Planning a plumbing upgrade. Please advise

spectre

I'm in the planning stages of upgrading my recently acquired 90sqm/970sqft two bed, one bathroom 100 year old home and would love to get tips regarding the plumbing.

There is a large galvanized cold water storage tank in the attic. An old gas boiler powers 9 radiators and heats the domestic hot water (stored in a poorly insulated copper cylinder). The shower is electric, noisy and produces a weak stream.

The first job I was going to tackle was getting the cold water tank replaced with a modern plastic tank. However I've heard that a cold water tank may not be required with some domestic plumbing systems. I read somewhere that Ireland and GB are the only places in Europe that plumb domestic systems this way? I'd love to hear of better alternatives.

Similarly with the boiler, I was going to upgrade to a moren condensing boiler but I've since heard that they give more trouble than the older less efficient machines and have a much shorter expected lifespan! False economy perhaps?

One thing that's really important is to have a quality showering experience; I want power and silence if possible. By the way, I have no idea if my water pressure is good or bad; it seems normal.

These are my basic requirements, I would love to hear your comments and suggestions.

BryanF

Hi I moved this here as you might get more answers to your m&E queries.