True cost of boiler repairs

hwalkerh

Hello

My 2 year boiler warranty has just expired. The company rang me today to say that i can extend it for £90.

he gave examples such as a main heat exchange repair being £600 and a pump repair being £250. Are these relistic cost? how much would the part be and how many hours labour will it be?

I dont know if they using scare tactics to get me to buy it?

I still think that a boiler should manage to last more then 2 years, but i can imagine that i am not going to win the arguement that things should be built to last a reasonable amount of time even if i used the official trading standards words.

thanks

ormus

250 is possible for a pump replacement. but you can get it done cheaper if you shop around.
a pump only cost 30/60 quid ish. less than an hour to change.

so you pay 90 quid per annum and if the pump dies at 3 yrs, you will have paid 270 quid out? my previous pump lasted 10 yrs.
do you like gambling?

gas4you

Depends what boiler you have.

I've just priced a pump change for a Vaillant combi. About £230 + VAT.

Only standard pumps can be obtained at those prices, even then, not very good ones.

pimento

British Gas do a few different types of Homecare. I have a three year old Vaillant and used to have the cheaper monthly price but with a £50 call out charge (I think it was about £14.00 a month) I now have the full cover, but this also includes an annual safety check.

I have this because I can guarantee that if my boiler does decide to go wrong it will be Christmas Eve, -10 degrees and trying to find a plumber in my neck of the wood that would come out on a bank holiday is harder to find than the holy grail.

British Gas do come out within 24 hours in my experience. Worth every penny unless you're married to a Corgi.

antilles

As a previous post mentions it's a gamble. Companies must make money from the service plans otherwise they wouldn't do them in the first place. Therefore chances are you are unlikely to use the plan, when you do you could have probably paid for the repair several times over anyway.

But many people have them for peace of mind.

Jolie_Madame

In reply to the query about the true cost of boiler repairs I guess it depends on what has gone wrong.

When our Potterton boiler failed it was the PCB at fault. We were recommended to 'compumerv' on ebay and saved over £300 by having an exchange PCB, which is still running fine. :T

A few weeks ago our neighbour's Ideal boiler broke down, and his engineer got a PCB from the same seller - apparently they exchange all makes.

In terms of cost, it is possible to save a lot of money if this part is what you need.


Hope this is helpful.

jcorbygas

If you let us know the make and model of boiler you have, then maybe one of us can tell you what the common faults/problems that we get called out to on this boiler are and how much they might cost to get sorted out to help you make your decision.

hwalkerh

Its a Valliant eco tech plus 831

thanks

gas4you

Pumps and pressure sensors are the main culprits on these, especially pumps.

Pump change is around £180 on these, pressure sensor about £80-£100

iamcornholio

Razor blades, printer inks ........ boiler parts. Someone has a right scam going I think.

The expected life of a bolier would be more than 2 years, and probably at least 5. So you should have no qualms about suing the supplier for any repair costs in this period.

You may be better off taking a repair contract with BG which will include an annual service for about £12 (?) per month, or just save some money and if a repair is needed use one of the fixed fee repairs from BG or others