Advice on plumbing costs!

Concernedcustomer_2

Hi everyone

I'm new on here but am looking for some advice. My boiler has broken down (just in time for Christmas!) and I've been told I need a new one. Mine's an 'Ideal' bpoiler and pretty old so I'm not hughely surepsedm I need a new one.

But I was surprised when I got the quote - £3500!:eek:

There's a lot to do, but I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this is a fair estimate...

Drain down complete system, disconnect existing boiler and clear away hot water cylinder and storage tank in the ceiling
To alter pipework and convert indirect system to a pressurized system 450+vat
To supply and fit new MAIN 25 ECO A rated condensing boiler £1650+vat
To supply and fit two 45 degree bends as well as a 1 metre flue extension
To connect all relevant pipework to existing system
to supply and fit vertical flue on the roof 450+vat


To powerflush existing system .
To introduce a chemical corrosion inhibitor to the heating system £380+vat
To connect boiler to existing electrics 48.72+vat

So that's £3500 (including VAT)
Am I being ripped off???
Thanks so much

reginald_2

I think you need a split in to materials and cost of labour. You can work out the boiler,flue and fittings cost from online. I would think they could just drain the header tank in the roof and cut , seal the pipe work with out removing it. May save a bit. If it's £3500 and it take half a day then it sounds expensive. If it takes a fortnight then it's cheap. My local plumber charges me around £200 for a days work if I supply the materials.

dogshome

Hi concerned customer - Corrosion inhibitor £380 + VAT ? Suggest you get alternative quotes

I'm not a plumber but do take care of my own CH system with the exception of the boiler. Corrosion Inhibitor cost around £20 a litre and 2 litres is more than enough for the average house

penrhyn

Any particular reason why you have gone for a combination boiler, a heat only boiler would be a much easier and presumably cheaper installation.

Did the quote include provision for installing a new 22mm gas pipe from the meter to the boiler?

dlm4473

Price of Boiler £600 +Vat
Price of flue (1m ext, 2 x bend, 1 x vertical kit) 180 + Vat
Time clock £55 + Vat
Pipe & fittings approx £125

Approx Materials Cost 1175 inc Vat

Installation & Commissioning (Generous) 6 Hours (excl power-flush)

Approx hourly rate £304 (1 person) £152 (2 people) !!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you think your getting ripped off ???

British gas will charge approx 3500 - 4500 for same (free power flush worth ?!!! £650)

As for power flush, a new boiler can be very quickly chocked up by sludge from old system if this is not done properly - but you would be much better to replace every radiator in the house than to clean them (approx £65 each + £15 new valves excl fitting) - my thoughts on this is - why clean something that has corroded so much it could cause failure of your new boiler (and continue to cause problems) when you could get shiny new ones that are more efficient and have NO corrosion for not much more money?

Electrical work will most likely consist of disconnecting lead from immersion (if fitted) disconnecting lead from fused switch on old boiler and reconnecting to new - 2 cables = 6 wires. Fitter will have it done in 5 minutes flat - £48 :rotfl:

Its no wonder, in my opinion, that there are 20000 unregistered gas fitters in Britain when "the professionals" are such rip off merchants !

MillicentBystander

Concernedcustomer wrote: »

Hi everyone

I'm new on here but am looking for some advice. My boiler has broken down (just in time for Christmas!) and I've been told I need a new one. Mine's an 'Ideal' bpoiler and pretty old so I'm not hughely surepsedm I need a new one.

But I was surprised when I got the quote - £3500!:eek:

There's a lot to do, but I was wondering if anyone could tell me if this is a fair estimate...

Drain down complete system, disconnect existing boiler and clear away hot water cylinder and storage tank in the ceiling
To alter pipework and convert indirect system to a pressurized system 450+vat
To supply and fit new MAIN 25 ECO A rated condensing boiler £1650+vat
To supply and fit two 45 degree bends as well as a 1 metre flue extension
To connect all relevant pipework to existing system
to supply and fit vertical flue on the roof 450+vat


To powerflush existing system .
To introduce a chemical corrosion inhibitor to the heating system £380+vat
To connect boiler to existing electrics 48.72+vat

So that's £3500 (including VAT)
Am I being ripped off???
Thanks so much

We had a boiler fitted in my late father's house. I looked on the gassafe website for plumbers in my father's locality and got 4 to give me a quote and made each one aware I was having 3 more quotes. Seemed to work, the best quote was £1850 fully incl. Good stuff installed as well:

Vaillant EcoTec 28 combi boiler
Re-siting of boiler from back porch to bathroom.
Chemical flush
Magnaclean supplied and installed
Wireless thermostat/programmer.
Valves fitted to all existing (8) radiators.
All pipework
All electrical work (qualified electrician turned up for an hour)
2 year warranty on work
Gas safety certificate issued.

All done in 1 day (mind you it was a looonnggg day!)

I suggest you ring round and play one off against the other. Far too many plumbers trading these days, and it's a cut-throat business.

dlm4473

penrhyn wrote: »

Did the quote include provision for installing a new 22mm gas pipe from the meter to the boiler?

Why would he need a 'new' one ?

penrhyn

Heat only boilers only need a 15mm gas pipe to feed them, combination boilers because of their higher volume gas demand require a larger bore gas pipe.

Pincher

A 30kW condensing boiler I had put in this year came with 15mm gas inlet. It's supposed to be old pipework friendly, but my gas safe guy said he has to put in 22mm gas pipe from the meter for boilers above ~15kW, according to regulations.

If the supply has good pressure, and the pipe run is short, and the gas safe guy measures the pressure, 15mm should be OK. In fact, due to the higher efficiecy, a condensing boiler uses less gas than an old boiler with the same heat output, so if the old one was running OK on 15mm, the new one should as well.

The nightmare comes when you get a good deal on a nice gas hob in the sales, with a wok burner. The gas safe guy turns up, shakes his head, and tells you you need a 22mm pipe from the meter. And then you find the gas pipe is buried behind your nicely fitted kitchen units. :eek: And then the shop tells you the hob is sold as seen, no refund.:eek::eek:

cbrpaul

MillicentBystander wrote: »

We had a boiler fitted in my late father's house. I looked on the gassafe website for plumbers in my father's locality and got 4 to give me a quote and made each one aware I was having 3 more quotes. Seemed to work, the best quote was £1850 fully incl. Good stuff installed as well:

Vaillant EcoTec 28 combi boiler
Re-siting of boiler from back porch to bathroom.
Chemical flush
Magnaclean supplied and installed
Wireless thermostat/programmer.
Valves fitted to all existing (8) radiators.
All pipework
All electrical work (qualified electrician turned up for an hour)
2 year warranty on work
Gas safety certificate issued.

All done in 1 day (mind you it was a looonnggg day!)

I suggest you ring round and play one off against the other. Far too many plumbers trading these days, and it's a cut-throat business.

Perfect advice :T:T