Considering buying a new boiler - advice wanted

Angilion

My central heating boiler is a bit broken again and I'm getting to the stage where I'm thinking I might be better off in the long run getting a new boiler. This one is ~12 years old and breaking down more often. I've spent ~£700 on repairs, mostly in the last few years, and repairing it is starting to look like a waste of money.

I don't have any spare money, but I can draw on the overpayments I've made on my mortgage. I'd rather not, but it's an option and it's cheaper than a loan. So I'm looking for long-term cost-effectiveness, which means buying good quality.

As far as I can tell, all the major companies are a rip-off. They won't even give me a quote without sending someone round to sell me as much as possible and I've seen no end of people online stating that they were quoted £2K-£3K to replace a boiler. Am I wrong about this?

I'm aware of the scrappage scheme, but I doubt if it will be of any use. My boiler doesn't appear on the official rating lists, but I expect it qualifies. However, I expect that the scrappage scheme will only be available through big companies, which appear to inflate the price by more than £400 anyway.

So...advice, please. I'm intending to hire an engineer to buy a boiler (it will cost them less than it would cost me, right?) and fit it on a parts+labour basis, but I have no idea what boiler to get them to buy or what a reasonable cost would be for labour. I've no idea whether it's a two hour job or a ten hour job.

Essentially, I haven't a clue.

gas4you

It all depends on what boiler, type of system and controls you have at present, as to what price you may be quoted.

If you can post these details it would help to give a more accurate approximation of cost

Canucklehead

Hi

It's a Vokera Maxim 24e


I think a repair would be cheaper than a new one.



GSR.

Angilion

gas4you wrote: »

It all depends on what boiler, type of system and controls you have at present, as to what price you may be quoted.

If you can post these details it would help to give a more accurate approximation of cost

The boiler is a Vokera Maxin 24e. I don't know what you mean by "type of system and controls", so I can't answer that question. Is it more complicated than removing one boiler and fitting another one in its place?

Angilion

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi

I think a repair would be cheaper than a new one.

GSR.

Sure it will...but how many repairs will it need in the future? There comes a time when the cost of keeping an old boiler running is greater than the cost of a new boiler that shouldn't need repairs. I'll also save a bit on gas with a new boiler.

So I'm thinking that over the next 10 years or so, the cost of repairs to this boiler plus the cost of the extra gas used might be more than the cost of a new boiler, even if my current boiler can be made to work for another 10 years.

gas4you

You have a 24Kw combi.

A very rough price for replacing this with another 24Kw combi would be between £1600 & £2000 + VAT.

This would depend on whether the current installation meets today's regulations, for things like flue termination, gas pipe sizes and energy efficiency controls such as thermostatic radiator valves.

Personally I would usually advise a customer to upgrade to a 28Kw if they have a bath.

You should be able to get a good boiler with a 5 year parts & labour warranty for these sort of prices.

Angilion

gas4you wrote: »

You have a 24Kw combi.

A very rough price for replacing this with another 24Kw combi would be between £1600 & £2000 + VAT.

This would depend on whether the current installation meets today's regulations, for things like flue termination, gas pipe sizes and energy efficiency controls such as thermostatic radiator valves.

Personally I would usually advise a customer to upgrade to a 28Kw if they have a bath.

You should be able to get a good boiler with a 5 year parts & labour warranty for these sort of prices.

There seems to be a lot. Worcester-Bosch keeps popping up as the best make, so I fed my details into their website to find a boiler. 1 bathroom, 1-3 bedrooms, gas, combi. It recommended Greenstar 24i junior. I could buy that retail for £628+VAT...and wouldn't an engineer be able to buy it without VAT?

http://www.tradingdepot.co.uk/DEF/product/!!48012420!!/

gas4you

You cannot buy anything VAT rated without VAT.

The customer has to pay the VAT at some point I'm afraid.

You may be getting confused on the VAT system.

I buy a boiler and pay the VAT to my supplier.

I claim the VAT back on my VAT return, but then I have to charge the customer VAT on my prices which I have to pay the VAT man.

In reality I just pay the difference between what I have been charged for VAT and what I have charged for VAT.

You have also not allowed for things such as a magnaclean, new controls, cleaner, inhibitor and don't foget the important fact that you expect a warranty from your installer. Even though the manufacturer warrants the boiler, the installer is the one who is called out first to check it.

If you wanted to supply your own boiler, then no problems, but I would not offer any form of warranty on any parts you have supplied.

It would then be your decision as to whether to call me out at my call out fee before calling in the manufacturer, or risking calling the manufacturer yourself and if there was not a product fault you would probably incur their call out of up to around £200.

Angilion

Thanks for clearing up the VAT issue. I'd have the engineer supply the boiler...but I wouldn't expect them to charge me more than the retail price for it. I'm paying for them to fit the boiler, not for them to make additional profit on reselling parts. I've had that before, with a company trying to charge me £190 for a part that retails at £125 from approved suppliers.

Would an installer offer a warranty on parts anyway?

New controls? Don't boilers include the controls?

arfurrrr

Angilion wrote: »

Thanks for clearing up the VAT issue. I'd have the engineer supply the boiler...but I wouldn't expect them to charge me more than the retail price for it. I'm paying for them to fit the boiler, not for them to make additional profit on reselling parts. I've had that before, with a company trying to charge me £190 for a part that retails at £125 from approved suppliers.

Would an installer offer a warranty on parts anyway?

New controls? Don't boilers include the controls?

what is the incentive for the engineer to supply your bolier at their cost price , processs the purchase order , pay the supplier before you pay them and attend before the manufacturer when it breaks down in warranty on a friday night or saturday or sunday .

aah

Angilion wrote: »

As far as I can tell, all the major companies are a rip-off. They won't even give me a quote without sending someone round to sell me as much as possible and I've seen no end of people online stating that they were quoted £2K-£3K to replace a boiler.

Am I wrong about this?


.....Essentially, I haven't a clue.

Yes you are wrong on the first count - that is what is costs