Regional Winners

Please tell us about a project you are particularly proud of – what was the problem and how did you solve it for the customer?

This install is my favourite of 2023. The house was being renovated so we removed the existing oil boiler and heating system and fully repiped the house adding zones to upstairs, downstairs, a working office area, underfloor heating and hot water.

The house was an old 1960s-style very large four-bedroom detached house and had an old one-pipe system installed. We removed everything plumbing-wise and stripped it to the bare bones.

The house had several garages that had been converted to a living area/office and the customer wanted full separate control of the heating for maximum efficiency.

This installation was only phase one of the project with multiple bathrooms still to be installed.

I spoke to the customer at the start of the project to discuss plans and give them thorough explanations of what I would be doing. Following this, the customer trusted me and gave me a pass to do what I wanted to do in a nice-sized space.

The property is old and is being fully renovated. So, I spent a lot of time planning the pipework, individual controls and isolation of multiple parts of the house, the system is now a work of art!

Which products did you select for the job and why?

We installed a Vaillant system boiler and a Vaillant unvented cylinder to complement it. The manufacturer Vaillant has a great name in the industry and offers a good warranty, which gives me peace of mind for my customers. We installed Honeywell two-port valves throughout the five zones and used lever valves on all flow and returns to isolate each part of the system for any future maintenance and also allow other zones to continue working. All materials were sourced from my local CPS branch as I am passionate about supporting local businesses.

Tell us what was different or unique about this job? Why does it stand out?

The project was completed in a beautiful village called Cottingham in Leicestershire. We don’t often get the space allowed on this job to create something like we did on this install with all the separate zones and individual controls, so we were lucky in that respect. It took lots of planning to ensure the pipework was as neat as possible while also being easily maintainable. The project was completed over five days all piped up and wired in. We kept the wiring looking as industrial as possible, which took a day in itself.

We installed old-school cast iron radiators throughout the property. The zone with the most rads on only has six radiators so it’s a relatively complicated install for a very simple system. This customer asked specifically for this to ensure everything could be isolated and maintained individually while keeping other parts of the system running.

We also installed an underfloor heating circuit as part of an extension, and a secondary hot water return loop was installed on a separate timer for instant hot water at all draw-offs around the house.

And finally, tell us what the end result was for your customer?

The customer is an engineer himself in a different industry. He can appreciate the blood, sweat and tears that went into this installation and he says the boiler room is his favourite room of the house.

The customer made the switch from oil to gas and is saving a fair amount of money on fuel. The house is heating much faster than before on the old one-pipe system so the boiler is running less.

The design of the system allows the customer to control different areas of the property using a smart control on their mobile phone. They generally only heat the office area during working hours.

This was the biggest project we have taken on in regards to the amount of work on the property. We spent time with the client planning the installation and design. The client was very particular in how things looked and attention to detail was key.

The client is extremely happy with the outcome and we gained a lot of work from photos and his recommendations.