Back boiler replacement??

nicimaxwell

Sorry if there's already a thread on this.

So my husband and I are considering buying a 1970s terraced house. It still has its original back boiler. The current owners say they've never had any problems with it.

My questions are....

How long is this boiler likely to last before packing up?

Is it terribly inefficient to run?

Can I replace it with another back boiler? Hw much would this likely be and would it be worth it?

Could I replace it with a combi system and would this be worth while? How much would this likely cost?

We are not entitled to any benefits or anything but we are aware that after buying our first property we are going to be skint!!! Can you still get mortgages with an add on for home improvements?

I_have_spoken

>Can I replace it with another back boiler? <

Don't think so, fatty Prescott made it mandatory that all new installs are condensing boilers.

>would this be worth while?<

Unlikely, any savings in fuel would take years and years to cover the install costs and modern boilers are hopelessly unreliable. They are designed to fail as soon as the guarantee expires - that's what all the electronics does.

southcoastrgi

baxi do make a condensing back boiler BUT you can only have an electric front fire

vaio

and if the boiler has been there since the '70s it could well be a big lump of cast iron with a gas burner underneath it.

Really simple and easy/cheap to repair in the very unlikely event that it goes wrong

Poppy9

I have a 30+ year old baxi back boiler in my house. Since we moved in 18 years ago we have been aware we might need to change it.

We have an annual service via BG homecare and if we have any faults with CH system they come out to repair.

To date the boiler has never broken down. We have had to have motorised pump replace, hot water cylinder and a few other bits as the system is old but it works.

The biggest downside for us is the ugly (but very toasty) gas fire that fronts it. We were going to replace when we bought the house but a nicer fire to fit back boiler was around £1000 and we felt it wasn't worth it if we were going to have to change the boiler so 18 years later .............:D

For us to replace our back boiler is a going to be expensive and disruptive. Current boiler is located on inside wall (we are a semi) and we will have to move it about 35ft to outside wall. We would gain an empty airing cupboard though which we could knock out and make 4th bedroom bigger.

ed110220

When we moved into our house just over a year and a half ago we had the Baxi back boiler checked over, the engineer recommended keeping it as he said they are very long-lasting and simple to maintain.

On the other hand, it is inefficient by modern standards, so you might have to do the sums to see if the gas replacing it would save would make it a good idea.

oxfordmark

We are/were in the same position as you.

Terraced house with BB. We asked one of our plumbers about replacing it. He said in the last 10+ years he has never replaced a BB with a BB.

So we have gone for a Worcester Bosch combi. Full re-install of our CH system.

gas4you

I have replaced a BBU with a new condensing BBU.

NEVER again!!!

If it is 30+ years old, then it will be extremely inefficient and depending on the make, spares may not possible to get.

I have had customers where I have taken the old BBU out, new condensing combi put in and they have later called me to say they were saving 43% on their gas bill.

Personally I would advise getting it taken out asap, before you settle in and add your mark to your new property. Very roughly around £2500-£3000

cyclonebri1

I_have_spoken wrote: »

>Can I replace it with another back boiler? <

Don't think so, fatty Prescott made it mandatory that all new installs are condensing boilers.

>would this be worth while?<

Unlikely, any savings in fuel would take years and years to cover the install costs and modern boilers are hopelessly unreliable. They are designed to fail as soon as the guarantee expires - that's what all the electronics does.

There is, or at least was a couple of years ago a caveat to that.

It goes something along the of "unless to difficult to do so".

Glow worm and others were "giving away" new back boilers then,

southcoastrgi

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

Glow worm and others were "giving away" new back boilers then,

I've never seen a GW back boiler, 99% of them were baxi

rustyboy21

southcoastrgi wrote: »

I've never seen a GW back boiler, 99% of them were baxi

Gloworm did make a back boiler unit at the same time as Baxi did, but they had Baxi fires making the fires for them, which was odd to me.

They were an absolute nightmare, every one I sold went on the fritz, so they stopped them. It wasn't a few years ago, more like 15.

OP stick with your BBU until it packs up, just save some money each month, to pay to replace it when it does.