Hi. Im about to install gas heating to my 3 bed semi. The mains passes my door. Im putting the boiler in the garage which is just beside house. Im going for the specs for seai grant. there is an electric shower in en suite and a mixer shower over bath in bathroom heated off immersion. Id like to put a power shower in this mixer. I need to know wheather i should fit a combi boiler or an indirect cylinder and system boiler to heat house?
There is just electric storage heaters in house at the moment.
You need good water pressure/flow for a Combi, as it is mains fed. Good water pressure/flow is not very common in Ireland, which is why most Irish houses have tanks in the attic. A 'good' plumber should be able to tell if your mains is good enough.
Ok thanks. Ive found out the water pressure is more than sufficient, i suppose its not surprising since the house is in a suburb of Cork city. I have been told by a plumber the one significant disadvantage with a combi, is that i would not have enough bulk hot water in reserve, but i suppose who takes a bath anymore. The one other thing i need to know is if i wanted a power shower in the main bathroom would the combi also not suffice in this situation?
Don't get that plumber to do the job. The combi, as Gary (who is a plumber) says heats the water as required. Some models have a small reserve tank which is kept hot, but this is only used to supply instant hot water (I think you can turn off the function) without the wait of a few seconds for the burner to ignite. The bigger the combi the more it can heat, where you may have a problem is with two showers/baths/taps going at the same time, but a decent size combi will handle it, providing yours mains supply is up the job.