Electric Fire and Gas Central Heating

Nellybee

I have been looking into getting a gas condensing boiler. I have a inset back boiler with gas fire .Getting a new boiler would mean placing it somewhere else in the house meaning a lot of upset with new pipework .Getting around this i can get a inset condensing boiler using existing pipework but you can not have a gas fire with it in the same chimmney breast.Would getting a electric fire and using the gas central heating work out cheaper .I have solar panels but they would not produce much if its cold enough to put the fire on.On a seperate note have people had many issues with condensing boilers as i research i come accross problems with them .The condensate being acidic rotting the parts ,outlet pipes freezing up in the boilers in winter,and also saying they will not last long enough to get your money back.:beer:

EssexExile

On the general questions about condensing boilers:

We've had ours over 10 years, yes the condensate freezes if it goes outside. My boiler is in the garage which has a drain in the floor so my condensate goes down there now. The only other problems were a gasket a couple of years ago & the igniter recently.

It's difficult to do the payback time sums as the house has been extended, insulation improved & we've retired so the heating is on more. Our gas usage has reduced by a third so we're happy with it.