New Oil Boiler - West Lothian

[douglasgdmw]

Hi,

Looking for recommendations for any companies in the Edinburgh/West Lothian area that can install a new Oil Boiler and also install new radiators at the same time.

Our existing oil boiler is working ok but the previous owners replaced it but unfortunately under specified it for the house (probably for the sake of saving £300-400 ). It means that the radiator in the kitchen cannot get any water.

Looking for a reputable company that we could use for the work. The current company we use to service the boiler have been chased numerous times for the quote and have not come back yet

George

[Ferg]

I can highly recommend Buglass Gas Services. http://www.buglassgas.co.uk/services/

They fitted a full gas central heating system for us a few years ago. Quality work.

[thinfourth]

Is Heat factors still being run by Lawrence's old apprentice?

[Scuffers]

Cant help with installers, but would strongly recommend Viessmann's Vitoplus 300

It really is the rolls royce of oil burners, only downside is they only do that one with 24Kw output (so may not be big enough?)

Mate got one, replaced a P.O.S. Worcester Bosch that was 4 years old and un-maintainable (as in constantly failing to the point of replacement).

He reckons the new one is doing a good 15% better on oil too.

[douglasgdmw]

Thanks but unfortunately we really need 35kw. Looks like we have been recommended a Grant Vortex ECO 26/35.

However trying to also determine whether its best yo go for a Grant Vortex Pro (VTXOM26/36 or VTXOM36/46) or a Grant VortexBlue (VTXBFOM36).

The installer who quoted did say the Worcester ones were rubbish and would not recommend them for oil boilers.

[a4drk]

George

Turn off all the radiators in the house at both sides (TRV & Lockshield)
and leave the kitchen one on.
Crank up the boiler - pretty high - for at least an hour
this concentrates the flow & return to that radiator only & clears any sludge / dirty / blocked pipes

bleed the radiator if necessary

then gradually turn all the other radiators on

David

[Scuffers]

Thanks but unfortunately we really need 35kw. Looks like we have been recommended a Grant Vortex ECO 26/35.

However trying to also determine whether its best yo go for a Grant Vortex Pro (VTXOM26/36 or VTXOM36/46) or a Grant VortexBlue (VTXBFOM36).

The installer who quoted did say the Worcester ones were rubbish and would not recommend them for oil boilers.

Far be it for me to argue your needs, but are you sure about that or is it just what you have been told?

35Kw is a F**K big boiler in real terms, (not talking about combi's here), look at it like this, typical radiator is between 1 and 4 Kw (4Kw rad is going to be a double at least 4.5M long!)

Add up the total rads, and size boiler accordingly, remember though that usually a rad will be higher output than the room actually needs, so even if the rad count says X Kw, in reality, (assuming TRV's etc) you don't need a boiler that is >= X Kw.

My last place had 17 rads, total 35Kw by rad, and I used a 28Kw boiler, it was never stretched, spent most of it's time throttling down to ~12-13Kw, the only time it ever ran at 28Kw was the first 10 mins from stone cold.

[DJ]

35Kw is a F**K big boiler

Not really. Mine is 55Kw.

[Scuffers]

35Kw is a F**K big boiler

Not really. Mine is 55Kw.

yes, but 2 questions:

1) is it a combi boiler?
2) do you live in a mansion with no windows?

[a4drk]

I live in a 3 bedroom Tenement flat - 8 radiators
Old boiler was a 28kw Combi

Need a new boiler - So I bought a Worcester - 36kw - purely because of the hot water flow of 15 litres per minute
wanted a more powerful shower

David

[Scuffers]

I live in a 3 bedroom Tenement flat - 8 radiators
Old boiler was a 28kw Combi

Need a new boiler - So I bought a Worcester - 36kw - purely because of the hot water flow of 15 litres per minute
wanted a more powerful shower

David

so, you have a combi boiler - they have to be much bigger because they have to heat water instantly etc - hence why I asked the question is it a combi.

(this is also why combi boilers are horribly inefficient compared to system boilers + decent HW tank)

[douglasgdmw]

Looking at our home report from a couple of years ago, the floor area was 196m (squared) and some of the rooms have high ceilings. The space heating output was approk 40k kw/year and an additional 3k kw/year for water heating.

The house was built in 1860's so the heat loss is quite significant which is not helped with us being relatively high up on a hill. We have tried to minimise (loft insulation and replacing some sash & case windows with double glazed units)

The boiler may be on the large size but I would rather jump up slightly in case we decide to put an orangery on the house down the line. Rather have additional capacity for a couple of additional £100's rather than having to scrap a newish boiler and start again.

However looking to get different quotes to make sure things are kosher.

George

[Scuffers]

Looking at our home report from a couple of years ago, the floor area was 196m (squared) and some of the rooms have high ceilings. The space heating output was approk 40k kw/year and an additional 3k kw/year for water heating.

The house was built in 1860's so the heat loss is quite significant which is not helped with us being relatively high up on a hill. We have tried to minimise (loft insulation and replacing some sash & case windows with double glazed units)

The boiler may be on the large size but I would rather jump up slightly in case we decide to put an orangery on the house down the line. Rather have additional capacity for a couple of additional £100's rather than having to scrap a newish boiler and start again.

However looking to get different quotes to make sure things are kosher.

George

OK, interesting stuff...

Home reports IMHO are pointless, they are way to generic and actually end up as meaningless guesswork.

My old house was a 450+ year old stone 'cottage' with way too many outside walls, totalled some 216M2.

17 radiators later, (and I went over the top with sizing them in the first place) worked out at 21Kw, in reality, even in freezing conditions, boiler typically ran at ~12-13Kw.

FWIW, the EPC for it was laughable, it suggested annual heating requirement of 38,979Kwh, in reality it was ~17,429Kwh (and I hate being cold!)

[tut]

Had a great week, the hot water immersion tank sprang a leak which would cost £1,600 to replace as it is attached to a 16Kw GSHP (Ground Source Heat Pump). Three days ago the HP packed in, installed ten years ago when the house was built in 2007 by the seller. It is a Dimplex which is not highly thought of, compressor likely to be burnt out, a big replacement job running to over £3K. RHI payments did not come out until 2009 for HP's so we have now gone ahead with the following.

£10K interest free loan over 12 years from Scottish Renewables, £6K/annual repayments through RHI from Scottish Energy, more efficient Nibe 12Kw GSHP ordered at £11.2K for the complete installation. I was as thinking of it anyway as we do not qualify for RHI with this one, but when the compressor went it became a no brainier. We had to replace the immersion tank anyway whereas the new HP has one built in, so that has cut out that £1.6K. So just £1.2K up front from us and £69/month for the loan repayment, plus a seven year Warranty, the Dimplex had a one year one. However without the RHI I would have been very pissed off.

We then get £6K a year back from Renewable Heat Incentives for the heating energy used for the next 7 years. We pay out £11.2K and receive £42K back which is indexed linked annually. On top of that we will be paying e.on less than £2K/year for our total electricity bill.

I do not agree with the system though it is obviously very energy and CO2 efficient, a COP of 4 means 1Kw into the pump produces 4Kw output into heat, but I would be silly not to take advantage of it. This scheme is open to any home owner in Scotland who is not in a gas supplied area, so worth reading up on if any of you think that they could take advantage of it.

tut

[Scuffers]

I do not agree with the system though it is obviously very energy and CO2 efficient, a COP of 4 means 1Kw into the pump produces 4Kw output into heat, but I would be silly not to take advantage of it. This scheme is open to any home owner in Scotland who is not in a gas supplied area, so worth reading up on if any of you think that they could take advantage of it.

tut

Hi Tut!

that 1:4 figure is often quoted, never seen it actually demonstrated, and as you have just discovered, these systems are far from fit/forget and cost a fortune not only initially, but ongoing.

then consider that the KWh cost of electricity vs. gas is about 5.5:1 (or ~3.5:1 for oil), so what's the point? (for me, I pay 12p/unit for Elec vs. 2.14/unit for gas).

for ref, oil currently ~44.5p/litre = ~4.3p/unit (and that's high, November price was 38p/litre)