New boiler for 20 year old, 4 bed house?

Xeorix

We've just bought a house which was built in 1995. It currently has a vented system with Gloworm Ultimate boiler with 2 shower pumps in the airing cupboard.

The boiler at the moment is positioned on a wall we want to remove, so we are looking at replacing the boiler due to its age and wanting to have a smart thermostat.

The house itself is a 4 bed detached, with 2 showers (1 bath shower) and about 12 radiators.

We have had a quote to fit a combi boiler in a new location in the kitchen, and to strip out all the old pipework, tank etc.

The quotes we have had are as follows:

Worcester 30si. £2200
Worcester 28i. £2100
Vaillant pro 28. £2050
Vaillant pro 24. £2000
Baxi duo-tec 33. £2050
Baxi duo-tec 28. £1950
Ideal independent 30 £1740

Can anyone recommend any of those boilers, or if they're even going to be suitable for the house?
Would we be better going with a new condensing boiler and keeping the hot water tank and shower pumps?

FiremanDave

I've got a baxi similar set up to yours 15 rads no issues with it. You'll get multiple arguments on make. Like Nike or Adidas for trainers.

daveyjp

Have you asked the installer why he has quoted for boilers ranging from 24kw to 33kw?

If a proper survey has been carried out, including a mains water pressure test, boilers of similar outputs should be compared, not a range at similar prices.

Mains pressure will also dictate if a combi is suitable. In a large house I would keep a boiler and tank system.

cyclonebri1

An awful lot of folks considering new boilers this week, but unless you are the the position of the OP, just having moved into a property, then you really are better waiting until after winter.

The same could even be said of the OP, provided the system he has works fine. Don't go all out for ripping it out until it's been tried for a few months, it's often said here that the cheapest boiler to run is the 1 you have now

Xeorix

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

An awful lot of folks considering new boilers this week, but unless you are the the position of the OP, just having moved into a property, then you really are better waiting until after winter.

The same could even be said of the OP, provided the system he has works fine. Don't go all out for ripping it out until it's been tried for a few months, it's often said here that the cheapest boiler to run is the 1 you have now

The thing is we're having a new kitchen and the boiler needs to be moved. We've been quoted £700 to move the boiler, and since its over 20 years old, we might as well just get a new one fitted

cyclonebri1

Xeorix wrote: »

The thing is we're having a new kitchen and the boiler needs to be moved. We've been quoted £700 to move the boiler, and since its over 20 years old, we might as well just get a new one fitted

Then yes indeed, it's a good a time as any, I was making the point for your benefit and anyone else as boilers seem to be the hot topic this week, that you need a reason to swap out a perfectly good boiler,

huckster

Xeorix wrote: »

We've just bought a house which was built in 1995. It currently has a vented system with Gloworm Ultimate boiler with 2 shower pumps in the airing cupboard.

The boiler at the moment is positioned on a wall we want to remove, so we are looking at replacing the boiler due to its age and wanting to have a smart thermostat.

The house itself is a 4 bed detached, with 2 showers (1 bath shower) and about 12 radiators.

We have had a quote to fit a combi boiler in a new location in the kitchen, and to strip out all the old pipework, tank etc.

The quotes we have had are as follows:



Can anyone recommend any of those boilers, or if they're even going to be suitable for the house?
Would we be better going with a new condensing boiler and keeping the hot water tank and shower pumps?

The quotes seem cheap to me, so you should ask for a full specification of the work they intend to do. Are they going to flush the system out before the new boiler is installed ? Are they going to fit new TRV to radiators ?

Otherwise you risk having paying more, when they add on additional work.

EmmyLou30

Sounds similar to our house built in 1992 that we just bought. We replaced a boiler and tank system with a combi boiler as we wanted rid of the airing cupboard where the tank was. Needed a 28mm incoming supply as the boiler is a Worcester Bosch 38cdi. This size was recommended as we have two bathrooms like yourselves. So yours seem to be sized rather small in your quote if they're combi boilers. There's also no need to replace your pipe work just because you get a new boiler - that's a common con job. We have 22 year old 8mm microbore and it's working fine with our new boiler.
If you don't desperately want rid of your water tank then I'd just replace the boiler with a new one that isn't a combi. No need to replace a system that works fine.

SuzieSue

EmmyLou30 wrote: »

If you don't desperately want rid of your water tank then I'd just replace the boiler with a new one that isn't a combi. No need to replace a system that works fine.

That's what I am going to do as I like to have the immersion heater as a backup if the boiler fails.

EmmyLou30

I wouldn't have gone to the trouble and expense of rerouting pipes from the old tank and having a new gas supply and everything if I hadn't wanted to steal the airing cupboard space back for my new bathroom (it sat inside the main bathroom with the access door over the toilet rather than your normal airing cupboard that opens out on the landing so it's just an awful design). If it had been a normal airing cupboard on a landing I'd have just replaced the old boiler downstairs and kept the tank so I think you're making the right choice.

cyclonebri1

PaulWhitehouser wrote: »

As your boiler is some 20 years old, I think it's best in the long term to get it replaced. With 20 years wear and tear it might not be that efficient ! I can say this as me and my partner moved into a large house and decided to keep the boiler and "see how it went"! Well our heating bills were going up and up, even though we were using less heating ...

So, after scouring the web and dodging `good advice` about boiler brand X,Y,Z we found a firm called stl heating and energy. we were suprised when they offered to visit and do a free site survey, but we thought "well ok!". Anyway, they explained that a worcester boiler would be ideal given the size of our home - and they explained how our old boiler was chewing up cash - i.e. large heating bills!

Yeah I'd recommend them - esp. as they can do boiler fitting / replacing too and don't "run off" like one man bands! Well worth a call!

Is this SPAM???from a 2 times poster??


Edited to say;


It must have been, it's gone now.