Upgrading heating system in house, what are my options?

loveisdivine

We are in the process of purchasing a house, it currently has an oil fired boiler in the garage which I believe heats the radiators. There is an immersion heater in the hot press for hot water and an electric shower.

It also has one of those old analogue thermostats where you push the little tabs in or out to set times and such.

Basically what I want is to have instant hot water when I turn on the hot tap or run a bath and a digital thermostat to control the radiator heating.

Will a combi oil boiler achieve this? Obviously I can have a digital thermostat installed easily, ideally a NEST.

Lastly, will any of this be affected by the fact we have a private well water supply?

Sorry if any of this sounds silly but I really don't know a lot about these things, which is why I'm asking

Edit - I should probably add that we won't have huge hot water requirements outside of the electric shower, there's only 1 bathroom so it's mostly just for washing pots and washing your hands and such. Baths wouldn't be an everyday occurrence.

Calahonda52

It also has one of those old analogue thermostats where you push the little tabs in or out to set times and such.

is just a time clock, no stat.
What you want can be done but will need to be zoned, which might be tricky.

Also don't know if the immersion cylinder can stay if u have the combi, beyond my pay grade.
Do you have cold water tank in attic from well?

loveisdivine

To be honest, I don't know if there is a cold water tank, I would assume there is but don't know for sure. I'll find out though. I also don't know what you mean by zoning! Eek!

Ah yes, there is another small box on the wall that does the temparature, thats right.

There's nothing technically wrong with what's there at the minute, I'd just like to upgrade while we have the chance.

What kind of professional would I speak to about these queries, a plumber?

Calahonda52

zoning is the concept that you can have hot water, upstairs rads, downstairs rads all as three separate circuits.
my guess is the current set up is just one zone.

So what you want is loadsa hot water on demand.
Why would the immersion cylinder not do?

My advice would be to leave well enough alone for now and look at airtightness, insulation, controlled ventilation before you spend any money on just new heating.
Plenty on this site about it.
Perhaps describe the house a bit more in terms of construction: the more you post the better the info: I am only keeping the thread warm until the experts sign on.:)

loveisdivine

Well it's a bungalow so no upstairs radiators, but there are actually quite a lot of radiators in the house, the living room and main bedroom both have 2 even though they're not that large.

With the immersion would I not have to have it switched on all the time? My understanding is that a combi would heat the water as we need it, not keep a store of hot water ready.

I just don't like it when you go to wash your hands or something and nothing but cold water comes out (like it currently does at my mother in laws and like it did in our old house).

Well I guess we have to wait and see what the building survey says before we start planning where to spend the money.

Thanks!

Calahonda52

yes the combi would do as you say, but if the pipe run from the boiler to the hot taps is long, then the first X litres of water will be cold anyway, so don't associate cold water with lack of hot water when it might be long pipe runs, which always seem longer in the mother-in-laws house

There are instant sink hot water taps but the run about 1,600 euro and I don't like them if any chance of kids or older folk using them.

100% re survey
so what age is the house do you know? Rural or town?

loveisdivine

Ah it doesn't matter how long you run the tap here or at the old house, it never came out hot unless the immersion was switched on.

Yeah I've seen them, they do seem quite expensive though.

It was built in the 50's. Rural in Co. Louth.

Calahonda52

be interesting to see the survey:) Insulation: how u spell that?

If you got a properly insulated (green) immersion cylinder and a timer, then I think it would do the job.

How if you want to get all fancy,like, you could have a recirculation loop, on a timer, on the hot taps so the hot water circulates around by the hot taps.
You need good insulated pipes and is energy wasteful because of all the extra hot water being pumped around, however if you were gutting the house...
I have seen this done with air switches in the bathroom and the kitchen, the purpose being you press the air switch, it fires the recirculation pump and the hot water comes around the loop: however would you wait that long
The pump shuts off after say 5 minutes, via a contactor.

The air-switch is because of the wet environment