Replace or keep back boiler

markfj

Hi

I have just bought a 3 bed house, that comes with a baxi back boiler to control the heating and hot water with no thermostat. I've heard they are not energy efficient, but also heard the cost of replacing and re plumbing isn't necessarily worth the added expense either.

Looking for suggestions and opions please, is it worth replacing a back boiler that seems to work well and maybe looking at a thermostat or other options to make more energy efficient.

Or worth replacing completely

and the cheapest route to do both would be an advantage

Thanks

Owain_Moneysaver

I would get rid of it (and there might even be a grant towards it).

Not only are they very inefficient boilers, but the combustion vent required in the room with it in is going to cause a lot of heat loss. Remove it, block up the fireplace and the vent and the room will instantly be a lot warmer.

Most of them are also rather ugly.

markfj

Hi

Thanks for the reply

I had a brief look into grants, as if i could i'd definetly replace with, but from what I can tell is for those people on benefits or earning £16k or less. I might be wrong so ill look into it a bit more

Mister_G

Speaking as someone who has had a Baxi back boiler for the past 34 years, I'd say keep it. Mine has gone wrong twice in those 34 years and cost about £50 to fix. I know they are only 65% efficient, but the reliability is more important to me. A modern condensing boiler will be more efficient but probably not as reliable.

Certainly for me, I would have to carry out a major expensive replumbing exercise to relocate a new condensing boiler elsewhere. Payback on this would be in excess of 10 years.

You say that there is no thermostat. Do you mean no room thermostat? Are there TRVs on the radiators?

markfj

Mister_G wrote: »

Speaking as someone who has had a Baxi back boiler for the past 34 years, I'd say keep it. Mine has gone wrong twice in those 34 years and cost about £50 to fix. I know they are only 65% efficient, but the reliability is more important to me. A modern condensing boiler will be more efficient but probably not as reliable.

Certainly for me, I would have to carry out a major expensive replumbing exercise to relocate a new condensing boiler elsewhere. Payback on this would be in excess of 10 years.

You say that there is no thermostat. Do you mean no room thermostat? Are there TRVs on the radiators?

This is the other side of the argument really, and pretty much the side of the debate I mentioned when speaking to my Bother in law last night (he said i should get rid)

Ive read combi boilers have a life expetancy of around 10 years and cost more to maintain generally, and having just bought this house money is abit tight right now. Though if we came to sell the house, i guess it would help (thats not a plan in our minds yet)

There is no room thermostat, im not %100 sure on the TRVs (havent moved in yet) but Ill double check. I can't recall seeing any numbers on the on the radiators to control the temperature but i will double check this, as we only visit the house as and when at the moment, so havent had the heating etc on too much just yet

Thanks

matelodave

I'm of the keep it until it dies persuasion.

It'll cost you well over £2k to get it replaced and even if you save £200 a year it will take 10 years to get your money back and by then a modern boiler will have either fallen to bits or needede some money spent on it to keep it going

There's almost nothing to go wrong with the Baxi so they are cheap to keep going.

I'd suggest that you spend a few bob on insulation and perhaps some better controls which would make the whole system more efficient and put some money away for when it does actually turn up it's toes.

reeac

In your place I think that I'd try it out for a few months ...say until the summer to see how effective it is. Possibly it won't prove possible to warm up other areas of the house sufficiently without overheating the living room but that's a matter of personal taste.

markfj

matelodave wrote: »

I'm of the keep it until it dies persuasion.

It'll cost you well over £2k to get it replaced and even if you save £200 a year it will take 10 years to get your money back and by then a modern boiler will have either fallen to bits or needede some money spent on it to keep it going

There's almost nothing to go wrong with the Baxi so they are cheap to keep going.

I'd suggest that you spend a few bob on insulation and perhaps some better controls which would make the whole system more efficient and put some money away for when it does actually turn up it's toes.

This was pretty much my thoughts exactly, but having no experience with back boilers I didn't know if I was wrong so started to doubt my own thoughts

We have a lot of things to spend on in the future and double glazing would be one of those I wanted to put before spending on a new boilers as that would also help.

Thanks

markfj

reeac wrote: »

In your place I think that I'd try it out for a few months ...say until the summer to see how effective it is. Possibly it won't prove possible to warm up other areas of the house sufficiently without overheating the living room but that's a matter of personal taste.

That makes perfect sense too. Having never been in it in the summer is hard to say, we would only use 1 bedroom and the living room mostly anyway for now so I guess that would help.

Thanks

Mister_G

Good call.

The Baxi is very simple (no complicated PCB to go wrong) and spares are still readily available for it at a reasonable price.

Additional insulation will probably be better value for money.

greyteam1959

Keep it.
Going to be expensive to remove & rehash the plumbing.
My Dad has had a Baxi back boiler setup for over 45 years & still going strong.
Simple & very reliable..........