Overrated, Overpriced, Inferior Quality

keef66

We bought our 1930s semi in '89 and it had a recently installed back-boiler / hideous gas fire combo in the dining room. That came with the obligatory bloody great hole in the wall, and even more cold air coming up between the floorboards. Pretty skint back then so we could only afford to board and carpet the floors which helped a bit, but we had to leave the bread-bin sized vent unobstructed and in the winter it was freezing air coming in.
They may be inefficient, but back-boilers are durable things, and the effing thing was still working in 2017 when we finally had it ripped out and replaced with a condensing boiler up in the airing cupboard. To add to the upheaval I also lifted all the floorboards, installed PIR boards between the joists, and filled every crevice with expanding foam. I also took great delight in filling in the redundant air vent. Toasty warm now! Just got to get round to DIY fitting the Hive controller. Bit short-sighted not having the controls replaced at the same time as the boiler, but as usual we were trying to keep the costs down. Could be famous last words but I think I've found a wiring diagram so simple even I should be able to do it...

bompington

keef66 wrote:

DIY fitting the Hive controller

Well worth it. It barely even counts as DIY as long as your current controller has a standard back plate - took me about 30 seconds to fit ours.

I have got somewhat addicted to checking the temp every time I walk past the thermostat in the hall though.

rjsterry

keef66 wrote:

They may be inefficient, but back-boilers are durable things, ...

Well if it's about as complex as a bunsen burner, there's not a lot to wear out. Our first flat had something of the same vintage twinned with single-glazed Crittal windows. Efficient it was not.

keef66

bompington wrote:

keef66 wrote:

DIY fitting the Hive controller

Well worth it. It barely even counts as DIY as long as your current controller has a standard back plate - took me about 30 seconds to fit ours.....

Unfortunately not. I took it off expecting a standard back-plate but found it's sitting on a distinctly non-standard rats nest of cables, and there's a random, dangling junction box linking the boiler, pump and valve which I'd like to get rid of.

So I'm going to start from scratch and do it all properly / neatly myself...

darkhairedlord

We just had a new Worcester Bosch combi put it for just over £2k with eight year warranty. BG wanted something like £3.5k for a crappy own brand or glow-worm. The old boiler had been losing pressure in the expansion vessel and stopped modulating properly so time to go. We got about haldf a dozen quotes in and they varied by up to 100% on the same boiler.

Matthewfalle

rjsterry wrote:

Robert88 wrote:

I've a bicycle that's British. It was made 32 years ago. When I say bicycle I guess that has to mean mostly just the frame now.

It was designed by Barry Hoban and built by a co-operative of ex-coal miners. Or something like that.

A bicycle made by ex-coal miners is a lot more eco-friendly than a boiler.

Difficult to heat your home with it, though. Or ride a boiler to work for that matter.

and we bet it looks shyt and weighs a ton.

#shed