British Gas raising boiler insurance cost again. Options?

1404

I wonder if it's worth me pre-buying from eBay parts for my Ideal Classic FF350 which are the most likely to need replacing going forward so that I have them on hand at a good price? 

MysteryMe

I wouldn't, also you mentioned getting a gas heating engineer from the Rated People app. I would caution against such apps and websites to find a tradesman.

Always best to pick a tradesman on the personal recommendation from someone you actually know or if not used a properly accredited trader scheme such as those run by WHICH and Trading Standards.

ThisIsWeird

1404 said:

I wonder if it's worth me pre-buying from eBay parts for my Ideal Classic FF350 which are the most likely to need replacing going forward so that I have them on hand at a good price? 

I wouldn't bother - they'll always be there :-)
At some point, something major like the main exchanger will fail, and that will be the time to bid fair well to your boiler.
Until then, keep it going for as long as possible - technology is always improving, and prices coming down. Usually...

ThisIsWeird

vacheron said:

1404 said:

FreeBear said:

1404 said:

FreeBear said:

MysteryMe said: "They say it's on the "limited parts list".

Looks like the parts that are likely to fail are still available. Gas valve, PCB, fan, most gaskets.. Even the main heat exchanger - Just don't look at the prices though.

What kind of prices are we talking for new parts for an old Ideal boiler like mine? 

As said above, there is the option (hopefully) of getting refurbished parts. 

Using https://www.dhsspares.co.uk/category/gas-boiler-uk/brand/ideal-domestic/appliance/ideal-classic-ff-350-ide226 as a guide.

• Fan £180 (minus impeller.
• Gas valve £107
• PCB £140
• Pressure switch £110

1404 said:

As and when it comes to replacing my boiler, any ideas how much it would cost?

I would probably seek to get quotes from the Rated People app.

Would it be a straight swap of the boiler (ie not touching the water tank, pipes, rads etc)?  I can see that neighbours who've had their boilers changed seem to have have their flue pipe on the outside moved slightly. It has been said to me that mine is too close to a rainwater downpipe.

Assuming no changes to pipework & location, I've seen basic boiler swaps advertised for as little as £600 plus the cost of a boiler. But you will need the gas pipe upgraded to 22mm (possibly 28mm if a long run). TRVs should be fitted to all radiators (usually one is left to act as a bypass), and you'll want a modern programmable thermostat. Budget £3000-4000..

It is worth fitting new, larger radiators all round. The old ones will probably have been specified using 80°C as the flow temperature. Bigger radiators means you can run at a lower flow temperature which means much better efficiency and reliability. At 80°C, you'll be hard pushed to get 75-80% efficiency, drop to 60°C, you'll get ~92%, and at 50°C, you could hit 98%. Potential there to save 15-20% on gas.

But.... If you were to change your boiler now (before April 2028), I would urge you to consider a heat pump. With a £7500 grant currently available, the likes of Octopus are doing some very competitive quotes. They quoted me £2700 (subject to survey) earlier in the year - This would have included new radiators all round, a hot water cylinder, plus a limited amount of plumbing. I'd spent £2500 on a new gas boiler the previous year, and put in new radiators & replumbed the system on top (another £300-500 spent).

Correctly specified and set up, a heat pump would work out cheaper to run than gas (on the right tariff). And contrary to some, you don't need a super insulated house to have a heat pump. Although, good levels of insulation is desirable in any property.

Thank you for that. That's much appreciated!

Regarding the spare parts for the existing Ideal boiler I have:
This is certainly the cheapest option then. And especially as eBay have those parts for significantly less (although as stated above some of them are refurbished and I would need a GasSafe engineer who is willing to work with refurbished parts. Not sure if that's an issue?)
.......

But for now it seems that I should stick with my working old Ideal boiler and see how it goes. And when parts fail then try to source them from eBay (or buy new ones) and keep the Ideal going. Find a local GasSafe person and ditch British Gas HomeCare. Would you agree with that? 

There are some great companies out there doing very professional refurbished parts.

When I identified my fault as a completely worn fan assembly bearing, and not overwhelmed at the thought of paying £350 + labour for a new part, my search on eBay identified a company selling refurbished units for just over £70.

As further luck would have it, the company were literally a 5 minute drive from our house!

I popped in to see them that afternoon with the old fan unit out of my boiler, and after a quick inspection they identified that the fixing plate of their refurbished unit had a slightly different design. "No problem though, If you don't mind waiting 10 minutes we'll drill out the rivets from both units and fit your original plate to the new unit. Plus, if you don't mind waiting 20 minutes we can even sand blast your old plate to match the new refinished unit!"

The unit looks absolutely brand new, with new elastomer dampers and a full motor rewind. They then even gave me a £30 part exchange for my old unit!

These are the type of experiences that make me happy! 

Nice example!
A GS had diagnosed a faulty PCB for the inlaw's boiler, too, which turned out to be a wrong diagnosis, but even that would have been a cheap part as a refurb.
NOS PCBs can be £undreds, but almost always the parts that go are caps and relays, each pennies to buy, so these companies not only provide a great service, but make a nice living too :-)
Win-win.

1404

Just had a quote from British Gas. 

They said to leave my hot water tank where it is on the 2nd floor. No need to change pipes or radiators.

It's a like-for-like swap of my boiler to a new 15kw Ideal boiler. Involves some brickwork outside because the flue position needs to be raised. 

£3810.86

(Or £105.86 over 3 years interest free)

Does that sound pricey? 

1404

A neighbour of mine has recently had this put on the side of their house. I assume it's a heat pump. Perhaps I need to get a quote for one of these too.

Wouldn't it be typical if I shell out for a new boiler only to find gas boilers get banned or gas gets more expensive etc 

silvercar

1404 said:

Just had a quote from British Gas. 

They said to leave my hot water tank where it is on the 2nd floor. No need to change pipes or radiators.

It's a like-for-like swap of my boiler to a new 15kw Ideal boiler. Involves some brickwork outside because the flue position needs to be raised. 

£3810.86

(Or £105.86 over 3 years interest free)

Does that sound pricey? 

What warranty comes with it? and what will they reduce your service contract to if you do get a new boiler? It should be just the cost of an annual service as everything else is covered.

Is it pricey? Probably in itself, but the 3 years interest free is worth something, possibly £500 in interest over the 3 years.

By the time you add on the interest saved (I compared to putting £3k in a bank account at 5%= £12.50 a month), the reduction in your service contract, that could be from £34 a month to say £9 is £25 a month saving, so you've saved £37.50 a month ie it is costing you £68.50 and you have a new boiler. Factor in that the £34 will increase over the 3 years too and the saving is more. 

On the boiler choice, I posted on here and Ideal wasn't that popular. BG offer Worcester Bosch with a 10 year warranty. Also, negotiate with BG their first price won't be their final one. And pay £100.01 on a credit card, just in case it all goes wrong you will have the CC company as jointly liable.

FreeBear

1404 said:

A neighbour of mine has recently had this put on the side of their house. I assume it's a heat pump. Perhaps I need to get a quote for one of these too.

Wouldn't it be typical if I shell out for a new boiler only to find gas boilers get banned or gas gets more expensive etc

Gas will get more expensive as supplies run out. Installation of gas boilers has been banned in new builds from 2025, and an overall ban is on the cards from 2035 (both could be overturned by the government).

Heat pump technology is improving all the time. If properly specified and set up, one could work out much cheaper to run (if on the appropriate tariff). If you want to see what sort of efficiencies & running costs people are getting, pop over to https://heatpumpmonitor.org/ and browse the data.

I would certainly get a quote for a heat pump from someone like Octopus - They gave me a quote earlier in the year that was comparable to what it cost to install a gas boiler. If I were to replace a boiler today, it would probably be with a heat pump. And before anyone tells you that you need masses of insulation, they would be (partially) wrong. A heat pump is just another source of heat. To reduce running costs, a decent level of insulation & draught proofing helps, but that applies regardless of how the property is heated.

housebuyer143

1404 said:

Just had a quote from British Gas. 

They said to leave my hot water tank where it is on the 2nd floor. No need to change pipes or radiators.

It's a like-for-like swap of my boiler to a new 15kw Ideal boiler. Involves some brickwork outside because the flue position needs to be raised. 

£3810.86

(Or £105.86 over 3 years interest free)

Does that sound pricey? 

What extras are you getting with that? Power flush, new controls, what warranty? 
When I had BG quote for mine it was £4200. I'm comparison I was getting quotes for around £2800 like for like with a local guy. 

Even with all the above I still think that's pricey and you will find a local tradesman who will beat that by quite a lot. 

Eldi_Dos

1404 said:

A neighbour of mine has recently had this put on the side of their house. I assume it's a heat pump. Perhaps I need to get a quote for one of these too.

Wouldn't it be typical if I shell out for a new boiler only to find gas boilers get banned or gas gets more expensive etc 

I know some will say it looks better but I can never understand why some installers place uni strut so that heavy vibrating equipment is pulling against fixings,rather than have it below where the weight is pushing uni strut against wall.