New boiler or leave old unit in place?

Ganga

Hello, i was thinking about replacing our Thorn Olympic boiler for a new boiler, the reasons were:

1) the Olympic is now about 27 years old ( the design is probably 30/40 years old) and is probably very thirsty with the gas compared with new boilers.

2) I am now 62 years old and as i am still working it would make financial sense to relace now rather than wait till it fails and find the cost prohibitive due to the OAP pension.

Now here is the problem. I have been researching boilers on the internet and have come accross a lot of negative comments about the "new condensing boiler systems".

It would seem that the expected lifetime of these new boilers in years can be in single figures .

The new boilers are prone to freezing in cold weather ( seems to defeat the reason for having central heating )

On a Which web site and another by a national newspaper people are saying that the savings quoted by the manafacturers are exagirated and that it will take at least 10 years to pay for the boiler!

Any replies by people who know the answers the above would be gratefully welcomed.

Thanks
Ganga

southcoastrgi

it's not the boiler that freezes it the condensate pipe that has been run outside normally incorrectly, if you can run this pipe inside you won't have the problem, a new boiler can save you around £100-£300 a yr

Pont

My view is it it ain't broke don't fix it!

I, in a foolish whim of 'must get a new boiler' as it was about 30 years old, got a new (all singing and dancing) type. I was 'promised' I would see a huge difference in my gas bills. Did I heck!

My GCH installer also said a condensing boiler is a really carp system unless you live in a small property as 'they're geared up' for small, well insulated properties. Btw, don't shoot the messenger ;-)

Also if you take southcoastrgi's calcs into consideration, average £200 a year in savings, together with cost of purchase and installation of a new system cira £2000 - it would indeed take 10 years to get your money back. This seems to agree with your own research.

Gloomendoom

Pont wrote: »

My view is it it ain't broke don't fix it!

I agree. I have an old Potterton that has doing it's job since the mid 70's. I also did the calculations and concluded that it would take around ten years for the savings to justify the cost of replacing it with a modern condensing boiler. When you bear in mind that there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that the new boiler will itself need replacing within ten years, the sums really don't add up. Mine will get replaced when it breaks, not before.

Cost apart, junking a perfectly good boiler and replacing it with a new one is hardly 'green' is it?

If you are worried about not being afraid to afford to replace it when it finally does pop its cloggs, start saving some money towards it now.

tired_dad

Ive got a thorn 80/100 conventional boiler. 27y old. Works fine. Very few moving parts to fail. Occasionally have the thermocouple changed which is a simple £15 DIY.

I was that close to swapping for an all singing and dancing modern system. Now changed my mind for the reasons stated above.

C_Mababejive

The Thorn Olympic isnt the prettiest of boilers but what it is is cast iron and simple. Spend your money on insulation and/or better controls instead. My boiler is 32 years old. Am i bothered? No..

missprice

I have an original to the house therefore 32 year old boiler that has not yet cost me more than 3 valves in 15 years.
its a little bit heavy on the gas, however it will dry 4 towels overnight in the airing cupboard.
I have the same problem in that it will need replacing but not yet.

A family member has a warm air heating system with a gravity fed hot water system that is around 40 years old and it really does need replacing, but she 'has no money'

just shows the old ones were made to last even if they are gas guzzlers

C_Mababejive

missprice wrote: »

I have an original to the house therefore 32 year old boiler that has not yet cost me more than 3 valves in 15 years.
its a little bit heavy on the gas, however it will dry 4 towels overnight in the airing cupboard.
I have the same problem in that it will need replacing but not yet.

A family member has a warm air heating system with a gravity fed hot water system that is around 40 years old and it really does need replacing, but she 'has no money'

just shows the old ones were made to last even if they are gas guzzlers

Indeed though they dont even have to be gas guzzlers.

My current monthly DD for gas is about £34 for a two bedroom mid terrace and I'm in credit. The boiler is rage rated down to about 38,000 Btu input which is about 11Kw

If we take a small Worcester Bosch combi ,the 24i Junior..well the output is 24Kw which equals around 82,000 Btu/hr

So whats the difference?

Not much to me apart from one burns a lot more gas although having slightly better combustion efficiency.

macman

A properly installed and lagged condensate pipe will not freeze except under the most exceptional weather conditions.
The technology is fine, if the instructions are followed to the letter.

macman

The factor you have not take into account is the possible increase in gas prices over the next decade; that could greatly increase the annual saving.

Gloomendoom

macman wrote: »

The factor you have not take into account is the possible increase in gas prices over the next decade; that could greatly increase the annual saving.

In that case, when it happens, you redo the sums and think again. However, given the cost of fitting a modern boiler and taking into account their apparent poor reliability/lifespan, gas prices would have to rise considerably for it to be financially worthwhile.