New Central Heating system and boiler

katies_mum

Our heating system is over 25 years old and has given up the ghost. I have so far had 5 estimates from local heating engineers.

I need new combi boiler which is to be moved from the garage to the airing cupboard (directly above), 8 radiators, new piping etc. We live in a 3 bedroomed semi. Old system is to be removed and tanks etc to be removed. We live in the North West.

First quote £5,500 with an Ariston boiler was going to take 7-10 days

Another £4,580 with Worcester Greenstar 30SI boiler, copper piping, flushing chemical to flush system our and then inhibitor added to safeguard against corrosion. 7 year warranty

Another quote is to drain down existing system and flush out to clean, remove old system, fit new radiators, plastic pipework, Intergas 30RF combi boiler £4400 10 year warranty. Nice guy who took his time to explain everything.

Next estimate doesn`t say much but its for a Vaillant Eco Tec plus 32 boiler plus radiators £4500

Finally Worcester SI30 boiler, 5 year warranty £3280 (bloke who works on his own) £3280

We are really liking the sound of the Intergas boiler, did think the quote might be a little cheaper than the Vaillant and WB as I understand the boilers are slightly cheaper. But £4500`ish seems to be coming out as the average price (I was hoping the estimates would be under £4,000)

Also can anyone advise on plastic pipework rather than copper?

The two main choices would be the Intergas or Vaillant.

Any advice would be great, thank you

krey

either way you are getting ripped off and should look for more quotes. Or buy all the stuff yourself and just hire someone to come and fit it if you can't do it ( although it's rather simple).
Had to change the whole system in our house as well, bought the boiler ourselves (that same worcester) for around £850 , got someone to hook it up ( as you must get someone certified to do that) for £200, a rip-off for what it is, but oh well you must get that damn paper to sign it off..

did the radiators/pipes myself ( took about 11hours to do 7radiators and mostly new pipes everywhere).
cost for copper pipes/thermoregulators right around £240
cost of 7 double panel/double convector 1200x600 radiators - £420 ( from screwfix,they are the cheapest and best there)


So total (for boiler/instalation and the pipes/radiators): £1710 for more or less what you got there
+ a days work to fit all the radiators.

katies_mum

Don`t think could get prices anywhere near that

missbiggles1

Is there a reason you need to buy new radiators rather than just replacing the boiler?

ariba10

Four of the radiators in our house are the original ones fitted when we fitted our first boiler (a Rayburn Rhapsody) in 1969.

missbiggles1

ariba10 wrote: »

Four of the radiators in our house are the original ones fitted when we fitted our first boiler (a Rayburn Rhapsody) in 1969.

We've just fitted a new condensing boiler in our house with some original radiators from the 30s and some that were added in the 50s. I don't think I've heard of anybody replacing the whole system (particularly with comparatively modern radiators) rather than just the boiler.

krey

why not? I have listed my costs for the boiler/new system and a labour/sertificate to hook the boiler up, it's 1-2days job for any plumber to hook up the radiators. so you are being charged 2k for that 1-2days job.. Couldn't you really find someone cheaper for just the radiator fitting part and supply the radiators/boiler yourself?

about the new radiators previous posters are suggesting that you might not need them, you would be mad not to have them because the radiators themselves don't really cost that much,the only part where it gets expensive is getting someone to fit them if you can't do it yourself.

missbiggles1

krey wrote: »

why not? I have listed my costs for the boiler/new system and a labour/sertificate to hook the boiler up, it's 1-2days job for any plumber to hook up the radiators. so you are being charged 2k for that 1-2days job.. Couldn't you really find someone cheaper for just the radiator fitting part and supply the radiators/boiler yourself?

about the new radiators previous posters are suggesting that you might not need them, you would be mad not to have them because the radiators themselves don't really cost that much,the only part where it gets expensive is getting someone to fit them if you can't do it yourself.

Even if radiators are comparatively inexpensive, why replace them if you don't need to?

Anyway, the OP isn't talking about just fitting new radiators, s/he's talking about ripping out all the pipework and starting from scratch.

katies_mum

Our system is old and was installed when the house was built (30`odd years ago) before we moved in. The pipework is really narrow compared to what is filled now and none of the radiators have thermostats and only have piping going into them from one side - if that makes sense.

Because its all old and a new boiler would be so powerful I have been told by every plumber I would require new pipes etc and I think it would be a good idea then we know everything has been renewed, would hate to think a few months down the line I had a leak due to old pipework and fittings. Hope this makes sense

keith969

katies_mum wrote: »

Because its all old and a new boiler would be so powerful I have been told by every plumber I would require new pipes etc and I think it would be a good idea then we know everything has been renewed, would hate to think a few months down the line I had a leak due to old pipework and fittings. Hope this makes sense

My previous house was built in the early 50's and still had copper pipes from that era (and even a couple of radiators, hard finding a curved replacement for the one in the living room bay window!)

When we had the extension done and a new boiler etc. the existing pipework stayed put as it was fine. Replacing it would have meant taking up lots of floorboards, I can imagine the cost would go up quite a bit as a result.

Only thing I had to be careful about was when moving a radiator subsequently - original pipes were 3/4" and needed an imperial to metric coupler as 3/4" is not the same as new 22mm pipe!

katies_mum

I`m getting in touch with a couple more heating engineers so I`ll see what they have to say. I`ll let them look and not prompt them by saying what I think I need.