Unvented hot water cylinder - confused!

[twinkle]

At the moment we have a boiler downstairs and in the airing cupboard we have a gledhill (?) Boilermate III. Well, the Boilermate needs replacing and the plumber we got out says we would be best off with an up to date unvented cylinder. He reckons an Ariston 125 and has quoted me £1270 to supply and fit.

I got a 2nd plumber out for a quote. He hasn't given me the quote yet but says that he would never touch an Ariston and recommended Oso (?) or Megaflow and that we would be better off having a 210 capacity.

I have a family of 5 in a 4 bedroom house with shower room and bathroom.

Who do I believe????

Your advice would be greatly appreciated (quickly, cos I have no hot water at the moment!)

Thanks. Twinkle

[oldie]

Firstly, a family of 5 in a 4 bed house with both shower room and bathroom would probably want an indirect pressurised system with a capacity of between 200 and 250 litres. You would be struggling with only 125 litres.

OSO 20 series systems are excellent and the better Megaflows are quite good. A visit to the OSO website at osohotwater.com will give you quite a bit of information about pressurised systems.

If you do decide to go down the pressurised system route, make sure that the cylinder is made of stainless steel with a 25yr guarantee. Some of the cheaper ones are made of ordinary steel and only have 5-7yr guarantees.

You would be lucky to get much change out of £1000 for an OSO or a Megaflow, and that is without fitting, (the Ariston is probably about £600) but you get what you pay for.

The OSO will probably be slightly dearer than the Megaflow but doesn't need an expansion cylinder etc as the OSO cleverly uses an air bubble in the top of the cylinder instead.

One thing you haven't mentioned, is the size of the space where you currently have your boilermate. It can be hard work getting pressurised cylinders into small spaces - perhaps that's why the first plumber tried to persuade you to accept a small, less than ideal cylinder.

[twinkle]

The Ariston Primo 210 comes with a 25 year guarantee so should that be ok to purchase?

[pjkelly]

[quote="twinkle"]At the moment we have a boiler downstairs and in the airing cupboard we have a gledhill (?) Boilermate III. Well, the Boilermate needs replacing and the plumber we got out says we would be best off with an up to date unvented cylinder. He reckons an Ariston 125 and has quoted me £1270 to supply and fit.

I got a 2nd plumber out for a quote. He hasn't given me the quote yet but says that he would never touch an Ariston and recommended Oso (?) or Megaflow and that we would be better off having a 210 capacity.

I have a family of 5 in a 4 bedroom house with shower room and bathroom.

Who do I believe????

Your advice would be greatly appreciated (quickly, cos I have no hot water at the moment!)
I am doing the same job and my plumber has recommended a 210B Santon premier plus unvented cylinder much cheaper than the megaflow, that particular ariston is too small for your house!!


Thanks. Twinkle[/quote]