Renovating a house to sell, how important is the CH/boiler setup?

Nobbie1967

I replaced exactly that setup in my old house a couple of years ago for £3200 because the heat exchanger was shot. Up until then it had work faultlessly for the 20 years I lived there. I doubt you'll get the money back on a cheaper house as many FTB will be strapped for cash and would rather have a working system that they can upgrade later rather than pay £3-4k extra on the asking price now.

vqmismatch

Would it be cheaper or cause much less carnage to replace with a drop in condensing back boiler?

I have too few posts to put links in but some simple googling for 'condensing back boiler' finds some solutions which I struggle to see costing £3000 all in.

That said, if old baxi's are as bullet proof as their reputation, I'd be tempted to keep it and save the cost of insuring a new one and its cost over a ten year life expectancy to spend on more gas. Insurance looks to be about £100 a year, a condensing back boiler comes up at about £900, fitting and another flue is presumably going to take that to 1500-2000ish. Is it really likely to save you enough over the £300 a year break even point to be worth the hassle?

ijrwe

My first rough quote is £2-2,400

About £800 of that is parts, including the boiler he mentioned. Unfortunately the only local gas supply is 15mm and that's no good these days so we need to run a new pipe from the gas meter, a fair distance off.

Doozergirl

You need a better boiler than one that costs £800 including parts if you don't want costs in repairing it. I have no idea of the size of the house but a small Worcester Bosch can be bought online for £850.

In my opinion, a new boiler does not add to price, but an old system would detract from the value by the cost of getting the system updated, plus extra for the hassle of it.

If you are genuinely renovating, then messy things need to be done first. Nobody wants to undo work ripping up flooring and wrecking walls to do something that should have already been done.

The quote you have seems pretty cheap. Check references and buy a better boiler

theGrinch

given the UK and the current climate, its important for 6 to 12-months of the year so very.

ijrwe

Doozergirl wrote: »

You need a better boiler than one that costs £800 including parts if you don't want costs in repairing it. I have no idea of the size of the house but a small Worcester Bosch can be bought online for £850.

By all accounts this is a very good boiler. It's a small house (two bedrooms, five radiators) and this should cope well:
http://www.mrcentralheating.co.uk/baxi-duo-tec-24he-combi-boiler

In my opinion, a new boiler does not add to price, but an old system would detract from the value by the cost of getting the system updated, plus extra for the hassle of it.

Same thing in the end, I suppose.

I googled around a bit and seems a controversial point. By my assessment a new boiler could cost the next owners more as well, unless they don't stay long enough to need any repairs or replacements. It's a complicated forecast to make, hard to judge.

If you are genuinely renovating

Well, that's the question, isn't it! There's no end to what I could do to "renovate" it so I have to draw the line somewhere, possibly excluding things that make poor financial sense to me and dubious/uncertain financial sense to the next owners.

It's interesting how solidly MSE likes the idea of new boilers, it seems somewhat incongruent. But, like double-glazing, it's marketed quite heavily so it's something that sits in our minds as an absolute must-have.

Mojisola

ijrwe wrote: »

There's no end to what I could do to "renovate" it so I have to draw the line somewhere

It's interesting how solidly MSE likes the idea of new boilers, it seems somewhat incongruent. But, like double-glazing, it's marketed quite heavily so it's something that sits in our minds as an absolute must-have.

It's not so much that the boiler is a "must have" but a buyer will look at the fresh decoration and think "But I'm going to have to redo all that decoration because it's going to spoiled when I fit the new boiler". The buyers will take the amount they will need to spend on a new and a total redecoration into account when they make an offer. Your decorating will have been a waste of time and money.

ijrwe

Mojisola wrote: »

It's not so much that the boiler is a "must have" but a buyer will look at the fresh decoration and think "But I'm going to have to redo all that decoration because it's going to spoiled when I fit the new boiler". The buyers will take the amount they will need to spend on a new and a total redecoration into account when they make an offer. Your decorating will have been a waste of time and money.

That's assuming I sell it to someone with no sense and a desire to waste money on a new CH system that would cost them more than it saves... in which case they probably like spending money and will pay a nice amount for the house anyway :money:

It still comes back to this "need" for a new boiler, but no one seems to know why except that someone else will think you do, and maybe they'd only change it because they fear someone else will think they need it, etc.

Mojisola

ijrwe wrote: »

My house has a Baxi Bermuda filling up the main downstairs fireplace. It has a gas fire front and a boiler at the back which does CH and hot water. It's grossly inefficient but I use it very rarely and so don't mind, myself.

BUT, I have no idea how much value on the house I'm missing out on by keeping this out-dated system.

So with this boiler setup, while the "energy rating" is obviously going to suffer massively, and no doubt the house value will be lower by at least a bit, is it worth it to change?

ijrwe wrote: »

That's assuming I sell it to someone with no sense and a desire to waste money on a new CH system that would cost them more than it saves... in which case they probably like spending money and will pay a nice amount for the house anyway :money:

No, they'll buy someone else's house.

It still comes back to this "need" for a new boiler, but no one seems to know why except that someone else will think you do, and maybe they'd only change it because they fear someone else will think they need it, etc.

You've "asked the audience" and got a consensus but what you decide to do in the end is up to you.

ijrwe

Mojisola wrote: »

You've "asked the audience" and got a consensus but what you decide to do in the end is up to you.

I like to try and understand the audience as well, since it's the reasons that might persuade me! But the only one so far is that the next buyer is likely to be a bit thick and a big fan of scary British Gas adverts.

Which is possible, I admit.