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Discuss Still worth getting a replacement gas boiler? in the Central Heating Forum area at PlumbersForums.net

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NJlookingforhelp

Our ~15-year-old boiler just broke down (the spark igniter gave out), and set out a discussion to go ahead and replace it, as it's starting to kettle as well, and it will probably just be downhill from here.

Background: 1905 built (renovated in 2010) Edwardian terraced. The house is 2 floors and runs 2 different systems and hot water. It's an unvented system with a DHW tank.
On the ground floor, we have water-based underfloor heating with tile and wood floors, each room having its own thermostat. On the first floor, we have a series of 5+1(towel rack) aluminum and steel radiators, hooked up to a Nest thermostat in the hallway, all of them still have a manual valve (so no zoning is possible at the moment). The system has 2 valves: Heating and Hot Water, so if the heating downstairs comes on in a single zone, the upstairs heating does as well.

Now with all the fuss around Air-source heat pumps, is it still worth getting a replacement gas boiler for the next ~10 years, so we don't have to rip out our floors to get the piping for the Heat-Pump to the DHW cylinder?

My thoughts right now are to ride out the winter with the current boiler and then replace it with a new gas boiler in the early summer, and:
  • Add in another valve to zone the upstairs
  • Add an expansion vessel, so we don't suffer from any pressure swings
  • Upsize the 5 radiators so they're ready for whenever we upgrade to an ASHP and add TRVs to each of the 5 radiators

Sounds like a smart plan, or stupid thinking?
I guess the alternative could be to run the whole system on an electric system boiler, but I fear that could be immensely more expensive, even with the current high price of gas.
 
If you've got Gas, stick with gas.
That also means you won't need to change radiators, but if you do you'll also need to increase the size of pipework to them to allow for increased lower temperature volume of water that would be required with a Heat Pump.
 
Re: Zoning upstairs.
If you don't have 1 set of riser pipes for the upstairs that you can install a zone valve, then the easiest solution is to install Thermostatic control valves to each panel.
It would be worth that alone and recovery costs with gas prices would be short term.

As far as I am concerned, Heat Pumps are for new builds with the buildings insulated sufficiently and windows and doors sealed.

As Snowhead says, generally a complete repipe and reinstallation of the heating system for heatpumps to work - anywhere near their performance tables
 

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