Finding a heating engineer in Aberdeenshire

frozen_wastes

Evening,

Now the time has come where I fancy replacing my 18 year old floor standing boiler (Ideal Mexico 2 CF60P) with a nice new Vaillant system wall mounted boiler.

Since I'm at it, I'm also looking to replace open vented hot water cylinder with an unvented cylinder. Total cost on the two principle components is around £1.5k on plumbnation. Then there's the smaller materials to consider on top. + labour costs.

Now, as I've found out earlier this year. (Some) Plumbers are not cheap. And high prices don't necessarily mean a good job.

I had an en-suite re-fitted in March. Plumber changed £956 for what was 2 days of work, 6 hours each day by one person + time for fixing their own faults. Standard of work wasn't very high (pipes left unlagged under floor & large gaps left between shower valve and tiles). They fixed all my complaints, but I wasn't impressed by their attitude.

Now then, I've now had some recommendations by colleages for an Aberdeen based firm. Good Quality work, but not cheap (ballpark figure of £4.5k-£5k mentioned on the phone).

At that price, it's not worth upgrading for me. Going by the SEDBUK boiler efficiency figures for the old and new boilers, I'm estimating a saving of £300 a year in LPG consumpsion.

My current strategy of phoning plumbers off the gassaferegister website isn't yielding too much infomation as to what the typical installation price for what I want will be. They all insist on a visit, and won't mention a ballpark figure. Trouble is with me travelling about all the time, I'd have to arrange for 5 plumbers to visit me on a Friday evening to measure up for a quote. That's the only shot I've got. It's not gonna happen is it .

So, my questions:
1. Are there any websites out there where people do actually provide reviews on plumbers. There's heaps of websites that allow reviews to be made, but none that actually have any reviews. I sometimes feel like I'm walking through an internet "ghosttown" with some of these review websites.

2. What kind of ballpark figure will I be looking at in Aberdeenshire for a boiler replacement & cylinder conversion (supply + install).

Cheers

Frozen_wastes

BaldPlumber

Just ask your installers for references - don't be fooled into believing that online reviews are necessarily real or truthful.

Your 18 year old boiler is quite a good one and as you point out, the energy savings would not amount to much. Personally I would never recommend that a working boiler be removed unless there was a reason other than it is a bit old - e.g. kitchen refit being planned etc

In terms of hot water performance, you might be better off just getting the unvented cylinder installed - assuming you have the mains pressure to justify it. Make sure you see the installers G3 card - these are controlled appliances.

ailuro2

Does Aberdeen council have a trusted trader scheme? That's usually a good place to start if you've already asked around friends / workmates who did theirs and they didn't come up with any good names.

Then pick three names you like and get them out to give you a quote.

frozen_wastes

I have to say my boiler's never skipped a beat since I moved in 18 months ago. I was reckoning on about £1.5 - 2k (parts + labour) for replacing the boiler alone. Which would give a 7 year payback. Worth it I'd say.

The unvented cylinder is not so much of a money saving consideration - more consideration for "I don't like all that water in my loft when it's minus 18 outside", and "this shower's a bit piddly isn't it".

Mains static pressure is 5 bar.

What's a G3 card, is that a gassaferegister card, or something else? I tend to verify plumber qualifications on the GSR website.

I like this video, very much about unvented cylinder installed badly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu3FwgIHsQA

frozen_wastes

I found a trusted traders list, not from the council, but from a housing association:
http://www.aberdeencareandrepair.co.uk/Trusted%20Traders%20list%20&%20Code%20of%20Conduct.pdf

Well, one of the plumbers on the list is near to where I live, so I'll give them a phone call when I'm next going home.