Discovered, on getting an engineer in to fix what I'd thought was probably a minor fault preventing the boiler from working, that it has had to be condemned (and yes, justifiably - you should see the insides! Ye gods ...). The house (probably 1000-odd sq. ft.) is a fairly typical 3-bed layout upstairs: two large bedrooms along the party wall; a smaller third bedroom containing the boiler/cylinder and the bathroom (above the kitchen) on the outside wall, separated from each other by the stairwell. It's a condensing boiler - cylinder piping goes up into loft, across the stairwell and into the bathroom, so takes a long time for hot water to reach the bath. Cold water tanks in an elevated position in the loft. We were already considering a partial bathroom refit (https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/re-jigging-part-of-bathroom-considerations.627991), but having to replace the boiler as well has added even more complexity.
It's a two-person household, both preferring baths to showering (and the bath is P-shaped, so larger volume than usual), although the hot-water demand isn't particularly high. There's a pump operating both for the shower and for the bath, which I find a bit odd anyway. Looks as though the controls for both may be a crosswater valve - certainly there's a thermostat, as the bath is a walk-in one.
Heating-wise, the radiators are fairly elderly, and large - the engineer advises that if we went for a combi we'd probably need to replace them as they wouldn't withstand the added pressure. The ideal place for a combi would obviously be the kitchen, except that it's already really poky, and we can't afford to lose any more cupboard space. We don't as yet have any form of rear extension (although if we did we might want to put in a downstairs loo, but probably nothing more), and the garage is detached.
Futureproofing (if there is such a thing): The engineer has suggested that an electric boiler might be a possibility, but I don't know anything about those - and am not sure I want to rely on only one power source for everything anyway. He's also recommended that if we go for a gas boiler we make sure it's hydrogen-ready as well.
Another consideration is that we might want to install solar panels at some stage, so might need to retain a cylinder.
Obviously, I'm getting people to come in and quote, but we'd like to get this done soonest, and I'd like to cover as many bases as possible in advance, so if there are various factors I should consider please let me know. I am reading a number of the "boiler replacement" threads, but would still appreciate any feedback, especially as several of them are very old and the situation may have changed in the meantime.
It's a two-person household, both preferring baths to showering (and the bath is P-shaped, so larger volume than usual), although the hot-water demand isn't particularly high. There's a pump operating both for the shower and for the bath, which I find a bit odd anyway. Looks as though the controls for both may be a crosswater valve - certainly there's a thermostat, as the bath is a walk-in one.
Heating-wise, the radiators are fairly elderly, and large - the engineer advises that if we went for a combi we'd probably need to replace them as they wouldn't withstand the added pressure. The ideal place for a combi would obviously be the kitchen, except that it's already really poky, and we can't afford to lose any more cupboard space. We don't as yet have any form of rear extension (although if we did we might want to put in a downstairs loo, but probably nothing more), and the garage is detached.
Futureproofing (if there is such a thing): The engineer has suggested that an electric boiler might be a possibility, but I don't know anything about those - and am not sure I want to rely on only one power source for everything anyway. He's also recommended that if we go for a gas boiler we make sure it's hydrogen-ready as well.
Another consideration is that we might want to install solar panels at some stage, so might need to retain a cylinder.
Obviously, I'm getting people to come in and quote, but we'd like to get this done soonest, and I'd like to cover as many bases as possible in advance, so if there are various factors I should consider please let me know. I am reading a number of the "boiler replacement" threads, but would still appreciate any feedback, especially as several of them are very old and the situation may have changed in the meantime.
