OT: Boilers

term1te

Just had our boiler inspected, and apparently it is on it’s last legs. Can’t complain too much as it was installed in 1978! Does anyone know roughly how much it costs to replace a central heating gas boiler? I guess a smallish one as it is for a 2 bed terrace house. If only it was a Campag boiler, it would have just worn in by now.

Thanks

daniel_b

Did your boiler provide central heating and hot water, or just one or the other?

If it's a water boiler only, you'll be looking at around £500 - if you can get a same make/pattern boiler then you have a greater chance of not having to spend additional money moving the hole in the wall, and also incurring re-decorating costs also.

I haven't had a combi boiler changed personally, but I would have thought you'll be looking at somewhere in the region of £1000/£1200.

Remember to get a pukka corgi engineer to fit it, as otherwise you don't get your certificate, which would cause huge complications if you ever wanted to sell - the house, not the boiler.

With the cold weather coming in soon (?) I'd be inclined to get it booked in asap - maybe get a couple of qoutes, or even better, personal recommendations from friends/neighours.

Dan

Bronzie

A new wall-hung condensing gas boiler will be around £1500-£2500 installed. Price will vary depending on what other work needs to be done - your system is unlikely to be fully-pumped (will probably have gravity flow to the cylinder if you have one) and this will need some alterations to the pipework to achieve. You will probably also need some new cables run between the boiler and the airing cupboard for the pump controls.

Since your system is obviously fairly old, it will probably be full of gunk (black sludge from the radiators as they slowly corrode away) - new high efficiency boilers have low water volume heat exchangers which get blocked up if the gunk is left in the system, so make sure your plumbers include a system powerflush in their price. Few plumbers have the gear to do this and most skip over it, but it is worth getting it done otherwise the boiler warranty will probably be invalid anyway.

Also a good time to get your controls upgraded if needed - time clock, room stat, cylinder stat and maybe thermostatic rad valves as well as it can save you money on your heating bills in the long term. A good plumber should be able to advise you what needs doing / what would be a good idea to do.

As Daniel B says, make sure you get a CORGI registered plumber and make sure they register the new boiler and you get your certificate from CORGI when the job is complete.

feel

Suspect it will not be cheap as only condensing boilers can be fitted now and it might mean that it has to be re-sited, depending on where your old one is, as they have to go against an outside wall. All good advice above, but why are you having to replace the old one - is it a case of some one wanting some extra business?

Bronzie

feel wrote:

why are you having to replace the old one - is it a case of some one wanting some extra business?

Usually, it comes down to availability of spares. That said, a boiler of that age is probably a very simple beast with only a gas solenoid as a moving part and that is why it's lasted so long. Eventually it may start to leak, or a part will go that is no longer available.

New boilers tend to be far less reliable :twisted:

On the plus side, they should be cheaper to run (aside from repair bills :roll:) and will help save the planet (if it's not too late already).

Special K

Bronzie wrote:

A new wall-hung condensing gas boiler will be around £1500-£2500 installed. Price will vary depending on what other work needs to be done - your system is unlikely to be fully-pumped (will probably have gravity flow to the cylinder if you have one) and this will need some alterations to the pipework to achieve. You will probably also need some new cables run between the boiler and the airing cupboard for the pump controls.

Since your system is obviously fairly old, it will probably be full of gunk (black sludge from the radiators as they slowly corrode away) - new high efficiency boilers have low water volume heat exchangers which get blocked up if the gunk is left in the system, so make sure your plumbers include a system powerflush in their price. Few plumbers have the gear to do this and most skip over it, but it is worth getting it done otherwise the boiler warranty will probably be invalid anyway.

Also a good time to get your controls upgraded if needed - time clock, room stat, cylinder stat and maybe thermostatic rad valves as well as it can save you money on your heating bills in the long term. A good plumber should be able to advise you what needs doing / what would be a good idea to do.

As Daniel B says, make sure you get a CORGI registered plumber and make sure they register the new boiler and you get your certificate from CORGI when the job is complete.

excellent advice - if you follow it to the letter then you will be unlucky to have many problems for years to come. The only thing I would add is have your boiler inspected and serviced if necessary every year as a landlord would for a tennant. makes sense.

term1te

Thanks everyone for your comments. The problem is that it is not so much a heater anymore, but more of a "warmer". The pipework has been cleaned out regularly, so there shouldn't be too much gak in there, it just seems to have become less efficient over the years. I suspect the really bad news is that all the pipework is microbore, so I guess we'll need to replace that as well. I can't remember why, but we had an odious little man from British Gas round about 6 years ago who spent the whole time he was in the house shacking is head saying it wouldn't last. I wasn't in at the time, and he wouldn't tell my wife why it wouldn't last, but said that "when your husband gets back I can talk to him about it". Needless to say he didn't stay long, and we won't be asking them to do any work for us.

allaction

Try Travis Perkins. I bought a Baxi recently (condensing one which would be ample for size of your place) which came with all pipe necessary for a new system and seven radiators, think it was circa a grand. Add roughly same again for plumbers time and you can have a complete new system that will last 15 years or more. They often do deals as they buy in bulk. I have a trade account but you don't need one and can often get better deals just by haggling with them over price.

windyphil

You'll often find that the merchants will do a 'heat pack' which consists of what Allaction wrote ie boiler, seven radiators and copper/plastic pipe and fittings to join it all together. The expensive bit's usually the Corgi registered plumber to fit the boiler! The plumber only has to be Corgi registered for the boiler fitting though.

If you're halfway handy, most of the installation of a central heating system is a doddle if you use HEP plastic pipe and fittings. Just make sure you leave the connection of the boiler and radiators to the plumber as he has to connect the boiler and the radiator pipework will look neater.

Nearly forgot, but make sure your plumber is happy to use the boiler you've picked if you buy it yourself - some plumbers have favourite boiler manufacturers which are quicker/easier for them to fit.

duckiciao

I saw this thread and was rather hoping for bunny boilers...

hammerite

Saunier Duval?

Bronzie

hammerite wrote:

Saunier Duval?

I've found their boilers need a lot of "system additives" to keep them running at maximum output