With gas boilers, there are options available for the size of your property and your family’s hot water requirements. Normally, the larger the house the greater the demand for heating and hot water. There are great boilers available for a large house that has lots of radiators and a big family.
Here, we look at the different types of combi boilers that suit a large home and pick the best boilers.
Are Combi boilers good for large families?
It is best not to get a combi boiler for a large house with a big family because a combi takes water from the mains water supply and heats it on demand. If more than one hot tap is opened at the same time, the combi boiler isn’t able to adequately supply all of them, especially if bathrooms are on different floors.
The Storage combi boiler
Boiler manufacturers also offer a ‘two in one’ boiler that gives the benefits of combis but also store heated water in vessels within their casing. These can suit larger properties meeting everyone’s hot water demands.
Best Combi boilers for a large house
An example of the storage combi boiler is the wall-mounted Glow-worm Energy 35kW Storage Combi which gives a good 19.7 l/min water flow rate. It has a 42 litre storage capacity so the hot water is stored in its integrated tanks ready for use on demand. It also comes with a 7-year guarantee included free and if installed by a Glow-worm approved installer you could get up to 15 years of guarantee.
The other highly rated model is the wall-mounted Viessmann Vitodens 111-W which is also a 35kW output and has a 46 litre storage capacity. Its water flow rate is more than 18 l/min. This boiler comes with a 5 year warranty as standard and can go up to 10 years if a Viessmann trained installer puts it in.
The downside of these types of boilers is that they are a bigger size than a normal combi so will look bigger on the wall, and their storage capacity isn’t as much as cylinders that come with other boiler systems. But because you don’t need a cylinder, the installation time and cost is much lower.
If you need something even bigger because you have more bathrooms or family members, the floor standing Worcester Bosch Greenstar Highflow 550CDi Combi Gas Boiler may be the one for you. It has a 40kW output with a massive 25 l/min water flow rate.
It is specially designed for larger houses with a large number of radiators and 2 or more bathrooms but doesn’t have integrated storage capacity as the other two. You can get up to 7 years warranty for this boiler. This is also the most expensive of the three mentioned.
The water flow rate
The other thing to look at is the water flow rate of the boiler. This is the number of litres of water that can pass through the boiler to supply hot water to the taps and showers every minute (shown as l/min). Normal combis give 10 l/min which isn’t good enough for a big house really.
If you have limited space and only a combi boiler will do, you will need a large 35-40kW combi boiler to manage the large number of radiators and hot water demands.
How water pressure at the mains affects a combi boilers performance
Another factor in choosing a combi for a large house is the mains water pressure. Does it deliver enough cold water to the boiler for it to meet the household demand? If it can’t, the boiler won’t be able to supply hot water to multiple open taps and showers at the same time.
Check what the water usage is like in the household in times of peak use. You will always get some fluctuations and so you need to be aware of them no matter what boiler you have installed. There are ways to overcome this issue but make sure to get this checked by the engineer before installation.
Conclusion
The biggest factor when choosing a boiler for a large house with lots of radiators is the number of people living there. A large family will be better off with a storage combi boiler capable of meeting everyone’s needs.
But if only one or two people live in a large house, a normal combi will be perfectly capable of meeting their hot water and heating requirements, even with a lot of radiators, and will also be cheaper to buy.
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*The information in this article should be used for general guidance only and not as financial or health advice. Full details are on the link in the footer to our disclaimer page. Always discuss your requirements with a competent and suitably qualified professional before undertaking any work.
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