MERGED: Boilers - New / Repairs

Daniel_B

Hi guys,
I bought a house 3 years ago, and as soon as we got the cooker connected the boiler was condemned (Spelling?) just what we needed!

We have one boiler for the central heating, and one for the water - the water one (MAIN) was the one that went, however it was estimated to be 20 years old, and looked every day of it.

I expected the worst, but it came in, fitted by a qualified Corgi engineer, at a very reasonable £490 - well I thought it was.

He also mentioned combi boilers were coming in as law soon, but like previously mentioned, he was of the opinion that they would be a lot more costly in the long run, due to added complications, and more circuitry.

From my own expereice I would always go for one boiler to do each task.

My sister and parents both had very expensive brand new Combi boilers (Potterton) fitted, and have had no end of problems.
They seem to be ok for a couple of years, and then it is circuit boards and all sorts going wrong at least once a year.

Incidentally my central heating boiler is Potterton, which looks to be about 7 years old, had it serviced when we moved in, and apart from an occasionally sticky pump, which I can rectify by hand, it has been fine.

The other thing with a Combi, is if it goes down, your out of everything.
At least if one goes, you either have a warm house, or can have a hot shower

Cheers

Dan

Woby_Tide

Daniel_B wrote:

The other thing with a Combi, is if it goes down, your out of everything.
At least if one goes, you either have a warm house, or can have a hot shower

Surely that means two services to pay for, two boilers to potentially break and replace, two boilers noise in the house.

I'm willing to accept the argument that people say having conventional boilers over combis lead to less problems but having two boilers is probably impractical for the majority of householders IMO

Daniel_B

Well we had both the boilers serviced last year, by the Corgi engineer who fitted the new Water boiler, and he said that in all honesty, there is no need to have them serviced annually, every 2-3 years is fine, especially with seperate boilers, as they are under less load than one combi boiler.

He charges £25 per boiler.

To be honest you can't hear either of the boilers, the water one is in the kitchen, and you hear it fire up now and then, not exactly noisy, as your at the sink, or someones in the shower at the time.
The heating boiler is in the upstairs cupboard, and that is also pretty much silent - when we're in bed, its off, so nothing to hear anyhow.

I dare say it is impractical IF you already have a combi boiler fitted, as then you have to get all the plumbing sorted, power and TWO new boilers fitted, I wouldn't suggest that for a minute.

But personally, after seeing all the aggro & huge outlay my parents and sister went through, there's now no way I would voluntarily go the combi route - especially as I already do have all the pipes and cabling in place

Thanks

Dan

johnnyesox

Just put in a new Italian Condensing boiler from C.H.A.S. at a cost of 3k,interest free for 5 years,the difference is amazing,have saved £80-£100 in gas bills in the 1st 9 months or so since installation,so they do work,not to worried about the high cost of the work done,as this will be recouped in house sale next year and paid off,the old boiler was totally inadequate for the size of the house and over 14 years old....cheers from the cold [now warm West of Scotland!]

neily_2

I've been quoted £2,200 + VAT to take a 20 year old boiler & hot water tank from the kitchen and install new 100k BTU Worcester Bosch combi in the loft, and to move a few hot hot water pipes. This sounds alot to me but I've nothing to compare it with? (I live near london)

Leftynick

Hi,

Im having real problems getting someone (anyone!) to come and repair my boiler. It has been tempremental for a while and only really fires when its in the mood which leaves the house like a freezer when we get in from work!

The boiler itself is an ideal classic ff250 and is only around 5 years old. I have tried a number of local heating engineers but all are "snowed under" and couldnt promise to get to us within a month! Im getting that desperate im considering signing up with British Gas on their heating care scheme but even then i doubt i would be covered and would end up paying a fortune through them.

Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions of reliable firms/individuals who do this kind of work and dont charge the earth it would be much appreciated. For info we live in Bradford on the border with Leeds.

Thanks

theloft

You should look through the threads before starting a new one. There have been other discusiions on this subject. Here's one :

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=26858

Fran

neily,

Welcome to mse and your first post!

It's hard to know where to start with so much info on this site, if you do an advanced search (see further up the page when you click on search), you can find out if it brings up previous replies on similar questions.

stevo707

I just had a new Potterton Suprima 40L fitted on the kitchen wall. This was one of the few small enough to fit inside a standard kitchen unit - new kitchen is imminent. It is also a traditional boiler that you will (for the most part) not be able to fit when the new regulations on more efficient boilers come in to play soon. From what I've been told there's less to go wrong with a traditional type boiler - so I was sold on that having had out fair share of boiler woes, and my parents condensing boiler pack-up after 6 months. Was charged £1300+vat, including system flush. Glad to know that it was a reasonable price

anskills

check this website for extremely cheap boilers and central heating systems! if you are just after a boiler they will sort you out a quote also. some good kit on there and the prices are unbelievably low.

https://www.mrcentralheating.co.uk

p.s. as for having two boilers, one for heating and one for hot water is ridiculous in my opinion. the hot water load is so small for a domestic house that it is impractical to have two gas fired boilers running. why on earth didnt you just get an indirect hot water cylinder plumbed in using a flow and return from the heating system. far cheaper to maintain and far more practical in the long term. nothing at all to go wrong with a cylinder and needs nothing spent to maintain, short of any ancilliries such as motorised valves motors going but they aren't expensive