Advice on replacing ancient boiler

robotrobo

napu2400 wrote: »

The boiler is a Glow-worm Spacesaver. I'm not sure of the exact model number. We just bought the house, so I don't know how reliable it has been in the past.

Ive just spent £300 on my valiant rfs 28cdi boiler which is about 20 years old , this includes paying the plumber £100 for the job well done.


New gas valve fitted £90
new fan fitted £50
exchange pcb £55
new spark igniter £8
also brand new pcb bought on flea bay for £40 came across this while i was looking for spares , so i have this now for a spare part.
The combi looks really new on the inside , i hope to keep for another 20 years or so .
i hope it out lasts a new condensate boiler!, which i dont want thankyou.

napu2400

I will consider keeping the old boiler for a while longer. It does work.

I have had a combi in a rented house before though, and the shower (not electric) was always fine.

This discussions reminds me: I should check if there is a cold water tank in the loft. Is it there to give pressure? Why is it needed anyway, isn't mains pressure enough on the cold water? And tacpot12, what is the third tank you're referring to?

ASavvyBuyer

napu2400 wrote: »

And tacpot12, what is the third tank you're referring to?

I would guess that it would be the header tank for the central heating system, which is different to the cold water & hot water tanks.

Raxiel

The consensus seems to be to keep the old one but I'd have to disagree.

Every house and usage profile is different of course, but we were definitely better off having a new one.

For my own, single data point:
We bought our house in 2013 and had the old Baxi 1980's era boiler & simple timer/stat for the first two years. It broke down in 2015 and we had it replaced with a Worcester CDi 32 compact and a 'Wave' smart thermostat for about £2500 (by a local installer. BG wanted £4k) which included relocating the boiler directly under the bathroom (for short pipe runs, going from 15m to 3m). Would have been cheaper for a straight swap.

Before we had the system on a few hours a day, now it's running constantly whenever the house is occupied, the place feels warmer but we used 40% less gas than last year (over 7000kwh).

If the price of gas doesn't change, it should pay for itself before the warranty runs out, sooner if the price goes up.

As for combi boilers and showers, we've only just got round to doing our bathroom, which involved replacing the electric shower with a new thermostatic one running off the combi. It's still early days but the new shower has a 12l/m flow restrictor built in which is enough for a good shower, but leaves enough pressure that turning on another tap has no noticeable effect.

C_Mababejive

The glow worm spacesaver is the most reliable boiler ever made. It came in quite a few variants ,,being continoulsy modernised as it passed through the ages.

Various flue variants are out there ie open flued, balanced flued, fanned flued.

They all have cast iron heat exchangers and natural draught gas burners. Very very simple technology and not a lot to go wrong,,
My own boiler is a GW spacesaver . It came with the house as a new build. That was around 35 years ago. Its still going strong..

teddysmum

You will need new piping , to meet new regulations, if the system has not been altered since the 1970s.


Our house was built in 1971 and the boiler/radiators fitted in 1978 meaning that we had to have the meter to boiler run renewed, when the combi and radiators were fitted almost 3 years ago.

Mr_K

I've got a Concord WRS, it must date from when the house was built circa 1979. It's not the quietest but fine. I shall be keeping it until it breaks down/can't be repaired. Everyone I know with a modern boiler is always having to wait in for the repair man...

C_Mababejive

Mr_K wrote: »

I've got a Concord WRS, it must date from when the house was built circa 1979. It's not the quietest but fine. I shall be keeping it until it breaks down/can't be repaired. Everyone I know with a modern boiler is always having to wait in for the repair man...

Another bomb proof boiler that will still be there in ten years time. The only issue might be parts availability but they are so simple that there is usually a solution.

alanwsg

I've been watching this thread with interest as well.
I too have an ancient boiler that came with the house - so at least 30 years old.
As far as I can make out, it's an " Ideal standard E Type CF50 (Series 4)".
It bangs and crashes a lot when it first fires up but it's never let me down. I've avoided replacing it for all the reasons listed above.
Anyone know anything about it?

Cardew

Raxiel wrote: »

The consensus seems to be to keep the old one but I'd have to disagree.

Every house and usage profile is different of course, but we were definitely better off having a new one.

For my own, single data point:
We bought our house in 2013 and had the old Baxi 1980's era boiler & simple timer/stat for the first two years. It broke down in 2015 and we had it replaced with a Worcester CDi 32 compact and a 'Wave' smart thermostat for about £2500 (by a local installer. BG wanted £4k) which included relocating the boiler directly under the bathroom (for short pipe runs, going from 15m to 3m). Would have been cheaper for a straight swap.

Before we had the system on a few hours a day, now it's running constantly whenever the house is occupied, the place feels warmer but we used 40% less gas than last year (over 7000kwh).

If the price of gas doesn't change, it should pay for itself before the warranty runs out, sooner if the price goes up.

As for combi boilers and showers, we've only just got round to doing our bathroom, which involved replacing the electric shower with a new thermostatic one running off the combi. It's still early days but the new shower has a 12l/m flow restrictor built in which is enough for a good shower, but leaves enough pressure that turning on another tap has no noticeable effect.

Saving 40% gas consumption is a lot - many on MSE report around a 20% saving when a very old boiler is replaced. Most 1980's boilers have a SEDUK efficiency around 65% and whilst modern boilers claim 90% efficiency, that is theoretical and not achieved in practice.

Even so 7,000kWh should cost around £200. Thus if you have a 10 year warranty you may well have saved enough to pay for the boiler.