The so-called 'experts' have no idea, do they?

C_Mababejive

Indeed rustyboy...

There ais a growing group of people who are conning themselves by buying CO alarms and using those as reassurance that everything is ok and doesnt need attention.

I'm not saying that every single gas appliance must be serviced at great expense every year.

As a general guide i would say that appliances which should be serviced every year would include;

a)open flued central heating boilers..i.e those which are not room sealed and have a "chimney" arragement off the top of it.

b) All older type central heating boilers which have cast iron heat exchangers

c) Gas fires which are used regularly i.e the main one in the lounge for example

I would advocate the use of a good quality CO alarm where you have ordinary open flued gas fires (eg fitted in a fireplace),and open flued central heating boiler.

I would further add that when you buy your CO alarm,you read the instructions carefully,fit it accordingly,and know the signals it gives off as they can be prone to false triggering.

For example fitting in the wrong place,orientation or too close to appliance can cause false triggering. Exposure to certain houseold substances can render the devices unreliable/useless.

If it false triggers and you phone someone about it,then you will end up paying for potentially un-necessary checks/tests/services.

amcluesent

My open-flue, simple boiler hadn't been touched for years, beyond me popping the cover off and vacuuming around the burner and flue. I replaced the thermocouple myself, a new one was just £7.

Played up a bit this year, just needed the pilot jets cleaned, which I got the GSR man it to do for a one-off fee.

The boiler may only be 75% efficient, but I installed a Digistat 3+ which, IMHO, is greatly reducing inefficient short burns I had with the old roomstat.

penrhyn

Snap, I replaced my old roomstat with a Digistat too, gives me a lot more flexiibility, and it was a direct swap for the old analogue drayton room stat.

Garz

MillicentBystander wrote: »

It's all to do with money saving, backfoot. My boiler is 20 years old, we have it seviced annually and, so far, touch wood, nothing has gone wrong with it (old boilers are far more reliable than the new, sophisticated boilers, btw). I reckon our boiler is running at 80% efficiency compared to a new one. Our annual gas bill amounts to approx. £450. A new boiler running at maybe 95% efficiency would therfore, theoretically, save us maybe £70-£80 per annum. Yay!! wait a minute - how much to replace a working boiler? £2,000+? That would mean the new boiler would 'pay' for itself in 25 years! that's if it lasted that long (the new ones simply don't). That's why it is stupid advice to replace a working boiler in the vast majority of cases.

+1 in a nutshell this mirrors my sentiments.

welda

Millicent, I wasn't having a pop at you, it was more at welda as they are bragging at not having anyone out to it, even for servicing for 5 years.

Rustylad, I was not bragging, I was stating a fact, I think you will find individuals who do attemp servicing/doing a repair on a boiler will be fairly hands on, and very competant, of course you will have the other end of the scale who have no clue and tamper anyway? You left out a couple of important facts from my posts.

1] NG boiler is outside house, electrical and pipework comining into house is 100% sealed at two points of my system. Not going to kill someone outside in a boiler house is it!

2] I have access to two GSR engineers, I prefer to take advice from qualified engineers, than someone who only sells these goods. (the latter is noway a jibe at what you do for a living btw)

It is frightening to think that people are chancing their lives with not having a boiler serviced, if anything, it could stop the expensive repair bills when it does break.

Fair comment, there are folks who prefer to have a service contract in place. As for myself, If I have a problem, say just after one year warranty ran out, I would have to foot the bill for repair. Where as in my case, I have been very fortunate/lucky to have had problem free years since installation. I will add this important point though. I ask GS mates on an annual basis if they thinka service is required (they know it is located outside house) their reply is normally "if it aint broke".............

Some people may think I am a moaning minnie on here, but it frightens me that people either dont look after dangerous appliances properly by servicing them, or think that they can repair said products themselves. There are too many deaths/accidents each year with gas appliances not being looked after.

You are quite right to point these facts out, with hindsight, I should have added other important facts, however, please remember there are many competent, and wise people more than capable to perform certain tasks on gas appliances, also wise enough to know when to call in the experts when a certain task is way beyond their capabilities. Not thefirst time I have kicked something off, minutes or hours later phone the experts.

:beer:

davidgmmafan

I rather thought it was against the law to take the cover off a boiler unless you were properly qualified or registered? I could be wrong in this.

I can't understand people not having it serviced though, you wouldn't do the same with your car and expect it be in tip top condition would you?

Agree with OP, there would be savings but it will take a LONG time to off-set the outlay.

Cardew

MillicentBystander wrote: »

My boiler is 20 years old, we have it seviced annually and, so far, touch wood, nothing has gone wrong with it (old boilers are far more reliable than the new, sophisticated boilers, btw). I reckon our boiler is running at 80% efficiency compared to a new one.

You can get the exact efficiency of your boiler (when new) from the SEDBUK tables www.sedbuk.com/

I would be surprised if a 20 year old boiler was 80% efficient when new - my 22 year old main boiler is 65% and a 18 year old Combi in an annex is 70% efficient.

From what I understand with the old non-condensing boilers there is nothing that effects their efficiency other than the requirement for cleaning burner etc.

Certainly there is nothing that can be adjusted that affects the efficiency of mine other than the size of the pilot light flame.

Personally I think that the Government mandating condensing boilers is a disgrace. They are stuffed full of electronics and the replacement of a single electronic board can wipe out 2 years of savings.

I really would like to find figures for just how efficient condensing boilers are in 'real life' use. The problem as I understand it being that you can set up a CH system with all radiators in the house on and the return temperature of the water at the optimum to condense. However if you have just one or two rooms heated,(as happens during the day in most houses?) the set-up is less than optimum and the efficiency drops off?

Cardew

davidgmmafan wrote: »

I rather thought it was against the law to take the cover off a boiler unless you were properly qualified or registered? I could be wrong in this.

I can't understand people not having it serviced though, you wouldn't do the same with your car and expect it be in tip top condition would you?

Agree with OP, there would be savings but it will take a LONG time to off-set the outlay.

My understanding is that a gas-safe fitter is required if any gas connection is broken.

I need to remove the cover of my boilers to re-light the pilot light. Also the only thing that has ever gone wrong on my main boiler(in 22 years) is a faulty thermocouple. (this is a device that cuts off gas supply if the pilot light goes out) I have changed these myself.

As stated in my post above, there is nothing on most(all?) non-condensing boilers that can be adjusted to affect their efficiency; so I don't think the car servicing analogy applies.

The problem with boiler servicing is that you cannot argue rationally once 'the safety card' being played.

Boilers are of course 100% safe if they are serviced each year, but absolute death traps if left 2 years between servicing I suppose!!!!!

Daz2009

Maybe if the cost of replacing your old boiler was not too expensive then it would be worth doing and I do have to wonder where these figures of £2,000 and £3,000 come from.
I had a new condensing boiler fitted just under 2years ago at a cost of under £1,000 all in !

Cardew

Daz2009 wrote: »

Maybe if the cost of replacing your old boiler was not too expensive then it would be worth doing and I do have to wonder where these figures of £2,000 and £3,000 come from.
I had a new condensing boiler fitted just under 2years ago at a cost of under £1,000 all in !

The boiler alone can cost close to £1,000(obviously some are cheaper)

It is necessary to have the CH system power flushed(at a cost of £hundreds) or the guarantee is not valid.

Condensate drain, different flue, etc etc all bump up price.