New Boiler

[AtW]

Have any of you lot had their boiler replaced?

Ask Wilmslow, he always seems to have a couple of bunny boilers...

[Fred Bloggs]

I seriously think you're making a mistake by replacing an old but good condition boiler. The supposed savings you are being quoted will depend on a number of assumptions, these are things that are not going to be true in your case. Firstly, they will be assuming a very low efficiency for your existing boiler, it is unlikely that a good condition old boiler will be as dire as they guess. Secondly, the new bolier savings will be estimated assuming the very highest efficiency from the new boiler operating in condensing mode 100% of the time. For a new bolier to run in condensing mode and to get anywhere near the stated efficiencies, the water retrun temperature must be much lower than you will be experiencing in your old CH system. Why is that? Well, to get the lower water return temperatures that new boliers require to condense, the radiators need to be a lot larger and the water inlet temperature lower to give the same heat output per room. The larger radiators emit the required heat at a lower temperature from a much larger surface area, returning the water to the condensing boiler at a much lower temperature than you can acheive with your old CH system and its smaller radiators that are sized on a higher temperature. It is the lower water return temperature that allows the new type boilers to run in condensing mode and to acheive their higher efficiencies. Retrofitting a new boiler into an old CH system will NEVER get anywhere near the quoted efficiencies. The new type boiler will only run in condensing mode for short periods of time in your old CH system. Even worse, because the condensing exhaust produces an acidic condensate, the boiler heat exchangers are very prone to early failure from corrosion. It is not unusual for condensing boilers to be replaced every five years. Needless to say, this is neither "green" nor is it money saving. Finally, if you do have a condensing boiler fitted, make sure that you run the condensate drain to an internal drain inside the house. Why? Because even the small amount of condensate produced by the boiler if fed to an outside drain will freeze to solid ice in the winter. This blocks the drain, the boiler fills with condensate and switches off. Thousands of people were left without heating last winter precisely because of this simple failure. My advice is to keep your old boiler running for as long as you can. Providing your old boiler is a common make then you will have no problem getting parts. Finally, I strongly recommend you dose your CH system with Fernox water treatment as it will extend the life of your boiler and CH system by years. HTH.

PS - If you insist on buying a condensing boiler, only buy a Weissman. They're the only ones worth considering IMO.

[DimPrawn]

Ditch the boiler and get yourself some thermal underwear and learn to love bathing in cold water.

Good for you, your wallet and good for the planet.

[OwlHoot]

I've just been quoted £3200 to replace a combi boiler, after my previous one conked out last week.

The amount is almost unbelievable; but the boiler itself (a 27 KW Vaillant) and parts come to about £1300, and the rest is labour.

If anyone tells you combis are the future, don't believe them. They may be very efficient. But savings in gas bills are dwarfed by the vast purchase and installation costs, plus the fact that you're supposed to get them serviced once every year or two and _that_ costs at least three or four hundred. So expense wise they're a complete joke.

[OwlHoot]

:::

PS - If you insist on buying a condensing boiler, only buy a Weissman. They're the only ones worth considering IMO. ...

Excellent post, very useful.

What do you reckon of Vaillant combis? I thought they had the best reputation. They're flippin expensive enough (see previous post)

[d000hg]

vast purchase and installation costs

Is that relatively more than the old ones used to cost?

[TimberWolf]

Ditch the boiler and get yourself some thermal underwear and learn to love bathing in cold water.

Good for you, your wallet and good for the planet.

Good tips. Also, buy this wallpaper:




Very cheap!

[fullyautomatix]

Have any of you lot had their boiler replaced? There is nothing wrong with the one we have other than it's old and will be hugely inefficient compared to the ones available at the moment. I've searched on the net, but there seems to be very little in terms of what I'm likely to have to fork out. The British Gas website estimates our potential (made up) savings to be in the region of £335 a year.

Replaced mine last year and in fact asked here first for advice. I tried hard to get someone to repair mine but since it was over 12 years old nobody wanted to touch it since it meant trying to recall knowledge of an old boiler.

I took quotes from local family owned plumbing businesses and went with one which was not cheapest but on intuition looked like someone who would do a good job. The overall cost for boiler and installation together was about £ 1295.

The savings mentioned is not possible. But new boiler is less noisy and does result in some energy savings.

[BoredBloke]

I'm happy to have a non condensing boiler - just the same simple setup I already have but with a newer boiler. I'm not interested in the hot water whenever you want it for the simple reason that the kids only get out tof the shower when there is no hot water left. I don't want to change this to them only getting out of the shower once there is no gas left to supply the hot water.

[ASB]

I'm happy to have a non condensing boiler - just the same simple setup I already have but with a newer boiler. I'm not interested in the hot water whenever you want it for the simple reason that the kids only get out tof the shower when there is no hot water left. I don't want to change this to them only getting out of the shower once there is no gas left to supply the hot water.

You might be (rightly in my view) happy to have a non condensing boiler. Sadly building regs aren't. You can always try for an exemption cert from building control though.