New Scrapage Scheme......Boilers.

adr0ck

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

It tells you the manufacturer warrants their goods for 1-2 years.

My telly has a 1 year guarantee. Still going strong now.

Just because a part has a guarantee it does not mean it is designed to fall apart the moment the guarantee fails.

Heating Engineers claim that boilers last seven years, well some anyway, you cannot speak for all. They do have a vested interest in that don't they ?

most boilers have a 1 year warranty

quite common to get 3 yr warranties on new tv's

cars have as standard between 3 - 5 years warranty

one boiler maker offers a 5 year warranty

i take it the company you work for does not

spartacus - read around the internet - most modern boilers will need some sort of new part within 5 years

adr0ck

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

I work for a boiler manufacturer and can state categorically this is not the case.

Boilers will last as long as people want them to as long as they are prepared to have them regularly serviced. If people do not have their boiler serviced then a fault is more likely to develop.

yes you did spartacus

C_Mababejive

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

I work for a boiler manufacturer and can state categorically this is not the case.

Boilers will last as long as people want them to as long as they are prepared to have them regularly serviced. If people do not have their boiler serviced then a fault is more likely to develop.

Modern boilers are more likely to be troublesome simply becuase they are more complex.

Take for example,my elderly Spacesaver CF. A small block of cast iron with a simple aerated burner under it fed by an industry standard Maclaren valve,a simple pilot light and a thermocouple. Its surely as basic as you can get and bombproof. OK so it isnt the height of efficiency but my house is well insulated so i dont use much gas anyway.

Contrast this with a modern HE combi.
Well it will probably have a premixed modulating burner with all the controls systems to go with it. Fans,pressure switches,flame failure controls. Special materials needed in manufacture to resist the highly corrosive condensate. A good wadge of electronics. Interfaces for engineers to plug laptops into,finely machined brass water bearing components ready to be wrecked by the first whiff of acid flux from a dodgy installer.

Then when its finally fitted..well theres the whole combi/storage argument re efficiency. The additional strain on the gas and water supply networks when everyone wants their 40Kw combi to produce hot water on a winters eve..


Not that long ago we had little BF circulators with a burner not much bigger than an oven burner to heat a full cylinder..a plentiful supply for a family home. Now we seem quite content to burn 40Kw and ony run one tap in many cases!

No no...I'll hang onto my old boiler. I would have to think about it even if they gave me an £800 scrappage allowance and even so,id choose a system boiler.

It is often the case that the most critical part of a new boiler, and non more so than in the scrappage scheme,is the installation.

It is perfectly possible for a new boiler to be all but wrecked within months due to incompetent installation. There will be plenty of Bert Bodgits lining up to maximise profits on this scheme,just like under warm front.

As for servicing..I'd venture that in many cases,they would be better off not serviced as the quality of the gene pool of engineers is pointing firmly downhill and has done for quite a few years.

Spartacus_Mills

adr0ck wrote: »

yes you did spartacus

That is hardly the same as saying they will last forever.

The onus is on the owner to ensure the boiler is maintained.

Spartacus_Mills

C_Mababejive wrote: »

It is often the case that the most critical part of a new boiler, and non more so than in the scrappage scheme,is the installation.

It is perfectly possible for a new boiler to be all but wrecked within months due to incompetent installation. There will be plenty of Bert Bodgits lining up to maximise profits on this scheme,just like under warm front.

As for servicing..I'd venture that in many cases,they would be better off not serviced as the quality of the gene pool of engineers is pointing firmly downhill and has done for quite a few years.

I think you have a point here with respect to installation and alot of this anecdotal claptrap about modern boiler life is coming from installers who are probably covering their own ineptitude. I do not think that the boiler manufacturers can be held to account for poor installation unless it is their installer who fitted the boiler.

However we offer installers training and those who avail themselves to it are, by and large, intelligent and well motivated people who want to gain a good understanding of the issues in the parts they are dealing with.

adr0ck

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

That is hardly the same as saying they will last forever.

The onus is on the owner to ensure the boiler is maintained.

you said that boilers will last as long as people want them to

that sounds to me like your saying they will last forever

all boilers should be maintained once a year anyway (so its hardly relevant) - and just because its maintained doesn't mean that the parts wont fail

adr0ck

Spartacus_Mills wrote: »

I think you have a point here with respect to installation and alot of this anecdotal claptrap about modern boiler life is coming from installers who are probably covering their own ineptitude.

its not our fault its the installers fault :rolleyes:

if thats the case why does your company only offer a 1 year guarentee?

for your information the plumbers we use always go on the manufactuers training days - we insist on it and so do they (both plumber and rep)

just out of curiosity spartacus whats the company your working for planning to do when you won't be able to install gas boilers in new houses? - are they moving into Air source / ground source etc - what looks the most economical at the mo?

C_Mababejive

I think the time has come in the UK to have a major rethink about building technology.

The area of gluing blocks of baked clay and ash together with cement needs to come to an end.

It is archaic,too random,uneconomic and not very energy efficient.

What we should move to is an era of high quality manufactured homes.

These would be designed and built in sections in modern factories to ensure quality control,consistency and energy efficiency.

See for eg

http://www.weberhaus.co.uk/3602.html

In this way,new modern ,energy efficient homes could be built at affordable prices.

adr0ck

C_Mababejive wrote: »

See for eg

http://www.weberhaus.co.uk/3602.html

In this way,new modern ,energy efficient homes could be built at affordable prices.

but these homes cost more to build

C_Mababejive

adr0ck wrote: »

but these homes cost more to build

I know what you mean...but thats becuase in the UK,they are currently a premium product,often bought for erection as large luxury detached residences.

If the process were scaled to produce typical three or two bed detached homes of "normal" size,then the economies of scale would bring the prices down and the market would be the dominant mainstream one rather than the specialist one.