Boiler replacement: BG or independent?

petithamu1980

Hi all,

I've never been on MSE before...so this is my first post. I didn't know where else to go so I'm hoping I can get some advice from here.

We have a 25 year old conventional boiler, a Potterton Profile or something...lately it has started turning on and off every few seconds so we had it checked out by BG Homecare team and after 3 days they finally fixed it. In the mean time I requested BG to send someone to give me a quote on a new boiler since it is quite old. BG guy came, very nice and very knowledgeable as you'd expect them to be and after a lot of talk, he said we should replace it with another gas boiler (A Baxi Solo 15HE) as the tank is still good and the pump was just recently replaced. His quote was £2600 all in (VAT and such) including one year complimentary Homecare and powerflushing and all those tech talk I don't understand. He said the new boiler will cut at least 30% off the bill (currently it's £90 a month just for gas!!)

I wanted to get a few more quotes so I had another quote this morning from an independent plumber who was recommended on several online reviews. He took a look at the boiler and said we need to get a Worcester combi as it will save so much more money than a gas boiler because with a combi you will only pay for what you use. He also said the boiler BG will install, the Baxi, is the worst boiler on the market. He said if I go with him, I will receive 8 year guarantee from Worcester (so anything goes wrong, contact them) and 2 year service with him. An annual service with him will be £85 (well with BG Homecare is included). The independent guy quoted £2800 all in.

I'm meeting another guy next week but I just wanted to get some opinion about this. I know nothing of boilers and felt the BG quote was quite fair and we've had good experience with the Homecare team. But a lot of people are complaining about BG service and that they are way more expensive than going independent. I'm also getting mixed reviews about the Worcester Combi and the Baxi Solo.

So not sure what to do...any help is greatly appreciated! If you require more details about the old boiler, let me know and I will do my best to answer!

Tiffany

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

The independent plumber quoted more than BG?! That's a first.

See what quote the third chap gives you. It should be much lower than the first two.

Nothing wrong with BG's homecare imo, it's the best product on the market for those that need that sort of thing. For boiler installs though they are notoriously expensive.

MillicentBystander

Put your post code into the search box on the gas safe site and select 5 mile radius and see just how many plumbers come up - I would suspect lots! The plumbing trade is over-subscribed so many are now resorting to contracting to the Big 6 and fitting overpriced installations for them. With this in mind, in the absence of anyone who can recommend one, ask 5 of them to come round and give you a WRITTEN quote and also explain exactly what you are doing (i.e there will be at least 4 more plumbers quoting). I think you will be surprised at the lowest quote.

This is exactly what i did with my late father's boiler installation and this is the one I went with (completed in 1 day which included reloaction of the boiler from downstairs outbuilding to upstairs airing cupboard.

Vaillant Pro 28 Condensing Boiler
Horizontal Flue
8 Pairs of Radiator Valves
Wireless programmable Thermostat
Magnaclean
Chemical Flush
All necessary pipe work and fittings
£1750.00

Granted this was 3 years ago. The plumber lived less than a mile away.

petithamu1980

MillicentBystander wrote: »

Put your post code into the search box on the gas safe site and select 5 mile radius and see just how many plumbers come up - I would suspect lots! The plumbing trade is over-subscribed so many are now resorting to contracting to the Big 6 and fitting overpriced installations for them. With this in mind, in the absence of anyone who can recommend one, ask 5 of them to come round and give you a WRITTEN quote and also explain exactly what you are doing (i.e there will be at least 4 more plumbers quoting). I think you will be surprised at the lowest quote.

Ohh I didn't think about asking the independent guy a written quote, he came around with another guy (who didn't talk but was a bit intimidating...) and just verbally gave me the quote and a lot of tech talk I didn't understand.

I liked the BG guy cuz he actually explained things and the price isn't too steep so I thought maybe it's not a bad option but thought I'd see the indy guy to see but he was very much 'BG is crap, that boiler they recommend is crap, mine is so much better' kind of attitude...kind of put me off to be honest...

petithamu1980

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays wrote: »

The independent plumber quoted more than BG?! That's a first.

See what quote the third chap gives you. It should be much lower than the first two.

Nothing wrong with BG's homecare imo, it's the best product on the market for those that need that sort of thing. For boiler installs though they are notoriously expensive.

That's what I thought, too! With BG there's obvious the payment plan and with indy guy I have to pay in one go. I really liked the Homecare thing especially when we had problem recently and the same BG guy came back 3 days in a row to fix it!

macman

BG will typically quote about 40% more for a boiler install than an independent. And no new boiler will save you 30% off your gas consumption.
So, with interest, you will be paying a lot more than £2,600 to BG.
PS: if the Homecare guy had been any good, why did it take him 3 visits to resolve the fault?

petithamu1980

macman wrote: »

BG will typically quote about 40% more fror a boiler install than an independent. And no boiler will save you 30% off your gas consumption.
So with interest you will be paying a lot more than £2,600 to BG.
PS: if the Homecare guy had been any good, why did it take him 3 visits to resolve the fault?

well, 1st guy came and fixed a different problem and the second problem didn't occur till after he left so I had to make another appointment for the following day. The second guy came and had the parts and said the part should fix 99% of the issue (he was familiar with the problem). He stayed after he fitted the part and then it didn't fix the problem so he investigated longer and found in the very back of the water tank what the problem was. He ordered the part from the manufacturer, came back the next morning and the manufacturer missed one bit on the part so he called again and they sent it the next day. So to no fault of his own but he did fix it!

You say no boiler will save us 30% off, the independent guy said the new combi would save us 50%!

MillicentBystander

50% saving?? Was he wearing a !!!!!! Turpin mask?

petithamu1980

MillicentBystander wrote: »

50% saving?? Was he wearing a !!!!!! Turpin mask?

I don't know what that mean...:o

But yeah, he said with a combi, we can cut our bill by half...

macman

If he didn't ask you if you actually wanted a combi, or do a flow and pressure test to see if a combi is even practical, then he's suggesting that because the profit margin is higher for him. A combi will involve extra work and expense in removing the hot water tank. There is no practical efficiency difference betwen a combi or a conventional boiler, as the stored hot water loses very little heat.
Anyone who claims '50% saving' is a cowboy, so time to find another RGI to quote. Anew condesning boiler will be more efficient, but it may take you ten years or more to get the capital cost back in gas savings-by which time the boiler will need replacing again.
What is actually wrong with your existing boiler? BG have a habit of telling people that that parts for old boilers are no longer available, when others can source them very easily.

petithamu1980

macman wrote: »

If he didn't ask you if you actually wanted a combi, or do a flow and pressure test to see if a combi is even practical, then he's suggesting that because the profit margin is higher for him. A combi will involve extra work and expense in removing the hot water tank. There is no practical efficiency difference betwen a combi or a conventional boiler, as the stored hot water loses very little heat.
Anyone who claims '50% saving' is a cowboy, so time to find another RGI to quote. Anew condesning boiler will be more efficient, but it may take you ten years or more to get the capital cost back in gas savings-by which time the boiler will need replacing again.
What is actually wrong with your existing boiler? BG have a habit of telling people that that parts for old boilers are no longer available, when others can source them very easily.

No, he didn't ask if I wanted one, he just took a very brief look at our current one and said, 'get a combi', didn't do any test either...

Our existing boiler isn't really doing a great job at heating up the flat. It's 25 years old and it has seen better days...we first contacted BG Homecare because we came home from holiday and the whole thing died. It was having problems before we went on holiday so I actually did make an appointment with BG to see it but the whole thing died before the appointment took place. The issue before the holiday was the boiler would sound like it was trying to start and then shuts off, you never see the pilot light, you just hear it. The radiators would warm up but never hot. The boiler would continue this on/off thing for about 20 minutes then the pilot light would come on and last 5 minutes and back to the on/off thing again. So we called BG to come back the second time and the guy fixed it after getting all the right parts. He didn't say we need a new boiler, he said this boiler is fine but it's not energy efficient as it is quite old. He said BG can come by and do a quote but we don't need to take it but just see what he says.

The BG guy who came to do a quote looked at it the boiler and asked us question. He asked if we would like a combi but we asked what was the difference. He gave us car analogy (which hubby loved) and said it's more cost effective to get another gas boiler and not a combi because there is nothing wrong with the tank or anything else. To be honest, hubby was ready to go with BG as a £2600 quote isn't horrendous but I wanted to check a few...

So I should kick this indy guy to the curb then? What's a cowboy...apart from the American term I know of...