New Gas Boiler help

FreeBear

twopenny said:

Someone told me about they replaced with an Eco Boiler and how much their bills had gone down.
Unfortunately she could give me no more detail and I was going to ask on here.

I have to disagree about the efficiency of a 40 yr old boiler. I had one and my bills were cheaper than friends newer systems and the little new one I have now. A heating engineer confirmed that a,good one was indeed, good.

Whilst your gas bill may well have been less with an old boiler compared to your friend with the new boiler, there are many variables that make a simple comparison impossible. Levels of insulation, size of the property, lifestyle, heating schedule, and temperatures.

Last year, I used ~3500KWh of gas with an ancient Baxi back boiler - Have seen year on year reduction by way of fitting a smarter control system (setting different temperatures throughout the day/week), reducing the target temperatures, and improving the insulation levels. Using a wood stove has also made a huge impact on the amount of gas consumed.

Now have a shiny new combi-boiler fited, and I'm waiting for the cold weather so that the controls can be fine tuned. Once that is done, I anticipate some savings on gas consumption, but it won't be a huge amount.

BikingBud

BUFF said:

twopenny said:

Someone told me about they replaced with an Eco Boiler and how much their bills had gone down.
Unfortunately she could give me no more detail and I was going to ask on here.

I have to disagree about the efficiency of a 40 yr old boiler. I had one and my bills were cheaper than friends newer systems and the little new one I have now. A heating engineer confirmed that a,good one was indeed, good.

A 40 year old boiler is going to be potentially nowhere near as efficient (at a rough guess 60% vs 90% when  new) as a modern condensing boiler if that is run properly.
However, many modern condensing boiers are not run in a way to maximise their efficiency.

But that is a commissioning and consumer ignorance problem not a problem with the boilers, something many consumers do not and are not able (educated) to engage with. Set the boiler to be on constantly and the room stat at 22 deg c and then wonder why they are not saving  

BUFF

BikingBud said:

BUFF said:

twopenny said:

Someone told me about they replaced with an Eco Boiler and how much their bills had gone down.
Unfortunately she could give me no more detail and I was going to ask on here.

I have to disagree about the efficiency of a 40 yr old boiler. I had one and my bills were cheaper than friends newer systems and the little new one I have now. A heating engineer confirmed that a,good one was indeed, good.

A 40 year old boiler is going to be potentially nowhere near as efficient (at a rough guess 60% vs 90% when  new) as a modern condensing boiler if that is run properly.
However, many modern condensing boiers are not run in a way to maximise their efficiency.

But that is a commissioning and consumer ignorance problem not a problem with the boilers, something many consumers do not and are not able (educated) to engage with. Set the boiler to be on constantly and the room stat at 22 deg c and then wonder why they are not saving  

or not drop the flow temp down from the previous 80/60 to allow condensing ...

but absolutely people should not think of a non-condensing>condensing boiler replacement as being a straight swap without also having to adjust behaviour/potentially upgrade other system components to allow taking full advantage of the efficiency savings available.

Eldi_Dos

Been quoted for a installation of new combi boiler with a ESI esrtp4rf thermostat included or a nest  3rd generation for a extra £219.
Is it worth paying extra for the nest if you are not really looking to control boiler whilst out of the house.

FreeBear

Eldi_Dos said:

Been quoted for a installation of new combi boiler with a ESI esrtp4rf thermostat included or a nest  3rd generation for a extra £219.
Is it worth paying extra for the nest if you are not really looking to control boiler whilst out of the house.

£120 (on ebay) or £190 from Screwfix - Still not cheap compared to the ESI (around £50). At least you don't need a phone with an app installed to set your heating schedules up. If you want to use the advanced features on a Nest, it will require an internet connection - Broadband goes down, you lose the smarts... The cost & internet connect are enough to put me off using Nest.

Got my boiler hooked up to a Home Assistant installation so I don't have to rely on the internet. Can also fine tune it to my hearts content without having to pay for service charges.