Boiler replacement quote

manny2003

Hi all

Need your advise about a boiler replacement quote.

Our boiler is a worcester bosch combi boiler and it is coming up to 17 years old. It had been working ok all these years but went wrong a couple of times last winter an has been fixed. We are on worcester service and repair plan.

Yesterday, the radiators downstairs will not heat up and a couple of radiators upstairs are not as hot as they usually are. We have got hot water and bled the radiators and put some more pressure into the system but the radiators are still not getting hot. I have rung worcester and was told that it was most likely the system itself as the pump is working and the radiator nearest to the boiler is hot and we have hot water. The radiators are old.

I have rung a plumber and he think's that we have sludge in the system and says that the hot water is not returning to the boiler and the boiler is more nosiy. We've discussed flushing out the system but he also recommended a new condensing boiler. He recommended Alpha, Valiant or Viessmann. The quote is £2850 for a new boiler, fitting 8 thermostat valves to existing radiators, flush the system and fit a magnet to prevent the system from sludging up. he also needs to put in a new gas pipe from the gas meter to the boiler.

Is this a fair price and bearing in mind we haven't decided which model to go for? He seems to know what he is talking about and recommended the Alpha boiler to us. He can do the work in a weeks time and said that it will take about 3and half day work.

What do you people think about this quote? Do you think it is fair? I just want a warm house. It is freezing.

gas4you

Seems a fair quote to me

lightSwitch_3

First of all get another two quotes. Plumbers have let house prices get to their heads.

8 values are about £120 + fitting - I recon £30 each so £240=£360
magnaclean about £100 +fitting say £80 =£180
Alpha boiler about £750 for 25Kw output + £500 installation = £1250
system flush quotes are from £350-650 depending on the service.

£ 360
£ 180
£1,250
£ 450 flush

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£2240 this is excluding the gas pipe. Do you really need a new gas pipe? He is basically charging you £600 to do that pipe work. That sounds exorbitant.

You are going to need to do a flush anyway. So do that first then use the repair plan to clean out any filters in the boiler. If neither of those work then buy a new boiler.
I have no idea about Alpha boilers but those that are reliable are usually potterton, valiant and worcester. If you have had 16 years of good service from worcester then stick with that make.

I have a vokera linea plus that has been breaking down every year for 7 years, it is 10 years old. The good thing about it, it is easy to fix.

gas4you

By the time you add vat to your somewhat low prices you are not far from the quote with a new gas supply included.

lightSwitch_3

gas4you wrote: »

By the time you add vat to your somewhat low prices you are not far from the quote with a new gas supply included.

I was including VAT in those prices.
A flush is usually 4 to 6 hours. I think £450 is enough, that is a charge of between £75-£110 an hour.

competent plumbers can fit a radiator valve in 15 mins. At £30 installation fee each, that is £120/hr.
Your standard solicitor doesn't even charge that kind of money.

I was actually being generous.:)

keystone

lightSwitch wrote: »

Do you really need a new gas pipe?

Yes he will. Obviously you do not know why.

He is basically charging you £600 to do that pipe work.

Speculation and flawed logic.

You are going to need to do a flush anyway. So do that first then use the repair plan to clean out any filters in the boiler.

That makes sense.

Cheers

keystone

lightSwitch wrote: »

..........I think £450 is enough........

On what basis do you think this? Have you included the (somewhat) expensive chemicals in your considerations?

competent plumbers can fit a radiator valve in 15 mins. At £30 installation fee each, that is £120/hr.

More flawed logic. OP has a quote for the job not for doing it piecemeal.

Your standard solicitor doesn't even charge that kind of money.

Oh yes they do. Anyway you are not paying for his time you are paying for his knowledge and his experience.

Cheers

lightSwitch_3

keystone wrote: »

On what basis do you think this? Have you included the (somewhat) expensive chemicals in your considerations?

Because I had a quote for a system with 12 radiators, the price ranged between £300 and £650. British Gas wanted £750 with some kind of guarantee.

keystone wrote: »

More flawed logic. OP has a quote for the job not for doing it piecemeal.

gas4you said I was not generous enough with the quote so I used the equivalent cost per hour to show that plumbers charge exorbitant prices and still want more.
I've had some ridiculous quotes for my place, leaving me to wonder what planet some plumbers are on.

keystone wrote: »

Oh yes they do. Anyway you are not paying for his time you are paying for his knowledge and his experience.

Cheers

You are right there!

gas4you

I agree, fitting a rad valve in 15 mins is easy, but what about the draining down and re-filling the system, adding chemicals and getting the airlocks out etc etc.

It is not as basic as you may think.

You could easily find 2 hours gone with the above and a problem system could take you the best part of a day to get going again.

Take the cost of the valve away from the £30 per rad and you are looking at about £15 labour. £60/hr is not unreasonable in some parts of the country.

lightSwitch_3

gas4you wrote: »

I agree, fitting a rad valve in 15 mins is easy, but what about the draining down and re-filling the system, adding chemicals and getting the airlocks out etc etc.

It is not as basic as you may think.

You could easily find 2 hours gone with the above and a problem system could take you the best part of a day to get going again.

Take the cost of the valve away from the £30 per rad and you are looking at about £15 labour. £60/hr is not unreasonable in some parts of the country.

I understand what you mean here, unforseen problems and all, but I was pricing the whole job so the draining would be done anyway.
£30 labour only. Parts, I had added £15 per valve in that estimate though I admit it was not written clearly.
So it is £45x8 valves = £360 a total you will see in my post.

I think the OP has given up on this thread!!

keystone

lightSwitch wrote: »

I've had some ridiculous quotes for my place, leaving me to wonder what planet some plumbers are on.

and if you were as forceful and dogmatic with them when they visited to price the job up as you have been on here on what you think the costs/timescales are then perhaps they included a hefty "customer em!!!!!!ance factor" in their price or deliberately priced it to ensure they didn't get the job.

Cheers