Boiler Update or Boiler Re-Visited

OK. After a bit more research it appears that I will need a combi boiler rated between 24Kw and 30Kw.

If you are all sitting comfortably at the back I will try and explain why size matters.

One of the key differences between the two is that the higher rated units have a higher water flow which is measured in litres per minute. This is the number of litres of water per minute that the boiler can heat to 35 degrees centigrade (I didn’t decide on this temperature, presumably some industry body did). Most boilers are rated between 9 and 12 litres per minute.

This does not make as much difference when you are trying to heat the house, a lower rated unit will just take longer, but clearly matters a lot if you are trying to run lots of things requiring hot water at the same time like a washing machine, a dishwasher, a shower and a bath. Many units such as washing machines can work solely on a cold feed these days so they don’t necessary have any impact on the boiler at all.

Buying a unit that is bigger than you need is a waste of money to buy and to run but getting one too small is a big mistake. To try and work out which size I need I e-mailed a boiler company, a specialist supplier and filled in one questionnaire on the internet and described the basic layout of the house. The only constant in their replies was the lack of consistency. Basically it appears that either will do the job.

There is no end to the number of companies out there offering boilers over the internet at what seem to me to be competitive prices. One of them even trades via eBay (at very competitve prices) as well as through some specialist outlets in Kent.

The problem with boilers is that for amateurs like me I have never heard of most manufacturers. I have never driven cars from most of the manufacturers in the world but I have probably heard of them and may even have an opinion about their quality. It is the same with consumer electronics. With boilers, apart from Glow-Worm and Potterton, I don’t think I have heard of any of them and most people don’t bother to write reviews about what a great boiler they have just bought. Understandable really; they will have better things to do with their lives.

Anyway to get to the point a new boiler will cost somewhere between £500 and £750 pounds. I will probably get a 30Kw unit to be sure. Now all I have to decide is which of these manufacturers that I have never heard of is the right one. Alpha, Ariston, Baxi, Buderus, Chaffoteaux, Ferroli, Glow-Worm, Ideal, Keston, Potterton, Vaillant, Viessmann, Vokera and Worcester with apologies for any I have missed.

UPDATE : Thank you to Tim who has clarified the point about temperature in his comment on the earlier post.

Boilers

I have a problem with finding out more about boilers and what size I need for the house.

Ordinarily I know the correct thing to do is to get a registered Corgi plumber in to quote for the whole of the central heating system and to supply and fit a boiler within that price. This is what I have done and whilst I can get another more competitive quote the first proposal was too high.

Subsequently I approached a friend of ours who is currently on a plumbing course if he would like to do the work at the house (apart from the bit connecting to the gas supply of course). He is up for this as it is difficult to practice when you are training and getting a house to do from top to bottom is excellent experience. Whilst he is comfortable with every aspect of laying the pipes etc he is not sure about how to calculate what size boiler is required and nor am I.

I have scoured the web for sites that help to calculate it but have not been very successful. After a lot of messing around I think I need a 24Kw Combination Condensing Boiler for a house with 6 radiators, one shower, one bath and three sinks. It will be well insulated with double glazing (the house that is not the boiler!).

I have no idea if this is appropriate and will need to continue my research.

Obviously our friend will be checking with his tutors on his course but I prefer to try and understand these things rather than just taking people’s word for it. It would be an expensive error if we bought the wrong one.

Update

There hasn't been much to report since we completed. The electricians have made the electrics safe and I am waiting another quote from a plumber. I am hopeful that the first job of stripping everything out of the house will start later this week.

In the meantime I have been playing around with this blog software and after many many attempts I have got an auto updating spreadsheet over on the right hand side that will give updates on the how much has been spent so far. Basically as I update my master spreadsheet with new expenditure this will be updated as well. The only thing it doesn't include is the interest payments on the money. I might add that at a later date.

UPDATE: I have just realised that some people will be unable to see the figures on the right. I will see if I can fix that.

FURTHER UPDATE : It seems that the link to the figures causes some PC's to crash so I have removed it. I'll have to re-think that bit.

Exchange and Completion

....and then suddenly, with what appeared in the end to be unseemly haste we exchange and complete simultaneously and the property is ours. This blog will defiantly (I meant to say definitely but my attempt at spelling it was so bad Microsoft changed it for me and made no apology for the split infinitive) be hanging around in cyberspace for a little while longer and hopefully, after a short period and much hard work, will result in a sale for profit or a successful let.

Mrs APD picked up the keys this afternoon but it is too dark to go and take a look now as there is no working electricity. The electricians are going round on Friday morning to lash up (my words not theirs) something temporary so work can commence.

Thank you for all of your comments with the planning. I hope there will be as much help with the building work.

Insurance Update

The quote from the broker was as follows.

• £254.00 for 3 months
• £401.00 for 6 months
• £527.00 for 12 months

It is more expensive than Direct Line but there again, what is the point of having insurance if they will deny a claim because you weren't upfront in the first place.

On balance we have decided to go with the specialist renovation cover for 6 months. It is £401.00 we had not budgeted for but we will learn for next time.

The solicitor has been told we have a policy in place so it is over to them.

Insurance

It appears we are going to exchange imminently (today is a possibility) so getting some insurance seems like a good idea. This turns out to not be quite as simple as I thought and is something we should have considered earlier.

The first port of call was Direct Line. They were very good but their policies don’t cover you for very much if a house is going to be empty for more than 60 days. Effectively cover for vandalism and similar events ceases but you are still covered for fire which is probably the main risk.

After this I tried one of the comparison sites and was as disappointed with it as I was the last time I used one for motor insurance. I types in all of my details as well as all the details of the house (and a whole lot more besides) whereon it went off and obtained quotes (or tried to) from all of these different insurance companies all of which declined to quote! I wish I had kept the email with the reasons so I could reproduce it here but I deleted it in frustration. The excuses basically fell into three categories.

1. xxx company cannot be reached at this time.
2. yyy company has declined to quote as the property will not be inhabited
3. zzz company has declined to quote because of the construction of the roof (it is concrete)

What a waste of time!

We will probably go with the Direct Line quote and risk the limitations on the policy after 60 days but Mrs Decorem (or Mrs APD as she recently described herself) contacted three local insurance brokers one of whom will be obtaining a quote for some special renovation insurance. This is shorter term cover (you can name the period) and it will be interesting to see how this compare to Direct Line.

I don't think I have heard insurance mentioned on property programs on TV. Clearly it is not glamorous enough for them to bother about.

Final(ish) Drawings

OK. Subject to building control, prices, problems, complications and me just changing my mind here are the final set of before and after plans for both floors.

Whilst I am not going to have a main contractor as such, there is one person who will do most of this work. These are the plans I will send to him to get more estimates and quotations.



Click on the picture for a larger image.