New boiler or stick with 18 year old one ?

FOREVER21

Keep your old one as long as you can.

I replaced my old glow -worm boiler after 27 years service only replaced it because it failed completely.

Replaced it with a Worcester Bosch, this started giving problems after 3 years and was problematic for a further 10 years until. We replaced it . I might have been unlucky but no way was it cost effective to change.

molerat

I am in the 20,000 kWh bracket so as above I would possibly save £160 pa, that £3K is earning at least £81 pa in interest so leaves a total saving of £79 pa so probably 20 years to break even, if gas was the same price as electricity then it might be worth considering.

My 30 year old potterton has broken down 4 times in the 24 years I have lived here so running at 6 years between failures, I doubt a new one would manage that. 1 thermocouple at £20 parts, 1 fan at £80 (cleaned the old one and got it running again but changed it anyway), 1 control box at £80 and 1 clean a lump of soot out of the pressure switch.

ollski

keith1950 wrote: »

BG regularly say this and what this really means is that their usual parts suppliers no long source these parts and BG cannot be arsed to spend time looking elsewhere.

If you use a local heating repair company they will usually be prepared to look further afield.

On a couple of occasions in the past BG told me that parts were no longer available however I managed to source the parts online within minutes.

There seems to be huge confusion on this issue, bg's usual parts supplier are the manufacturers who wholesale parts for bg's national parts centre which is where almost all available spares for almost all boilers are available for net day delivery.

If a part is unavailable as the manufacturer has made it obsolete they will try and find it at one of the secondary merchant suppliers. If they are out of stock too all is not lost as should you be lucky enough to find a new part at another stockist they will usually buy it for you.

When they say parts are unavailale this usually means some, not all. If you ask the engineer he can show you on the laptop which parts are still obtainable and which are not, this is so you can make a decision as to whether you wish to keep paying for cover knowing the situation with parts availability....you'd certainly be whinging if the first time you were told was when your boiler broke down.

vm2pensioner

If it's still working, keep it. New condensing boilers have been a costly failure in my experience.

NaughtySpot

Another person with an old boiler (approx 20 years) who is advised regularly to change it with BG.

I have the Homecare service (which we get every penny from) and something generally goes on it every 12-18 months, but is fixed at no extra cost to myself.

I had a green deal assessment in January, fully expecting a new boiler to be advised, but with their calculations it wouldn't pay for itself in the lifespan of the new condensing boiler (12 years they said). This was good enough for me and we'll keep it until it falls off the wall!

Pincher

http://www.baxi.co.uk/seal-of-approval-for-baxi-from-plumber-peter.htm




I have seen these flue gas heat recovery devices for several years now. Surely you just need to bolt on one of these to an old boiler and it BECOMES a condensing boiler?


If you encase the whole thing in an insulated box, you can even mount it outside the house, with a drain pipe for the condensate. You typically need to add a return filter, which can be housed in the box as well. So, the upgrade would involve diverting the return pipe out through the wall, with a pipe coming back in to continue to the boiler. The boiler output pipe
is unaffected.


Seems like a relatively painless solution to me.

Prothet_of_Doom

ariba10 wrote: »

If it ain't broke

---

Don't mend it!

Plus get quotes for replacement by local reputable firms now, so you know what you want when the time comes.

Our 30 year old boiler gave up the ghost after 6 years of servicing by a local bloke, who said. "Ah, they don't make them like they used to, whilst it still works and I can get parts you may as well keep it...these new one's don't last 5 minutes"

It's replacement cost us £1200.

diywhynot

Pincher wrote: »

http://www.baxi.co.uk/seal-of-approval-for-baxi-from-plumber-peter.htm
I have seen these flue gas heat recovery devices for several years now. Surely you just need to bolt on one of these to an old boiler and it BECOMES a condensing boiler?

No....only for use with specified HE boilers and over £750 just for the unit plus installation by a RGI.

ollski

What type of boiler?, which model?, what type of gas?, what sort of condition is the system in?, is it noisy?, do the rads heat properly?. With that information as a minimum it may be possible to offer some limited advice from afar.

Pincher

diywhynot wrote: »

No....only for use with specified HE boilers and over £750 just for the unit plus installation by a RGI.

I can see that the flue needs to have an air-tight seal when it's mounted internally, and the return pipe should come out above the boiler, but it is essentially a catalytic converter on an exhaust, i.e. something you add to end of the flue. There needs to a balance flue version, and an open flue version, of course.


I don't see why they can't make a generic one for people who want to keep their old boiler going, but still get condensing mode heat recovery.