New boiler time! Just in time for xmas, yay!

lullabellea

Hi there

My ancient, almost thrity year old Baxi Bermuda back boiler complete with ugly old gas fire is probably heading for the boiler scrapyard.

It bangs, it whistles, it knocks about, wakes everyone up. And as I type this the pilot is out (it went out when I switched the fire off and now I can't get it back on).

We've been expecting this for a while and I'm pretty sure I'm looking at a new boiler. The last BG quote was for well over 4 grand! That makes me want to cry...

What I want to know is:
1. Is fitting a new boiler straightforward bearing in mind we have an old back boiler? All rads seem fine and work well.

2. Which boiler would you recommend for a three bed semi with one bathroom and one cloakroom?

3. We currently have a shower pump fitted - I understand that will be a problem but does anyone know why and what do i replace it with? Will I end up with a new boiler but a measly trickle for a shower?

4. What do I do with the fire bit? Put a new one in? cost of that? (Can you
tell I'm not flush with cash at the mo?)

5. . How much money am I looking to shell out this happy side of christmas for the new boiler plus fitting/shower pump sorting/fire replacing?

6. Any recommendations for north herts? I quick ring round some friends has merely met with responses ending with "...and I wouldn't use them again."

Your help and information is very warmly recieved

Louise

penrhyn

I assume you have a system with gravity fed hot water and pumped heating.
Most new installations would be for a combination boiler, wall mounted that would also supply your hot water. Your existing hot and cold tanks, along with the back boiler existing pump and fire would be removed.
You may have to have the pump removed from your shower, however the Combi should provide a decent flow for your shower as it would be at mains pressure and not limited by the head of the storage tanks.
No idea what the current costs would be, but had a replacement boiler fitted in my mums bungalow three years ago and it cost around £2500, this was for a Baxi HE boiler.

PS Just noticed that Baxi still make back boilers!
http://www.baxi.co.uk/products/bbu.htm

I would ring them , see who they recommend in your area.

superdood

Hi,
new for old boiler can be straightforward but will depend on the position on the new boiler and the size and position of the older pipes, etc, it's not just a case of ripping the old one out and sticking a new one in in the same place and sealing the pipes up as the newer boilers work in a different more energy efficient way.

Go for a boiler & installer that can provide a free 3 or 5 year guarantee, stay away from ravenheat boilers, they are the ones OH gets the most calls to fix, he says they are utter cr*p and always tries to talk people out of buying one when he's been asked to install one, pay a little extra and get a decent one with a decent guarantee.

Are there any showrooms around your area, they will usually be able to price up the boiler, installation and the cost of new fire/ or capping off the gas fire. I would expect to pay between £2000.00 and £3000.00 all in inc shower & fire, the quote for over £4000.00 it wasn't british gas was it?:rotfl:

shop around for free no obligation quotes, go with your gut instinct though and reccomended installers , not just the cheapest quote. And make sure you are paying a set amount and not an hourly rate as if there are any problems and the work runs over you don't want to be paying extra.

bambibashercol

There is one thing that's not been mentioned and that is is the heating circuts on a 1 pipe system? Its something that needs checking as a lot of old back boilers ran on these. If it is on a 1 pipe system then it will all need ripping out and repiping.
The cost of fitting a boiler will depend on many things including, boiler location, is vertical flue required?, is condensation pump required?, does the gas pipe work need upgrading and what size? Those are just a few things to think about.
Your cheapest option for the gas fire is blank it all off and fit a electric fire.
Quality boilers to think about a worcester bosch cdi range, vaillant ecotecs, viessmann 200.
Your heating engineer will need to do some checks first as your incomming mains might not be up to a combi install, Pressure and flow rates need checking. Are you on a shared incomming main?

Premier_2

dopester wrote: »

This info I kept safe from last year.

The guy makes some important points imo, which I wanted to remember for the future - such as the flush and the certificate stuff, and the compliance card.

The CP12 safety certificate only relates to let/rented property
(its the annual gas safety certificate)

lullabellea

many thanks for the replies.

I have no idea about the pipe situation - it's an old Baxi Bermuda LFE back boiler. And I think the hot water is gravity fed from loft tank which is why we needed the shower pump.

I had a look at the new Baxi back boilers and like the idea of a one day replacement scenario but they are VERY new and I haven't been able to find any real reviews.

My gut instrinct isnt great with workmen - we used a guy when we first moved house to fit stuff in our kitchen who appeared fabulous - even the floor layer was impressed. Then we he did our bathrooms he turned into the worst workman ever - if I left the house he would exit about five minutes later! The work started at the beinning of the school holidays and finished in late October. And a month later it was revealed the shower pump had been steadily leaking causing massive damage to a lot of that area of the house (couldn't see it in the bathroomas there was a stone floor and water leakage was hidden). He connected it to the mains cold water supply even though it said in bold red letters on the intructions NOT to. Then we discovered the elctrics he'd done were a potential fire risk. I chased him through Which legal but he'd disappeared.

I'm going to call Baxi to see what/who they recommend re the new back boiler and get a few quotes in. The boiler is now on it's best behaviour - when I finally got the pilot lit I changed the settings and now there's no banging or knocking or whistling. Very odd.

Except now the bleeding vaccum has packed up!

Ah well.

dixie_dean_2

Does anyone know anything about about a magni clean or something? Some sort of magnetic device that helps keep the new system clean. Just wanted to kmnow if this was worth paying an additional £150ish for?

Thanks

bambibashercol

Yes its worth it but i would go for a spirovent as they are better quality and been used for years in commercial heating and can now be used in domestic systems.