Installing a New Boiler

abandonded

Need a new boiler and have decided for no particular reason to go for a combi. We have 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a toilet, living room, dining room, kitchen, utility room and 14 radiators all in. Can anyone advise as to what I could expect in the way of estimates and a rough timescale for the job?

teddysmum

Price will depend on the brand you choose, whether you go for an expensive company such as British Gas, an accredited to a brand local or just a local with no affiliation. Also, it depends on whether the new boiler needs relocating and if your gas piping needs upgrading (ours, from 1972,did).


Ours is a one bathroom three bed semi and the job, including new radiators took about three days, as we had some other work done,too.

SevenOfNine

4 beds & a study, the rest the same as you. We chose not to have a combi though, so just for a ballpark comparison for you:

New boiler went in only slightly different location to the old one so copper pipework leading out to gas supply had to be replaced.

Power flush central heating using chemicals took 1 day. Our engineer said anyone who does it faster has not done it properly!

Install Worcester Bosch Greenstar 24ri boiler.
Install new Grandfos 15-50/60 pump.
Install MagnaClean Professional 2 magnetic Filtration 22mm.

In total, he was here 2 1/2 days, GasSafe registered & got our Building Regs Compliance Safety Certificate afterwards.

Total cost £2013 inc labour & that was 27/07/15

If you can, get a recommendation. We used someone who'd fixed our old boiler a couple of times.......& we have struck GOLD with him.

Smodlet

Guess we all have different experiences. We have a 3 bed semi, so half the number of radiators you have, OP. We got a Worcester Bosch 30i ERP in May, cost £2003 however, this was during BG's half-price sale on boilers so that saved about £550. Unfortunately, the sale finished in April. I managed to talk them down another £300 so the full price would be a couple of hundred short of £3k. An independent who came highly recommended quoted us £2200 for the same boiler. These prices do not include any pipework as the new boiler went in exactly the same place as the old; nor does it include a magnetic trap. These are advisable but optional.

It is always advisable to get at least three quotes for these things, I think, and boiler prices seem to vary widely and be negotiable, to an extent. This came as a surprise to me but it was more like buying double glazing or a second hand car; the price quoted is not necessarily what you pay, certainly not with BG. It costs nothing but time to get a quote from them and they will send a surveyor, who can tell you what capacity of boiler you need for your property. I suspect you may need a bigger one than we do.

Our system flush through took nearer an hour than a day and this was done by a BG employee with decades of experience. We also chose to have the work checked by Gas Safe afterwards and they found no problems with it.

Browntoa

Id avoid a combi with 2 bathrooms , if hot water is required at the same time in both it will struggle to supply and you end up with a trickle in both rooms . I've got a standalone boiler and a tank for hot water , problem solved with hot water at good pressure at ALL taps

teddysmum

Browntoa wrote: »

Id avoid a combi with 2 bathrooms , if hot water is required at the same time in both it will struggle to supply and you end up with a trickle in both rooms . I've got a standalone boiler and a tank for hot water , problem solved with hot water at good pressure at ALL taps

Despite it being said that combi boilers can't cope with providing two lots of hot water at the same time,we have no problem with one person having a bath , while another is washing dishes.


My hairdresser, with a household of five adults,moved from a house with a combi,to one with a hot water tank and couldn't wait to get another combi,depite the fact that the installed system was in good working order.


Her complaint was that,once one person had a bath,the hot water in the tank was cooled by incoming cold, meaning the next person either had to wait or make do with a lower temperature than they wanted.

Smodlet

It really does seem we have widely differing experiences. Our new combi works just fine, provided only one tap is on at a time. As soon as another is turned on, the pressure drops like a stone. There are a huge range of different combi's, though, with different capabilities, which is why a survey is a good idea.

fred246

We have got a Megaflo which is great but significantly adds to the cost. You need to research pros and cons of unvented cylinder vs combi. I found massive savings when I priced up what was needed for a new boiler. So the engineer would say yes about £2500. I would then show a printout of the boiler for £700. Flue another £100. Then ask how long it takes to fit. About a day. So labour is £1700 a day? Then changed quote to £1300. I once phoned up 3 engineers for a quote then looked outside the house and there were 3 vans in a row. They love fitting new boilers. Massive profits.

abandonded

Smodlet wrote: »

Guess we all have different experiences.
Our system flush through took nearer an hour than a day and this was done by a BG employee

When you say it was done by a BG employee, am I right in thinking that although he was employed by BG, the actual job was not carried out through the company? I ask this because we had our system flushed last year and it took a full day and cost £700. Having watched the engineer at work, I cannot see how flushing a system properly, could be done in an hour.

abandonded

I'm just so glad that I raised this thread because I was under the impression that replacing a boiler would cost double what has been suggested here. Having read all of the posts, I have decided to call in BG for a quote and advice. Meantime, thanks to all who contributed to the thread.:)

Sjmb

We had our boiler replaced by British Gas in 2014. We didn't expect them to be the most competitive, but after getting quotes from 3 firms, they were, so don't discount them, you just need to see what offers they are running.