How much to replace Baxi fire and back boiler with efficient heating system?

rosie383

We have a baxi bermuda gas fire with back boiler in our house. We never use the fire and now one pane of glass is broken on the front of it and we were quoted almost £300 for a replacement pane of glass.
We want rid of the fire anyway, as it a bit old fashioned looking, and as I said, we never use it anyway.
What is a reasonable price for putting in a gas central heating system? We have radiators in all the rooms, but the system we have is rubbish. we have to turn a stopcock-type thing off in the summer so we can get hot water without having all the radiators on. A couple of years ago we had it looked at by a gas engineer and he said that it was so outdated he couldn't fix it.
Everyone seems to be putting in combi-boilers now. Is that the best thing to have? At the mo, we don't have many options, and end up with masses of piping hot water that we don't need so we can have the heat on for a couple of hours.

Owain_Moneysaver

Combi boilers are fine for smaller houses where people take showers, but are a lot less capable at supplying baths.

If you have a new boiler, to comply with Building Regs you will probably also need thermostatic radiator valves, new pump and zone valves, and possibly a new hot water cylinder insulated to the current Part L standards.

Guesstimate £2-3k or if you get British Gas to quote, an independent heating engineer should charge about 60% of British Gas figure.

pepsimax62

Don't know if this is any help but baxi are making new back boilers that they say meet all the regs.The only drawback is they have electric fire fronts although they are nice modern ones and if you don't use the fire not a problem.We're waiting for some quotes to change our back boiler for a new one,it does say on the website that existing pipework is used so hopefully it won't be as expensive and disruptive as putting a combi in.Although our 30 year old back boiler isn't working now we could have the hot water on without the heating so I should think with a new condenser back boiler you'd have that option.

rosie383

Thank you. Pepsimax, can you do me a favour when you get your quotes, please let me know what they are? that would be helpful.

pepsimax62

Yes hopefully by mon night I should know something.I think by the phone conversations their going to try and talk me round to a combi so I,ve said to quote for both.The one said he hasn't put one of these new boilers in but will do if thats really what I want.I've told them I,m buying the boiler and fire front myself on line.Even british gas fit them now so they must be ok.If you look up baxi back boiler you can see the different fire fronts and prices.

rosie383

Did you get any reasonable quotes yet?

pepsimax62

Nothing yet as he's posting it.The one plumber didn't show but the one thats been highly recommended by family and friends did so I'm hoping his quote will be ok.But guess what I let him talk me into having a combi after all ,as he reckoned the cost wouldnt be much more for supplying and fitting a combi as opposed to the cost of buying a back boiler without the fitting.
I was hoping for a straight swap of the back boiler but it involved knocking the fireplace wall to make the hole bigger and all sorts of extras.He said he only supplys worchester combis and gives a 5 yr guarntee with them and he won my hubby over cos he said we didn't need a power flush done like BG had told us we had to have done and wanted to charge us £642 for.
As soon as I receive the quote I'll let you know but I'm sorry I cant give a quote now on the backboiler fitting,hopefully someone else on here will have some idea

pepsimax62

His wifes just posted the quote through the door.For supplying and fitting worcester combi,room thermostat which we've never had,add inhibitor to system and fit trvs its £1,785 plus vat.That sounds ok to me so I'll see what hubby thinks tonight.We will still need a new fire and fire place but that doesn't have to be done right away.Hope this is some help but all the best whatever you decide to do.

rosie383

That is helpful, thank you. Mind you, does it have to be another baxi fire you need? Because they are so expensive. Surely that would put your price up to around 3k.

pepsimax62

No the old boiler and fireplace will be removed as the new boiler will go in the airing cupboard so I can put anything there but have decided to go for an electric coal effect rather than pay extra to have a gas one put back.I've seen one complete with cast iron fireplace for £348 on line.It'll look a 100 times nicer than the horrible huge square fire thats stuck on my wall at the moment.

Acole_Plumbing

Just read pepsimax62 post about the plumber who said a power flush was not needed. Boiler manufacturers stipulate that flushing has to be done and needs to be noted in the bench mark book. If this is not done (and believe me a test sample of the water will soon tell) the warranty is void. The quote seems very good but it does depend on the boiler being installed as a Worcester Bosch 37CDi with flue costs £1272.00 inc vat so check what boiler he is using as the lower the KWs the less hot water will be delivered per minute and when you are talking of a difference of 9lt per minute to 16.9lt per minute for a 37CDi you are talking of a lot of water.