It's time to start digging up those Squirrelled Nuts!!!!

fred246

I don't think anyone wants to fix boilers. They make so much money installing them. The man who installed my parents boiler said he had no idea how they worked and couldn't repair them, only install them. The parts are quite expensive and they often just guess what is wrong and so have to keep buying more bits. Just less hassle to say it can't be fixed and you need a new one.

Dh6

That’s quite a sweeping statement, my advice is to find a local recommended gas engineer and you won’t go far wrong!  

fred246

A sweeping statement with a lot of truth in it. Always remember Fred's top tip. If you need a boiler repair ask for a 'free quote for a new boiler'. Plumbers will come running. Ask for a repair and they are all too busy.

Sea_Shell

Ours did pack up a couple of years back.   Our usual chap came out, it needed a new solenoid (IIRC).   He had one on the van, fitted it, job done.   

thriftylynny

I don't part with my dosh that easily & did my homework before taking the plunge, even ordering couple of parts from fleabay, local plumber still couldn't fix . Boiler in question was notorious for plumbers not wanting to service them let alone fix them , can't recall name of the damn thing but it was a mahoosive 1990's thing , at some point one or other of our neighbours' on our small development have them out there defunct on driveways having replaced them ! Got a good deal with a national installer in the end whose price was 1k less than cheapest local plumber's quote , then i bunged it all on a 0% C/C . A good honest plumber & car mechanic worth their weight in gold .

Bravepants

My gran had her house modernized in 1978, including a new Worcester Bosch boiler. That boiler was still working in 2012 when she passed at the age of 92, 34 years later! Every year it was serviced by British Gas and every year we would be told how "it's an old boiler now and some of the parts are getting obsolete". I think as long as you pay for an annual service scheme they will make every attempt to repair.

marycanary

frugal90 said:

elec£65 per month- £780- we have 5 freezers- large vegplot/polytunnel - need to replace the old ones with more energy efficient ones
wood pellets-£250
multifuel stove: £400, combination of dried wood and smokeless

so total £1430

I have a multi stove in which I usually burn suitable scrap wood. This year due to working from home I am using more wood and, because of covid restrictions, I haven't been able to find as much as I usually do. The upshot is that I will have to buy some logs, smokeless coal or both. Logs round here are expensive at about £100 per m3. Plus there is a large choice of different types of solid smokeless fuel ranging in price from 41.2p per kg to 56.8p per kg. I am stalled because I can't work out the best combination of smokeless and logs for convenience and economy. My wood store is becoming low while I dither.

frugal90

I buy a tipper load of dried softwood each year at 100 pounds then buy bags of these at 20 pounds for a 50KG bag http://www.coalmerchantsfederation.co.uk/products/smokeless-ovoids#:~:text=Smokeless ovoids, sometimes referred to,stoves and selected other cookers.

Bravepants

I'm using Homefire Ovals this year. I like the idea of wood, but marycanary is right, wood is quite expensive to buy and it takes up a lot of space for the energy that it provides.

frugal90

if you are burning smokeless and have a chimney liner, then make sure it is the heavy duty 904 one or you will have problems in the future