Back Boiler

Jet

I'm in the process of viewing houses to potentially buy.

I looked at one house and it had a back boiler - behind a hideous looking gas fire.

Don't know why but my instinct was to walk away as I have heard that back boilers can be a nightmare.

Can anyone tell me if my assumption is right and why?

economiser

Back boilers are not so efficient as modern condensing boilers but are inherently very reliable. We had one for over 30 years with only one breakdown - even that was an easy DIY fix.

If you don't like the gas fire in front of course you would have to make changes and almost certainly install a new boiler and changes to the plumbing which I would think would be comfortably in excess of £2000.

~Chameleon~

Could you not just remove the gas fire front grill piece (assuming it's one of those old Baxi types) and use a radiator cover to hide the boiler/hole in the wall?

Jet

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Could you not just remove the gas fire front grill piece (assuming it's one of those old Baxi types) and use a radiator cover to hide the boiler/hole in the wall?

I'd heard you couldn't do that and had to replace the fire and the options are very limited.

Mrs7ones

just as a matter of interest, we have just paid £2k to have our back boiler/fire replaced by a nice new system.... It was neither as expensive or messy as I expecting.
Don't let it stop you buying the house

Canucklehead

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Could you not just remove the gas fire front grill piece (assuming it's one of those old Baxi types) and use a radiator cover to hide the boiler/hole in the wall?

Good evening: It is illegal and extremely dangerous to operate a back boiler without its firefront. See the Baxi website for more details.
To OP: it could cost up to £3000.00 to replace your BBU with a combi or regular boiler depending on your location in the UK.

HTH

Canucklehead

~Chameleon~

Canucklehead wrote: »

Good evening: It is illegal and extremely dangerous to operate a back boiler without its firefront. See the Baxi website for more details.

Hi, sorry I didn't mean to entirely remove the firefront, just the decorative grill part that lifts off the front leaving the necessary working parts in situ - does that make sense? Or is that also not a possibility and/or illegal?

Canucklehead

Hi

I would probably condemn it as a fire risk, even though you wouldn't be able to get to the fire part to operate it.

Last months Gas Installer magazine had a photo of a back boiler with the fire front removed and a kitchen unit fitted in front of it. Lethal :eek:

Corgi Guy.

worriedfirsttimebuyer

We have a back boiler. It's a bit noisy and cranky, but works well. We had to leave the ugly fire in place, so we covered it with a radiator cabinet, made to measure, with vents, as we never used the fire anyway.

~Chameleon~

worriedfirsttimebuyer wrote: »

We have a back boiler. It's a bit noisy and cranky, but works well. We had to leave the ugly fire in place, so we covered it with a radiator cabinet, made to measure, with vents, as we never used the fire anyway.

Was that expensive to have one made? I know the standard size radiator covers aren't deep enough to cover the entire fire, hence my suggestion of removing the grill front earlier

Canucklehead wrote:

I would probably condemn it as a fire risk,

Can I please ask why it would be a fire risk?

Sorry, not saying I doubt your word or anything, just trying to understand how it all works and why the boiler is reliant on the fire being in place even if there is no actual gas being supplied to the fire itself etc etc.

Thanks

ormus

the whole appliance is made to work as one unit. any modifications would have to made by a skilled engineer. it isnt as simple as removing the front fire part.
certainly no corgi chap or baxi would sanction it.

just replace the thing with a new combi. much more efficient too.
2k should do it in most areas.
dont let it put you off buying the house. build the costs into your budget.