British Gas Quote for Combi Boiler.

squeeldoggy

Hi all.

Just joined this excellent site, so first time posting, sorry if it has already been asked.

My very old boiler (heat only) is on its last legs. It received its yearly service a week ago, the gas engineer lady said that although it is still working ok , it is just barely efficient (71%) and that the parts are very scarce to get hold of. She also said that the Flue is letting in rain water causing corrosion to flue and boiler parts. It is also making a hell of a racket sometimes and it blows a fuse every now and then. Gas Lady suggested that I should replace my system with a more efficient A rated boiler. She said that my boiler is becomming dangerous and she was very close to condemming the whole boiler. She has slapped a big "AT RISK" sticker on it and said it would be condemmed at next breakdown or service. Its over 15yrs old and I have been meaning to replace it for sometime but just didnt get round to it.

British Gas sales Rep came to house today to measure up and supply me with their best QUOTE/PRICE. He actually gave me 2 quotes.

1 replace boiler and radiators total £4700. (7 rads + combi)
2 replace boiler only total £3800.

I nearly choked. I wasnt expecting that amount. Seems far too exspensive to me. Are these quotes about right. I have an upstair downstair 2 bedroom terraced house, just a normal house nothing extra ordinary. Just seem way way too much for me.

How much would it normaly cost for a boiler replacement using a self employed Gas Installer.

Whats the best Combi Boiler to get.

I mean I do have the money to replace the boiler system but Im not willing to pay overcharged installation costs by BG.

Sorry for the Rant Guys and appreciate the help.

Kind Regards
Scotty

dogshome

Hi squeeldoggy - BG being as big as they are, trade on the fact that people tend to trust their word and quality of work, when the fact is that their charges for installations are probably the highest in the Industry, and their installations are not always to the best standards.

Look at it this way, their engineer is so unhappy with the boiler she has stuck an 'At Risk' label on it, yet this 'risk' is so great she is content to to leave it running until the next service, which is a whole year away ! Of course this has nothing to do with the commission to be earned on the cost of a new installation


Of course your 15 year old boiler isn't as efficent as a new one, but your new one will be a 'Condensing' boiler which are loaded with electronics, have a flakey record for reliability and are expensive to repair
Even with a service contract with BG, if it was me I would still get in a local guy to look at the boiler,
put a cowl on it's flue, and if he thinks it is at the end of it's life, give a price for changeing it along with 2 other quotes.

Cardew

Agree absolutely with the post above.

Many of us are 'soldiering on' with 20+ year old boilers(mine is 22) and there is a very strong consensus of opinion that you should not replace a working boiler.

The savings(for a smallish property with 7 radiators) in running costs can be measured in £tens per year(almost certainly less than £100) and the cost of a new boiler will never be recovered.

DVardysShadow

dogshome wrote: »

... Look at it this way, their engineer is so unhappy with the boiler she has stuck an 'At Risk' label on it, yet this 'risk' is so great she is content to to leave it running until the next service, which is a whole year away ! Of course this has nothing to do with the commission to be earned on the cost of a new installation

Nothing to do with the commission :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:.

And the At Risk stickers are from the Safety Fairy rather than from the Marketing department. I bet it is a really scary sticker and I bet it is one of those that make a real mess when you try to take them off.

Enough to convince me never to let BG near my gas.

squeeldoggy

Thanks for the help Guys.

I need to get the Boiler replaced, if only for my peace of mind. The old Boiler is situated in a large cupboard in my 2 year old sons room. I dont like the thought of the old boiler in my sons room. I have all the carbon alarms but it still makes me worry. I would prefer to install a new A rated combi boiler. Just now with old system we get heat only, we have to turn boiler on for an hour just to get enough hot water for a bath. having constant running hot water will be great.

Anyway I got a quote today from an engineer who stays round the corner from me. He has still to tally up and write and deliver quote to me but he said that his guestimate is £2000 ish, give or take a couple of hundred. I still think thats too much. Im not tightfisted and am willing to pay the correct price, I just dont want to be ripped off by paying an inflated high overcharged price.

Guy said that system needs a power flush before the combi instalation to get rid of black crap.

And also I need an extra pump for the pumping of excess/run off to my main stack up in loft.

He said the flush and the pump add quite alot onto the cost of boiler.
Im getting more quotes over the next few days.

Kind Regards and thank for the help guys
Scotty

macman

So how much do you think the job you require is worth? It's not just a boiler change, it's a complete new system. Around £2K does not seem unreasonable on the info given. Especially at this time of year when installers/repairers are at their busiest.

neilmcl

I would have thought a combi, particularly if it's half decent, and 7 rads plus pipework and TRVs would easily be in the £2-3K range, probably nearer £3K.

cing0

Agreeing with the posts.

Standard practice for British Gas is to:

Claim the boiler is obsolete and the parts are not available.
Charge double the price, require power flush etc.

I'd use a switch site to get a different service supplier (Npower etc) who will cover it. I know someone who installed a small metal shelf above the flue to stop dripping water from a window shelf above getting in. My boiler is over 40 years old and never breaks but does consume 6m3 gas per day.

C_Mababejive

What make and model of boiler is it?

ollski

Wow some of you guys really do spout some ill informed and ill advised rubbish, virtually all your facts about bg are wrong so why on earth post something you have made up as advise?

Take your bg quote and get 2 or 3 more to compare. 'At Risk' means there is a risk of it becoming unsafe but at the moment it isn't but you have been advised to remedy it by replacement.

We can't give you any idea on a replaement cost as we don't know what you want / need, a junk ideal / ravenheat / b&q special will cost you 400+ wheras a chp combi bg can now offer is more like 3k boiler only, we don't know the installation issues, access, supply, water pressure etc etc

squeeldoggy

Hello Guys

Im only getting a new A rated Combi Boiler installed, No Radiators. I will continue to use my existing radiators with the new boiler. Im going to clean/flush all the crap myself out of the radiator and copper pipe system when new boiler is installed. I will disconnect each radiator one at a time and take Rad into back garden. Open both ends of Rad, connect hose to flush crap out. Then fit them all back and bleed the system. Then I will conect a hose to Rad nearest the upstairs boiler and also connect a hose to futhest away Rad and let the hose empty into the garden. Then I will do hot and cold flush for a wee while and hopefully this will remove most of the gunk in the pipe and radiator system.

I spoke to another Gas Engineer about my pipe and radiator flushing idea and he said it was fine to do this, just connect Rads to Boiler and bleed.

The Engineer came to my house at 18.30 tonight and looked at my setup and gave me a rough idea on the cost of his quote. He will add up all cost and put the quote in writing in the next few days. He gave me a ball park figure of £1400 , give or take an extra £100 if I need an extra pump installed to pump the run off to the main stack drain. He said that the run off is only a little trickle and he will look into this. I might not need a pump for a wee trickle, other solution might be available.

He is an Approved Volkera Engineer.
So his quote of roughly £1400 will include,

Flush system with chemicals to clean and disolve the crap inside.
Supply and install an A Rated Mid Range Volkera Combi with Wireless Thermostat.
Install 5 new thermostat knob thigs to 5 Rads.
Install new Blow Pipe underneath floorboards and running to outside wall.
Either a 3 or 5 year warranty on boiler, cant remember which.
All pipes and Flue pipes included.

All for £1400 ish. What a deal this is. I knew the other quotes where overly high in price. If I accept his quote and get the work done, I will have saved £2300 on the British Gas quote for combi replacement. Im now very happy. Im still expecting another visit tomorrow night from another Engineer, but barring miracles I will deffo accept £1400 quote from John. If tomorrows quote includes a top of the range Combi and only cost a couple of hundred more then I would consider paying more for lets say a Baxi or Valliant or Worcester or Similar top of the range model, but I cant see tomorrows quote being any cheaper than £1400.

So all in all, Im very very happy.
£1400, What a deal. ( or does it seem too good to be true.)

Regards
Scotty

PS. (how I found all my quotes??) I went on Gas Safe website and used their search function to find local Gas Engineers near me. My search found 75 Gas Men and Companies within 5 miles of my house. All Engineers are Gas Safe Registered. Self Employed Engineers are cheaper than the big Companies. Thats My Opinion on My Overall Boiler Replacement Results...