Replacing radiators

vikkimcd

Could someone please advise on replacing radiators? I inherited my house a couple of years ago and had to replace the boiler when we moved in. At the same time, the gas engineer fitted new thermostats onto the old radiators, but did not mention changing them, despite them being very old (I now know this was not great, but as I was going through a bereavement, it was not on my mind). I have since had an annual boiler service and it was suggested that having new radiators would be more energy efficient. Also, for some reason, one of the radiators has not been the same since the new boiler, and the man who did the fitting will not provide any solution apart from changing all of the pipes, which I have since been told are fine.

My question is - is it best my purchasing the radiators and have them fitted by an independent person, or go with someone like British Gas? I have looked around, and British Gas are showing as £100 fitting cost per radiator. Is this expensive? Are there any grants available for this sort of thing?

QrizB

How old are your radiators, exactly? And what makes you think they need replacing.

Mine recently passed their 20th anniversary and are still working well.

Have you had your boiler serviced regularly including checking / topping up the inhibitor in the radiator water?

jaybeetoo

Avoid British Gas. They are expensive. My neighbour used them for a boiler replacement which was twice the price of my boiler replacement done at a similar time (I used a local one man business). They had to get BG back 3 times to get their heating working. Our houses were built at the same time and the original boilers were the same. Find a good local plumber who is Gas Safe registered.

Markdavid1962

When the boiler was replaced did you have a power flush done on the whole system including all radiators, it could be you have sludge built up in the pipes. That is what happened to us, after the powerflush we had no issues at all

gpman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656894/replacing-radiators

It would be best to employ a local heating engineer who is prepared to purchase the radiators for you. Of course you will end up paying for them in the bill from the installer.

The downside is you might end up paying a little more for the radiators if you spotted some in a local shop that is having a closing down sale.

Some engineers may try to apply a surcharge to the parts used, but better engineers will buy using their trade discount, and just charge the usual price (or they might even share a bit of the discount with you)

If you buy your own and something is/goes wrong with the installation once fitted, you can bet your bottom dollar the installer will blame the parts you supplied. If the part needs to be replaced because it is proven faulty, you will be charged the labour (and have to sort out the replacement part yourself)

Get at least 3 quotes to establish what is a good price.

luci

Definitely avoid the cowboys at BG. Get a reputable local heating engineer / plumber who is Gas Safe. If you are on any local Facebook pages, you could ask on there for recommendations.

We had a two man local company in to do a few small plumbing jobs, ie change two radiators, replace kitchen and bathroom taps. They gave me a brochure to choose the taps I wanted and it turned out that the bathroom taps I chose were the most expensive ones in the brochure. The plumbers came back and said they were very expensive at the local plumbing merchant and that I could get them cheaper if I bought them myself. They even gave me the website address for the best price they could find. I saved about £75 getting them myself. Can't see the likes of BG doing that.

I was so impressed that I got them back a few months later to replace the boiler and will be using them for servicing it. We didn't replace the radiators, as I couldn't put up with the hassle. The radiators are 37 years old. I have thought about replacing them, but my attitude is, if they ain't broken, don't fix them.

Any local plumber, joiner, etc I have used have bought the products and billed for the whole job.

Ectophile

Old radiators were usually made of good solid steel and last for ages. But they don't have fins on them and struggle to heat a room if you turn the boiler temperature down. And a modern condensing boiler works best at a lower temperature.

On the radiator that isn't working well, check the lock shield valve. It's the one at the other end that isn't thermostatic. It may need opening a bit. But not too much or that radiator will steal all the water flow.

EssexHebridean

have you checked that the thermostatic valve itself on the problematic radiator is working correctly? They can get stuck, but are relatively easy to free up - YouTube is your friend here!

vikkimcd

Thanks all for the comments/suggestions. I don't believe the radiators have been changed since the house was built in 1973. When the new boiler was installed, the guy flushed the system, at least that's what he said.

The guy who serviced the boiler said that the temperature was set quite high, and that if I had new radiators, it could come down. Not sure if this is true, but he didn't actually push to do the job or buy radiators, so I tended to believe what he was saying. He was talking about the fact that they are single units rather than new double ones? They are literally old metal with paint peeling off in places.

It is very hard to know who to trust, we were almost ripped off by a local firm who said we had a collapsed drain, but I called our local water company and there was nothing wrong with them. I guess if I get three separate people, and get the general consensus, and go from there. I was hesitant about BG as they were rubbish as an energy company before we changed!

Oscarmax

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6656894/replacing-radiators

When the boiler was replaced they should have flushed the whole system out,

QrizB

The guy who serviced the boiler said that the temperature was set quite high, and that if I had new radiators, it could come down. Not sure if this is true, but he didn't actually push to do the job or buy radiators, so I tended to believe what he was saying.

Larger radiators (with a higher nominal heat output) would allow a lower flow temperature, which would improve boiler efficiency. However you might be able to turn the flow temperature down on your boiler with your current radiators.

Do you know what your current boiler flow temperature is? Have you tried turning it down?

They are literally old metal with paint peeling off in places.

You might want to fit new radiators for cosmetic reasons, even if they're working OK. That's fine, we're not going to judge you 😆