Gas central heating.

Seaswimmer

Looking for advice from any heating experts out there.

We have an old house with a wall mounted gas boiler (Potterton Prima). The boiler is in excess of 20 years old. The radiators are large and heavy and the majority of the piping is gun barrel. The house is cold as the rads never get hot, only warm even thought the boiler is running a lot.There are a couple of new rads in the kitchen and attic which do get hotter but never scorching. The ground floor is tiled or else bare floorboards. My queries are.

1. Would a new boiler/radiators improve things on their own or should the gun barrel be replaced as well.
2. Bearing in mind the disruption to tiles/floorboards in replacing piping would i be better off going for electric storage heating and just getting the rads and boiler removed.

There are a total of 8 old rads (4 bedrooms, 2 living, hall and bathroom) and 3 new ones (kitchen and attic).
It has also been suggested that the boiler may not be powerful enough for the house. Anyone know what specs we should be looking at for an average 4 bed semi detached house..

copper12

Potterton Prima). One of the best boilers ever made
There’s no easy answer here
There are a combination of things happening here new pipe work old pipe work extensions attic conversions all combining to add to your problem not enough heat .
There will be some disruption no matter which way you go new radiators or electric storage heaters
Your biggest problem is most likely lack of insulation
Before you decide to replace your system I would advise you to try and get the most out of the system you have
What kind of controls have you installed ? Is it just a timer most likely if the system is twenty years old
If this is the case then turn your boiler thermostat up full and balance the system

Seaswimmer

Thanks for the reply. You are correct. There is an electronic timer/on/off switch.The only control on the boiler is a dial that goes from "min" to "max" with 1-6 in between. What do you mean by balance the system??