Unsafe boiler

savingsplz

Around seven years ago, my mother had a boiler fitted under a Low income scheme. It’s never works very well but has been good enough. Recently there have been problems and when we call the plumber out, they say it’s an unsafe installation and shouldn’t have been signed off. a second opinion has confirmed this. A new boiler has been recommended at a cost of around £4,000. 

Can anyone offer any help please?

ThisIsWeird

Could you give details of the 'unsafe' issue, please?
And make and model.
And, what do you mean by 'it never worked very well'?
£4k for a boiler replacement seems very high, but I'm assuming there will be a reason for this, most likely involving other changes required to her plumbing; it's unlikely that two separate GasSafes would say the say the same thing without good reason.
Do you know if there any current schemes that could help your mum?

FreeBear

ThisIsWeird said: £4k for a boiler replacement seems very high, but I'm assuming there will be a reason for this, most likely involving other changes required to her plumbing; it's unlikely that two separate GasSafes would say the say the same thing without good reason.

£4K does sound high, but it is the sort of ballpark that some GS engineers will quote. I'd suggest getting a quote from someone like Boxt or Heatable - As long as there are no major changes needed, you should be able to find one for under £2500.

It is also worth getting a quote from Octopus for a heat pump - Have heard of people getting quotes of under £1K - On a suitable tariff, running costs will be comparable (or even cheaper) than a gas boiler.

Lorian

Has the boiler been condemned , has it been disabled and had a red and yellow warning sticker attached?

savingsplz

The way it has been installed is wrong because you cannot access vital parts such as the refill valve for the pressure. You can’t see the gauge either.

It is a BAXI boiler, not sure on model at the moment.

The system isn’t very good at heating the house basically, never seems to heat up very well. 

It hasn’t been condemned no.

I will look into the heat pump from Octopus.. 

The main issue is she doesn’t have any money to replace it, let alone £4,000

FreeBear

savingsplz said: The way it has been installed is wrong because you cannot access vital parts such as the refill valve for the pressure. You can’t see the gauge either.

The system isn’t very good at heating the house basically, never seems to heat up very well.

A photo of the installation please - We may be able to give some advice on improving access.

As for poor heating - My old system suffered from the same problem. Replacing some of the radiators with bigger ones helped, as did balancing the system and turning the pump speed down. Plugging all the cold draughts and increasing loft insulation made a difference too, and didn't cost much.

Lorian

Needing to move a filling loop and add extra external guage and 'unsafe boiler needs replacing' dont sound like the same things. Maybe there are other issues. Perhaps post a photo of the boiler and pipework if able, and the flue

ThisIsWeird

savingsplz said:

The way it has been installed is wrong because you cannot access vital parts such as the refill valve for the pressure. You can’t see the gauge either.
It is a BAXI boiler, not sure on model at the moment.
The system isn’t very good at heating the house basically, never seems to heat up very well.

It hasn’t been condemned no.

I will look into the heat pump from Octopus.
The main issue is she doesn’t have any money to replace it, let alone £4,000

Hmm, still a bit strange.

Adding an external filling loop and gauge can be done pretty much anywhere on the pipework - it goes between the mains and the return pipe, roughly £25 in parts. There must be more amiss than this.

And in 'not heating the house very well', is it that their house is old and cold, or is it that the radiators don't heat up as well as they should? Do you know how 'ouch' hot they get?

A photo would really help us understand what's going on here. And if you could find a third - recommended local - GasSafe for a further opinion...?