New boiler or stick with 18 year old one ?

I_have_spoken

Always , always keep a simple open-flue boiler which don't have any complex electronics with in-built obsolescence. The so-called efficiency of combis is only in lab-test conditions.

local gas shop have said£1.7k for a new one.....advice please

To that add £400+ for a power-flush or else the guarantee on the new one will be void and expect to pay £££s when the power-flush opens up pin-holes in the pipes and rads.

matelodave

Keep the old one until the bottom drops out - the only thing to go wrong on old boilers is the gas valve or thermocouple, whereas all the new ones have microcontrollers, fans, heat exchangers and lots of other gubbins that can go wrong and cost lots to put right.


If it costs 2k to replace and you save £200 off your gas bill it will take you 10 years to get your money back

Have a look on E-bay and get spare gas valve now and you won't have to rely of BG for spares (I got my spare gas valve from the bloke next door when he had his boiler changed - never had to use it though, so passed it on to the other neighbour when we moved

Cardew

There have been loads of threads on this very subject, this is but one example.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2930080

The consensus of opinion is don't change your boiler until it is really broken; and there is so little to go wrong with a non-condensing boiler.

Mine is over 25 years old and apart from a thermocouple or two nothing has gone wrong. I also have a combi, which is 20+ years old, in an annex, that has recently blotted its copybook and needed a new pump.

My plumber was recently complaining that a printed circuit board need replacing in his own condensing boiler and it cost a couple of hundred pounds at cost

Yolina

Whether it's worth changing or not depends on your usage and how long it will take to actually save you money. You need to do the maths

I have a 24ish year old boiler that I am keeping purely because 1) it's working fine (fingers crossed it stays that way ) and 2) I know that with what I use, there is no way that can break even over 10 years. I base my calculations on an assumed saving of 20% because that's what other people in my development who've changed their boiler told me they were saving (and that's probably a generous assumption)

What I am going to do though, is replace my rather large old DG windows with ones that don't leak heat like there's no tomorrow - makes far more sense to me that fitting a more efficient boiler only for the heat to disappear at a rate of knots :rotfl:

MillicentBystander

ExtraMask wrote: »

A boiler that old needs to work harder than a more modern economical boiler. You'll save on energy bills with a new boiler and you'll notice it within the first year how much your usage reduces.

Personally I think it's a no brainer because it's only a matter of time before you'll need a new one. The amount of money you'll save on energy with a new, more efficient boiler over 10 years would far outweigh the cost to install it.

(shakes head)
This is so wrong on so many levels I don't know where to start. I must check out the rest of the thread to see if the poster has been put right and saved me from posting anymore.

Edit: nope, not been answered to my satisfaction so here goes. You remind me of my friends (normally pretty intelligent people as well) who were bragging that they were saving £100/yr on their gas bill due to replacing their old, fairly inefficient but working and safe old boiler for a new fangled combi (Ariston if I remember and the ruddy thing was HUGE). Until I told them that the outlay meant that they probably wouldn't be in pocket/saving ANYTHING for maybe 20 years - and that new fangled boiler very probably wouldn't last that long. They GENUINELY hadn't even thought about the outlay on something they didn't NEED to replace should impact their savings calculation. It's breathtaking, basically, as is the post above.

As Cardew says, these old boilers will basically go on for ever because they are just big geezers in effect with no fancy electronics and other gizmos that historically go wrong. It's very very rare that replacing a working, safe and reliable but inefficient boiler could ever be proved to be money saving. And it's not exactly rocket science either.

NowRetired

What I am going to do though, is replace my rather large old DG windows with ones that don't leak heat like there's no tomorrow

What is the savings per year against new windows?

If you save 5% a year and spend £5000 for new windows how long is it going to take to save money?

That is why my 22 year old wooden double glazed windows will never be replaced. I would have to live to be over 100 to save money

Yolina

NowRetired wrote: »

What is the savings per year against new windows?

If you save 5% a year and spend £5000 for new windows how long is it going to take to save money?

That is why my 22 year old wooden double glazed windows will never be replaced. I would have to live to be over 100 to save money

Said windows have now started failing (condensation between the DG panes) The frames are 25-year old zero-tech powder coated aluminium with no thermal break and therefore get *very* cold and the last few winters I have been getting ice on the inside every so often Right now it's 8.6c outside, the thermometer just by the window in my bedroom is reading 11.5C. I do have thermal lined curtains and all but obviously can't keep these shut in my living room all day! Windows in the living room are a triple patio door (2.40m x 1.90m) + 2 windows (0.75m x 1.20m each) so it's a fair bit of cold coming in... Been hanging onto them for as long as I could (been living here 15 years) but really they're now at a point where replacement makes sense.

The original boiler, however, is still going strong so is staying And it does make more sense to me to sort out the windows first, particularly as I am the boss of me and do a lot of my work from home. Some of my neighbours are mumbling about replacing their windows too so we're going to try and see if we can get some kind of group discount or something

alansmith7

I wouldnt change the boiler and i would keep it, personally i have not had good experiences with the new boilers which i had installed in my house. I prefer the old boilers than the new boilers because they are more reliable

Cardew

paul2468 wrote: »

We have a glowworm boiler that is aprox 18/20 years old....works well and has only ever broke down once in all that time...in May this year we had our yearly service by British gas and they said that with it being so old that if it broke down they could not gurantee parts.
It is working well but would it be worth our while changing it as people have said that with a new one it would pay for itself in a few years ?....dont know what to do...local gas shop have said£1.7k for a new one.....advice please.

The BG 'line' is standard practice. I had such a letter many years ago, followed by a letter offering me a 'great deal' to have a new boiler fitted.

I don't know what the figure of £1.7k is for, but I doubt it covers the complete installation - most people on here seem to pay nearer £3,000.

Don't forget there have been a lot of mandatory changes for the installation of new systems and an 18/20 year old system might well be affected - new diameter gas pipes, different flue, and of course the dreaded power flush.

Also, even though interest rates are at rock bottom, there is still a loss of interest from the £3k or so invested that will offset any savings.

macman

If an independent GSR RGI tells you the boiler is past it, consider it.
If BG tell you, then consider it a sales pitch-and remember that BG typically charge 40% more than an indepedent for an install.