Re: 1 year on, still looking to "HA my heating"

[Chris Hunter <cjhunter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

eg:

http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/=20
Heatrae_Sadia_Electric_Boiler_With_Hot_Water_Store.html

at about 1200GBP, and :

http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/=20
Trianco_Aztec_Gold_Electric_Boiler.html

at about 450 to 600 GBP, depending on capacity, and :

http://www.discountedheating.co.uk/shop/acatalog/=20
Heatrae_Sadia_Amptec_Electric_Boiler.html

at about 350GBP, and :

http://www.heatandplumb.com/acatalog/=20
Trianco_Aztec_Classic_Electric_Boiler.html

at about 300 to 600GBP, depending on capacity ... also see :

http://www.dealec.co.uk/acatalog/=20
Heatrae_Sadia_Amptec_Electric_Boilers.html

... we're thinking of using such things !

Chris



On 23 Apr 2007, at 23:35, Paul Gordon wrote:

> Thanks Chris, W/B were (are) on my shortlist, but frankly my=20=20
> Potterton has been a complete disaster, so much so that I never=20=20
> want to touch another one with a very long shitty stick for as
long=20=20
> I have breath....
>
> I think for simplicity's sake a straight like-for-like swap is=20=20
> going to be the least pain option, hence I'd only thought about=20=20
> another gas combi... - although I had occasionally thought about=20=20
> not using a central system boiler for DHW at all... - If I could=20=20
> provide local (electric) DHW provision at the point of use, I
can=20=20
> see several potential advantages to that... - I have distant=20=20
> memories of nasty old wall-mounted "geysers" though! - what
I would=20=20
> like would be something akin to a slimline "cartridge" type
device=20=20
> that I could conceal (say) beneath the bathroom basin plinth, in-=20
> line in the pipe to the hot tap... - do such things exist?
>
> Paul G.
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ukha_d@xxxxxxx [mailto:ukha_d@xxxxxxx] On=20=20
> Behalf Of Chris Hunter
> Sent: 23 April 2007 23:03
> To: UKHA_D Group
> Subject: Re: [ukha_d] 1 year on, still looking to "HA my
heating"
>
> Worcester / Bosch also have a good reputation, and our Potterton has
> been trouble-free for fifteen years (Which? also rated Potterton most
> reliable & best, ahead of even Vaillant) ... don't forget to
consider
> an electric boiler option ... people seem to assume gas is best, and
> get taken to the cleaners on boliers & connection ... a few =A3k
buys
> quite a lot of electricty & the payback period for a gas
installation
> can be long, these days !
>
> Chris
>
>
> On 23 Apr 2007, at 22:15, Paul Gordon wrote:
>
>> OK, so work rather forced me to postpone my plans to HA-ify
my=20=20
>> central
>> heating system for a while, but I'm back on the case now, I have
>> budgetary approval from the "FD" (aka SWMBO), and
British Gas today
>> refused to certify my current boiler safe, so that rather puts the
>> pressure on to sort something out.
>>
>> There are just sooooo many choices available and decisions to make
>> that
>> I am having a hard time seeing the wood for the trees, so any
advice,
>> thoughts, experiences from the group would be most welcome!
>>
>> The main decision drivers are:
>>
>> I have a mains-pressure combi boiler & standard radiators. The
boiler
>> *will* need replacing, so I need to select the "best"
(most suitable)
>> replacement. I have a preference currently for a Vaillant model,
>> since I
>> have heard only good things about these, but I am open to any
>> suggestions regarding this choice. I have fairly low mains water
>> pressure, (Thames water!) so I need a boiler that will work well
in
>> these conditions. Clearly I will be replacing with a
condensing=20=20
>> model,
>> but I have no desire to re-engineer my heating system, so I will
be
>> staying with a mains pressure combi design, to keep the job to
>> (hopefully) a straightforward boiler swap-out. Important
>> considerations
>> for the boiler choice are the best flow rate available (given our
>> already low mains pressure, so minimal losses in the boiler
itself=20=20
>> are
>> key), and the fastest response time to produce hot water (to wit I
>> believe there are models that maintain a small reservoir=20=20
>> internally of
>> water that is kept "hot and ready") - just like SWMBO...
;-)
>> (perhaps that's too much information!)
>>
>> I have Comfort G2 installed, and I want this to be the main
control
>> system for the HA control over the heating. - Specifically, I want
>> Comfort responses able to switch the heating based on alarm
state,=20=20
>> and
>> the ability to manually control and monitor the system status both
>> locally from any location in the house, and remotely via phone
or=20=20
>> web.
>>
>> I have CBUS lighting installed, and I have a CBUS UCM linking this
to
>> Comfort. Thus CBUS switches anywhere in the house can trigger
Comfort
>> responses. I also have a CBUS PAC for more complex
logic/processing
>> where required.
>>
>> I have a 24x7 HA PC running Homeseer, this is fully integrated
with
>> Comfort via a UCM and a Comfort plug-in. This is not to be=20=20
>> regarded as
>> part of the "core" system, since a PC is not guaranteed
to be 100%
>> reliable (although mine *is* pretty damn stable as it happens).
What
>> this does give me however, is the web interface into Comfort, and
all
>> the additional "nice to have" layers on top of the
core=20=20
>> functionality.
>>
>> I have a CAT5 cable run going to each of my radiators, installed
in
>> anticipation of wanting to install remotely controllable rad=20=20
>> valves at
>> some point. I currently have TRV's on all but one of my rads.
>>
>> Zoned control might be "nice", but I don't view it as an
essential
>> requirement; - we don't have zoned control now, so we won't miss
what
>> we've never had, plus we live in an old, leaky Victorian house, so
>> "zones" are a little bit of a nonsense here, since heat
moves around
>> between rooms all the time anyway, with not much we can do to stop
>> it! -
>> The house is, pretty much, 1 big open plan zone in effect...
>>
>> I don't need independent control of hot water & heating. In
fact I
>> don't
>> need any control of hot water at all (after all, it can't turn the
>> taps
>> on for me can it!) - actually, yes - I *do* know that I *could* in
>> theory automate taps to do auto-filling of the bath for instance,
but
>> that's for the next house!. All I want this time round is heating
>> control.
>>
>> Oh, and I always have a preference for a wired control system over
a
>> wireless one where possible, since I have yet to experience
a=20=20
>> wireless
>> system that has never let me down. (with the possible exception of
my
>> DECT phones?). On that note, X10 as a control system is a no-no as
>> well,
>> - just not reliable enough, and I'm in the process of expunging
>> virtually all X10 from my house anyway.
>>
>> Based on the above information, I'm thinking that maybe the
Honeywell
>> Smartfit system would be a good fit for my needs... - Does
anyone=20=20
>> here
>> have one of these? - does anyone here have one integrated with
>> Comfort?
>> Does it work with my design of heating system (i.e. mains pressure
>> combi) - and what the **** is the difference between
"S-plan" & "Y-
>> plan"
>> anyway?
>>
>> Anyone care to offer any other suggestions? - obviously I've=20=20
>> looked at
>> the Honeywell Hometronic system as well, but this does seem like
>> massive
>> overkill for my requirements. I am absolutely set on the
integration
>> with Comfort; - I don't want to bring into the house another=20=20
>> disparate
>> HA system with its own control mechanisms... - Integration is key!
>> I saw
>> quite a few systems at the Smarthome show last month, but almost
>> without
>> exception, they were closed, proprietary systems with their own
>> controllers and so on.
>>
>> Right, I think I've rambled on long enough now...  Thanks for
reading
>> this far!
>>
>> Paul G.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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