InseGas fire or central heating boiler - most efficient heat

by **daveliver** » Mon Dec 15, 2008 4:26 pm

I have a glowworm CH boiler about 15 years old heating 11 rooms, plus a Valor ultimate inset gas fire in the lounge. I hear these fires are very inefficient and most of the heat goes up the chimney. I prefer to let the CH go of after tea and just warm the loung for the evening
My question is, - which is the more efficient way to heat the lounge the gas fire or leave the central heating on all evening ?

by **Steve the gas** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 5:55 am

Hi Dave,

The CH on.

by **htg engineer** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 6:10 pm

Central Heating - cheaper to run than gas fires.

htg

by **AdamsHeating** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:46 pm

CH mate, always the way.

Steve, i noticed the time you posted on that one, do you sleep?!!

:)

by **Steve the gas** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 7:14 am

Check the others chap !!

Sciatica wakes me up everyday EARLY.

Steve

by **daveliver** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 9:12 am

Thanks everyone - looks like C.H. it is then !

Follow up question - Would it be worth my while replacing my boiler with a combi bolier system, to give hot water on demand rather than heating up the whole tank two or three times a day ?
It is quite a big house (5 bedrooms 3 bathrooms) Could a combi boiler cope ?

Dave L

by **AdamsHeating** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 8:20 pm

Sounds ominous! A house your size would make even the best combi look average, or even not up to the job. It all depends on how much the bathrooms are used.

I would suggest you keep a similar set up but swap to something like a new condensing SYSTEM boiler, similar to your system now but it is a far more efficient boiler and you can match it up with something like either a mains pressurised tank (unvented) or atmospheric pressure (open vented) water cylinder. SOme of the open vented tanks and the majority of the unvented tanks have quick hot water recovery systems in them now so are even more efficient, a full tank in 40 minutes.

if opting for the open vented tank and sealed system boiler you could keep a lot of the piping infrastructure thus lowering the cost of installation (of course this depends on the condition of the pipework)

Go onto worcester bosch (WB) and vaillant (V) website and see what they suggest. I've had a cheeky, and a combi for your house from WB is massive and really expensive!!! highflow 440CDi it suggests...

I'm sure people will have a different opinion, and i will look forward to the banter!

AH.

by **TheDoctor5** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 11:14 am

If you type the key words of your question into our search box to the left of the site you may find the answer is already posted or is in the DIY projects section of the website. Every post goes through a monitoring process and using the search box may speed up your answer.

by **Dan2071** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 12:14 pm

Looks like you've won the argument. Has anyone ever linked two combis together? And how do you do it? I ve seen conventional boilers like this.

Dan

by **AdamsHeating** » Wed Feb 11, 2009 5:23 pm

There was an article in the gas installer one time about lining more than one boiler... I can;t remember the issue number or anything about it actually.