage tank.
Water expands when heated and this is helped by the 2nd tank in the loft. The only limit on hot water supply now is the capacity of the hot water tank which will take a while to heat up fully.