New Boiler needed :-( 18 years old anyway

ViktorOnopko

We're in the situation of deciding whether we repair our 15y/o Vailant boiler for £500 or replace for £2500. This thread has maybe swung me toward repairing rather than replacing.

macman

What is the fault with your Vaillant, what model?

ViktorOnopko

Clogged heat exchange. Believe it's a Tubo Max.

dunstonh

[quote=[Deleted User];75324026]Opinions on British Gas for new boiler. I KNOW its more expensive that anyone else but I can get 25% off (know someone who works for them) and they do 2 years interest free.[/QUOTE]

In our previous house, BG kept trying to get us to put a new boilder in as ours was 13 years old and obsolete. We moved out when it was 20 years old and still working fine. A regular service kept it going well.

We did "entertain" BG on a quote but the guy that turned up wanted to move the boiler as the position didnt meet current regs and his price was very high. Another local well-regarded installer said the regs he was talking about were rubbish and the cost much lower. Although we didnt proceed as we moved.

[Deleted User]

Nope BG quote was higher than local independents but only by about £400. So with 25% off still much cheaper with BG.

All well and good keeping an old one going but its a problem sometimes to get maintenance cover for old one. And mine keeps breaking down.

grumpycrab

ViktorOnopko wrote: »

Clogged heat exchange. Believe it's a Tubo Max.

(NB. I'm not an expert) but our heat exchanger was "cleaned out" as we suffered kettling (makes the noise of a boiling kettle) and is giving us another couple of years of use.

C_Mababejive

When people talk about newer boilers being "more efficient",,we need to be clear about what that means.

What it means is two things;

a) The burner technology is different. Older boilers largely have atmospheric burners which draw in large amounts of excess air and combustion occurs in a less controlled fashion leading to losses.. Newer burners in high efficiency boilers operate as forced draught burners where combustion occurs in a more restricted and controlled fashion with the fuel being burned much closer to stoichiometric parameters.

b) Ideally the boiler will operate in condensing mode whereby more heat is extracted from the spent combustion products thus bringing the contained water vapour to dew point which then condenses and is exhausted. The recovered heat is reinjected into the system.

For all the above to happen the appliance costs more to manufacture and has a shorter service life than a conventional boiler. Conventional boilers are unfortunately largely no longer available as domestic replacements so if you want a new boiler you have no choice in the matter. If you have a conventional boiler you need to do the maths and decide if all that technology will pay back for you..

Maybe you could make those efficiency gains by investing in better insulation, better windows,better heating controls..?