Recommission old oil boiler?

snowscreamer

Does anybody know if it is permitted to recommission an old oil boiler? The house we are buying originally had oil-fired central heating from a Worcestor Danesmoor boiler in the kitchen, but two years ago the current owners had the central heating changed over to an electric boiler (Amptec).
We are currently negotiating with the current owners over this as we were told the central heating was mains gas... anyway with electric more than twice the price of oil they have suggested a compromise is to reconnect the old oil boiler but my understanding is this would not be allowed as it is non-condensing.
We have had a quote for a new Worcester Greenstar condensing boiler (new location, new flue and new condensate pipe, associated new pipework to radiators, hot water tank and oil tank) - which is £4500. The current owners claim a new oil boiler is unnecessary and have offered £500 discount on the agreed price as they say we can have the old boiler reconnected. Can anyone with any experience offer suggestions or clarification?
Thanks in advance!

bobmedley

As long as it hasn't actually been de-installed then there is no issue.


Every time my oil boiler is serviced, the engineer dutifully informs me that the tank is not up to latest OFTEC regs but it is of no consequence unless I decide to replace it.


£4,500 will buy a lot of oil & as you may know non-condensing boilers are very simple and rarely go wrong - if they do, repairs are a cinch (example, my burner packed up after 15 years & was replaced for £500 and will probably last another 15 years).

snowscreamer

I think it has been de-installed, at least the pipework has been cut off and the flue disconnected...

bobmedley

But it's still sitting there in the same position?


Just get an OFTEC engineer to reconnect the flue (say the old one was leaking & that's why the boiler was switched off) & a plumber to reconnect the water and away you go.


Do you intend to try and get the £4.5k off the vendors asking price?


If so, ignore everything I said...or


Get £4.5k off and have it re-commissioned later.

snowscreamer

Yes we do intend to do exactly that! They have offered us £500 as a peace offering on the proviso that we could reconnect old boiler rather than have a new one.

We want to prove that reconnecting the old one isn't an option if possible! I think we will replace regardless, as no doubt the old boiler would give up at some point whilst we lived there (will probably stay 7 years) so may as well save the money reconnecting the old boiler and just go for a new more efficient one straight off.
Also a nagging feeling that they wouldn't have changed the boiler at all if the old one was genuinely problem-free, which makes me suspect it is not,

bobmedley

Tell them building regs stipulate a new boiler - link;


http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/br/BR_PDF_PTL_DOMHEAT.pdf


And OFTEC regs stipulate a new tank - link;


http://www.oftec.org.uk/Media/Default/DocGalleries/PDF%20documents/PUB19_HomeGuide_DomesticOilStorage_Iss2.pdf


Should give some good leverage for a discount

snowscreamer

Thanks. The £4500 doesn't include the tank, we were going to address that later (and the plumber advised us that the tank was OK and could be replaced later, wouldn't save much to do them together).

I looked at building regs earlier and reckoned they could have broken them upon installing the electric boiler as its carbon equivalent efficiency (compared to oil) is 62.7%. I can't imagine the old oil boiler was less than 64.7% efficient?! Our solicitor has requested installation certificates so we shall see what they say.

Silent_Dancer

You will probably find the old oil boiler has corroded after a couple of years of none use if it has been drained and will leak.

Ray_Alexander

Hope you can get the old boiler reconnected, seems like a waste almost if it can't be re-used.

snowscreamer

Ray_Alexander wrote: »

Hope you can get the old boiler reconnected, seems like a waste almost if it can't be re-used.

Hey Ray,

After gaining access to the house it became rather apparent that it would not be cost effective to recommission the old boiler even if we could find a plumber to do it, as the flue that previously ran up the centre of the house into the roof had been blocked with the installation of a shower where the flue had previously been run on the first floor.

We had a new oil boiler installed in a different site on an external wall, with new flue on the same wall, new hot water cylinder (as the old one was immersion-only :mad:) and new oil tank (as we soon discovered the old one had several leaks).

Moral of the story is, don't believe anything your seller tells you!!

We spent £6,500 in all for the new cylinder, tank, boiler and installation. I am pleased to report though that our oil usage has been much lower than expected; coupled with the savings compared to using the existing electric system (incidentally I suspect this would not have been up to much in a cold winter as it was only 6kW) we do stand to make this back within 3-4 years.

Our total oil usage since April 2014 is 700 litres, and as we bought 1000 when the oil price was 0.59 this has cost us £413 (much cheaper now!! - we topped up 500 litres a couple of weeks ago for 0.37). I don't think that's bad at all for 9 months of heating and hot water. I used to pay more for gas in my tiny 2-bedroom flat.

Silent_Dancer

The boiler will have rusted if it has not been used for two years and is highly likely to leak. Insist everything is updated or a suitable ammount is taken off the house price.