Gas boiler money saving question

Banger696 · 12 January 2019 at 6:35AM

Hi MSE community been a while since I posted. Now to the details.

I have a Potterton Diplomat 82 boiler which is still working apart from now and again when I have to relight the pilot. I am toying with the idea of getting it fixed or a new A rated boiler.

I have a gas valve and thermocouple and have been quoted £80 to fit these spare parts which should solve the pilot problem as whoever fitted a thermocouple in the past fitted incorrect one as the thermocouple wire is loose in the gas valve socket due to wrong fixing on the thermocouple. So that is option 1.

I have also contacted Eon for an ECO grant for a new boiler where I would pay £240 towards the cost of a new boiler. I haven't had the Survey yet but not sure what boiler the installer would fit. I have been looking for similar replacements to my freestanding Potterton and all I can come up with is the Worcestor Bosch 30 cdi FS regular boiler, but that is quite expensive around £1000 + installation and I am not sure Eon would stump up that much cash to the installer.

I have also put out the feelers to 3 installers to quote how much a WB 30 cdi FS would be to fit but that was only tonight so await some contact from those and could save on an A rated boiler with my gas bill.

Looking for advice on which way to proceed. If the advice is the cheapest keep my G rated boiler and get a repair done that leaves me without a spare gas valve (usually part that develops a fault) or it could last another 30 years like this one has. Should I buy a spare gas valve (around £100) and still available as in the future they will be very difficult to get, if not pricey?

Your expert advice is welcome.:money:

jk0 · 12 January 2019 at 9:41AM

I would get existing boiler repaired and buy the spares. Modern ones are full of electronics which fail after ten years or so.

The_Fat_Controller · 12 January 2019 at 11:36AM

I would bite the bullet and replace the boiler..

Getting spares will become more and more difficult, repairers less familiar with it, someone has already bodged your last repair even though it was only a thermocouple.

The energy rating difference will certainly save you money on your bills and you won't have a pilot light on all the time too.

I have a Worcester Bosch combi, the one thing I would suggest is to get it serviced by the manufacturer, they are the only people who have the specific plug-in diagnostic computer.

As I am not in a service contract and Worcester could not attend soon enough, the last fault I had was troubleshooted by a local engineer using a web search engine on his smartphone, not ideal.

Scrounger · 12 January 2019 at 11:58AM

Banger696 wrote: »

I have a gas valve and thermocouple and have been quoted £80 to fit these spare parts which should solve the pilot problem as whoever fitted a thermocouple in the past fitted incorrect one as the thermocouple wire is loose in the gas valve socket due to wrong fixing on the thermocouple. So that is option 1.

Why don't you just fit the correct thermocouple then you won't need to change the gas valve. Clean the pilot jet whilst you're at it.
Should cost a lot less than £80 to do that. :beer:

Scrounger

Banger696 · 12 January 2019 at 12:18PM

Scrounger wrote: »

Why don't you just fit the correct thermocouple then you won't need to change the gas valve. Clean the pilot jet whilst you're at it.
Should cost a lot less than £80 to do that. :beer:

Scrounger

I am not "Gas Safe" and it means disconnecting the burners to get to the thermocouple which is a Gas jobby.

Scrounger · 12 January 2019 at 12:51PM

Banger696 wrote: »

I am not "Gas Safe" and it means disconnecting the burners to get to the thermocouple* which is a Gas jobby.

(* not usually necessary on a Potterton)

As I said, should be less than £80 to change a thermocouple even if you pay somebody.

Scrounger

Mister_G · 12 January 2019 at 2:07PM

I'm in a similar situation to the OP.

My Baxi gas back boiler is now 35 years old and still going strong. In all that time it's had a new gas valve and a new thermocouple, total cost less than £100.

The Honeywell gas valves are still available, as are other spares. I'm certainly sticking with mine until it fails completely.

It may only be G rated, but it's very simple and no computer required to mend it!

matelodave · 12 January 2019 at 2:37PM

It's likely that you wont get much change out of £1500 to replace your boiler - even if it saves you £200 a year on your gas bill it'll take seven and ahalf years to pay back. On top of that you'll have to get it serviced regularly and you'll probably have a repair or two.

Once yout get into the realms of condensing boilers there are contol panels, PCB, fans and other stuff, all of which are very expensive and less reliable.

For £50-£80 I'd keep the Potterton going for as long as I can, there's hardly anything to go wrong (a gas valve and thermocouple) and they are cheap and easy to fix.

You could put some money away for when it does eventually turn up it's toes but dont change it until you need to.

Banger696 · 13 January 2019 at 12:30AM

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like consensus is to keep my old one going. I dont think a new boiler would last as long as this one, it is nearly as old as me.

Banger696 · 15 January 2019 at 2:02AM

Unfortunately the old boiler will not light tonight. The pilot lights and I keep my finger on the button for 3 minutes and it just goes out. So I have emailed a local engineer to have a look at it and also to get a quote from British Gas to see if they will fit a regular boiler (W Bosch Greenstar) as that may be an expensive boiler but it will mean minimum disruption to my pipework.

thorganby · 15 January 2019 at 10:22AM

Banger696 wrote: »

Hi MSE community been a while since I posted. Now to the details.

I have a Potterton Diplomat 82 boiler which is still working apart from now and again when I have to relight the pilot. I am toying with the idea of getting it fixed or a new A rated boiler.

I have a gas valve and thermocouple and have been quoted £80 to fit these spare parts which should solve the pilot problem as whoever fitted a thermocouple in the past fitted incorrect one as the thermocouple wire is loose in the gas valve socket due to wrong fixing on the thermocouple.................

Banger696 wrote: »

Unfortunately the old boiler will not light tonight. The pilot lights and I keep my finger on the button for 3 minutes and it just goes out. So I have emailed a local engineer to have a look at it and also to get a quote from British Gas to see if they will fit a regular boiler (W Bosch Greenstar) as that may be an expensive boiler but it will mean minimum disruption to my pipework.

Oh dear, we can all see the direction that this is heading towards!

You don't seem to understand the function of the thermocouple and you have stated that it was fitted incorrectly and that "the thermocouple wire is loose in the gas valve socket" which is obviously the problem.

A thermocouple in a pilot flame only produces a very small voltage in the order of a few millivolts, yes that is a few millionths of a volt and it must have a good electrical and mechanical connection into the gas valve in order to work correctly.

Gas valves and thermocouples are still available for these old very reliable and simple boilers but most gas safe fitters will tell you that it is time for a new boiler!

The thermocouple is fitted externally and is a very easy job to replace but there is obviously much more money to be made by supplying and fitting a new far less reliable new boiler for you.

This is a money saving site, so forget getting an A rated boiler and if you are incapable of sorting the thermocouple problem, sometimes the thermocouple nut on the gas valve simply needs tightening, then find someone who can!

Gas boiler money saving question

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free