System design recommendation

[Darryl]

Hi all,


Does anybody know of any good central heating design companies/services? Online services from plans would be ideal if this is possible. Currently doing a full reno, would like UFH to all floors and obviously boiler and/or storage to suit for a fairly large house 350m2 with high HW usage. Google says WorcesterB do this service but would like a more impartial design if that makes sense? I’m assuming system designs are different depending on boiler brand? I’m probably wrong.


I have a local chap coming round in February (big believer in using local if possible) so would like something for comparison purposes – although I rate his work in general (boiler installs, and good recommendations), I’m not sure of his experience in designing a complete system from scratch. Hope this makes sense.

At the pub he mentioned Viessmann(?) as a brand - they are reliable and have a outside weather input or something, maybe system boiler and unvented (whatever that is) - but obviously couldn't commit to anything without seeing plans.


If there’s plenty of info on here already I apologise, I can't find the relevant section. A search only came up with a thread from 6 years ago.



Kind regards and all the best for 2019

Darryl

 

[Old Account]

Hello Darryl wher in the world are you based?

 

[Darryl]

hi! im currently in northern australia, the house is in east yorkshire.

 

[Old Account]

hi! im currently in northern australia, the house is in east yorkshire.

I am pretty sure if you get a couple of good qualified gas safe engineers out they will be most likely be able to tell you what you require for the 350m2.
I would not just rely on ufh to heat the whole property. You also could ask Vaillant registered installers or viessmann registered installers to come and quote for the works.

 

[Darryl]

Thanks Matchless for your reply. Ill make some enquires with the two companies.

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason why you wouldnt use UFH? My old man uses UFH exclusively for his large (ish) bungalow and it works well, so im assuming its not so good over multiple floors?

I was also thinking to get it at least fitted to the loft ready for loft conversion in 3-4 years time but now thinking its not such a good idea...

 

[SimonG]

I just design my own.

Nothing wrong with underfloor as long as its designed and installed correctly, but would add a circuit for bathroom towel rails.

 

[Old Account]

Thanks Matchless for your reply. Ill make some enquires with the two companies.

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason why you wouldnt use UFH? My old man uses UFH exclusively for his large (ish) bungalow and it works well, so im assuming its not so good over multiple floors?

I was also thinking to get it at least fitted to the loft ready for loft conversion in 3-4 years time but now thinking its not such a good idea...

As Simon has mentioned above, nothing wrong with having ufh. You just need to understand that the boiler which supplies the ufh needs to be working kind of constantly to keep your house cosy which is not a problem if you choose a self modulating boiler with wheather compensation. If you turn off the heating you will need to understand that it could take long time to get back to your desired room temperature especially when you have high ceilings. I probably would have multiple zones but that’s my Owen personal opinion. Just make sure that you have got good insulated walls, floors and ceilings. Just get a couple of quotes from some local engineers and compare their thoughts and if you got still questions you could come back and ask.

 

[justlead1]

You may well find the people that produce / sell the underfloor heating pipe manifolds etc will design the circuits and calc Kw boiler required.

 

[chris watkins]

At the pub he mentioned Viessmann(?) as a brand - they are reliable and have a outside weather input or something, maybe system boiler and unvented (whatever that is) - but obviously couldn't commit to anything without seeing plans.

Hi Darryl
The problem you may have if you want detailed plans before you commit is we have all been bitten too many time by potential customers you use us a free design service only to go with someone else, we can spend hour working without anything to show for it so you will understand if we don't provide full details.

One way round is to engage a mechanical / heating designer (& pay them) they will be able to sit down with you go through all the options & produce a design brief or specification which you would own, there would be indemnity insurance against these designs.
You would then use this to get companies to provide quotes against your requirements, as they will be quoting "like for like" you can have some certainty who is the cheapest against what you want.

 

[Darryl]

@SimonG
Thanks for the advice, I didn’t think about bathroom rails
Any other obvious circuits?

@Matchless.plumb
Great advice thank you.
I’ll see what the chap comes up with and will probably post on here just to double check. I feel a bit bad about checking up on him, he has great recommendations from lots of other locals apart from one person who said they wouldn’t use him again, incidentally this was a full reno / system design job ( I understand this could however be the owner not explaining exactly what he wants from a system with regards to usage etc ).

@justlead1
Yep great advice, didn’t think of the ufh companies.
So the size kW of the boiler is largely determined by heating requirements of the house - UFH, and hot water availability and good pressure is more with cylinder/storage?

Is the weather compensation just a Viessmann thing or is this pretty much standard now across other brands? Sounds like a good feature to have

@chris watkins
Apologies Chris, I meant he couldn’t commit to advising me any further on a system without seeing plans of my house and a site visit. Sorry for mis-info. I have no problem at all paying for designs. I actually have budgeted for a couple of designs from different companies just to make sure I get a great system.

 

[chris watkins]

Why go for 2 designs they will be conflicting so which will be the one you use ?? Is that the great deal to put it all in or the one that works correctly with low running costs?

Heating engineers can't even agree on the top 4 boilers let alone details of a large U/F heating system with W/C controls, with a LLHeader & unvented hot water etc. etc.

One piece of free advice if I may - Never ever ever let your builder provide the plumber &/or heating engineer/system.

 

[Darryl]

@chris watkins
I didn’t realise designs would be so conflicting Chris, I also didn’t realise there would so many solutions for any given system - me being naive I guess. My wanting multiple designs comes from my job, we normally get 3 designs for a project, thrash out any differences, to come up with the best system. It appears this wouldn’t work with domestic CH systems.
Budgeting for plenty of designs (needlessly it would seem) would hopefully give the impression I’m not looking for a cheap deal - I’ll pay good money for a good system. Reliability and efficiency are priorities.
Thanks for your advice and insight Chris.

 

[SimonG]

Do it once, do it right. Sounds like you are heading in the right direction.

It would be good if you could find somebody local. Whereabouts in east Yorkshire?

 

[Riley]

Thanks Matchless for your reply. Ill make some enquires with the two companies.

Just out of curiosity, is there a reason why you wouldnt use UFH? My old man uses UFH exclusively for his large (ish) bungalow and it works well, so im assuming its not so good over multiple floors?

I was also thinking to get it at least fitted to the loft ready for loft conversion in 3-4 years time but now thinking its not such a good idea...

Are you often abroad??

 

[Darryl]

@SimonG
Do it once and right is exactly what I’m going for. I’m near Hull btw. I did a quick search on Viessmann website and found a few installers in Hull. I haven’t had time yet to check Valliant and some others.

@Riley
I’m planning on moving back to UK this summer. I may work away for short periods of time but my wife and 2yo will live in the house.