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Plumbing
How to Choose Between 3 Proposed Boilers
Anonymous user 23 August 2018 - 2.55 PM
Hello, I live in Montreal, Quebec in a 1915 three floor (plus mezzanine and basement) home in which we need to replace the boiler this fall. We currently have two bathrooms (one shower and bath) and we would like to add a second shower, bath and eventually a powder room. In the next few years, our family will grow as well and so there will eventually be more people living in our home. I have received the following three boiler model suggestions from three different plumbing companies and I am wondering what the best option is: 1. Viessmann Vitodens 100 combi model B1KA125 (Viessman boilers make many top 5 five boilers lists in Canada, however, consumer reports don't seem great and I can't find reviews for this specific model). 2. IBC HC 20-125 (From what I understand, these boilers are a bit less common in Canada but there is a market for them and they are good but there might be an issue gettings parts if necessary). 3. Lochinvar Noble Fir Tube Combi (This company does not make any top 5 lists and has mostly bad reivews). After posting this question on another board, plumbers seemed to be saying that a combi might not be idea for our home and a conventional or system boiler might be more appropriate and that the person who install it is very important. Thank you in advance for helping us make this decision!
1 answer from MyBuilder tradespeople
I can only comment on one of the three boilers you have highlighted as the other two have no presence in the UK market under those names to the best of my knowledge. Viessmann are the biggest selling boiler in mainland Europe. (good boilers in my opinion) You have stated that the number of occupants will rise so therefore your hot water demand will too, combination boiler are limited to the amount of hot water they can deliver so you must rule them out, consider instead a 'Heat only' or 'System' boiler with an unvented cylinder (Viessmann will manufacture these specific boilers) the unvented cylinder must be suitably sized to accommodate the amount of occupants within reason. The rule of thumb is: 50 litres (13 US Gallons) per person and 50 litres over, but the flow rate/pressure of the hot water to at all outlets is dependant on how good your incoming mains cold water supply is, the greater it is the better your hot water flow rate will be, if poor then there are ways around this by introducing a breaker tank with a suitably sized cold water booster pump, suggest your preferred heating/plumbing engineer is consulted on this matter if the need arises. NB: Unvented cylinders in the UK are regulated and can only be installed by a plumber/heating engineer with the relevant qualification's and I see no reason why it should be any different in Canada!
Answered
26 August 2018
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