It looks like my 25 year old gas boiler is on its way out. The British Gas engineer is coming on monday to hopefully sort it out this time (pilot light refuses to stay on). In the event that parts aren't available I'm mentally preparing myself to stump up for a new one.
Anybody replaced a bolier recently and how much did it cost?
If I went with British Gas to supply and install a new one, would they be totally uncompetitive compared to a local business? At least with BG there should be some comeback if things go wrong.
Trouble is, my record in finding competent tradesmen is pretty abysmal - recent examples being a roofer who failed to fix a leak and then did a runner; and a local glazier who bodged up a replacement pane so badly that the complete window had to be replaced by someone else. Both these tradesmen were recommended by friends and both had good reviews on websites, so I am now very reluctant to believe sites like these. Many years ago in a previous house (which we had only just moved into), I had a gas engineer (not british gas) condemn a boiler, however in hindsight I suspect there wasn't anything wrong with it (they also made a real mess of installing the new one).
I don't mind paying a premium for peace of mind, but I don't want to feel like I've been mugged !
We had one done earlier this year by British Gas. We have a 5/6 bed house...had a powerflush,magnetic filter thing and some extra pipe work done. It was all carried out in a day very efficiently and cleanly. Boiler is a Valiant Ecofit Pure. Oh,and also a hive controller/thermostat and box.
All in £3.2k give or take a couple of quid plus BG give you the homecare cover for a year so that saved me about £350 which makes the actual figure just under £3k
I’d personally always try and use local people - probably a lot cheaper and if you get the right one far more reliable. Just ask a few people than you know who they would recommend. Even ask on local Facebook pages as that gets a good response. I noticed on a local one near to me the other day (Westward ho page) so,some asked for a reliable window fitter. There were about 20 recommendations and as it happens the guy I always use probably had about 10 people putting his name forward. Another couple of people had 3 or 4 each.
Also a point to consider, my boiler (oil) was 25 years old and whilst still chugging along was coughing and spluttering and I made the decision to get a new one. As well as working far better, my oil bills dropped considerably as it was far more efficient so keeping it could prove to be a false economy long term.
To be fair, the OP has had bad experiences with friend's recommendations!Originally Posted by Devonian
Send me a pm and I'll see if there's any discounts I can get hold of if your getting a quote from British gas.
Friend of mine had a combo put in last week
Four bed detached house £1500 fitted all in
That’s all I know
That’s what my mate at British Gas said was about right too when he fixed mine
I recently replaced my combi boiler and was surprised that BG quote was actually very competitive. However, they spec'd a lesser model of boiler that was more suitable for a larger property. I don't know who does their installation but I would imagine it's sub-contracted to a local installer. The good thing about BG quote was that if additional work was required, it would be done with no additional cost. In the end I went with a local installer and whilst I'm happy with their work, there was additional work mentioned during the installation that wasn't mentioned in their quote (it was in other quotes) which was optional (earth between meter and boiler).
I arranged the quotes via the Worcester Bosch website and most of the local installers got back to me. I too haven't had much luck with local tradesman. I believe these days they can pick and choose their jobs and some don't even bother quoting. Good luck!!
If the boiler that BG quote you for is suitable, I would seriously consider them providing their quote is competitive.
You will usually pay a substantial premium if you use British Gas but it cannot hurt to get them to quote as a starting point. Like you I have had difficulty finding decent local tradesmen but I do echo the local Facebook suggestion. See if there is group for your locality & if there is join it & ask on there. Ask for personal recommendations & don't just go for traders putting themselves forward.
If you are having a new boiler you will almost certainly need a powerflush to comply with the manufacturer's guarantee terms. If it's done properly this alone could take most of a day, depending on how many radiators you have.
I now avoid Checkatrade & the like as I have had nothing but bad experiences with trades that advertise on there.
We had a new Worcester Bosch fitted in May this year. BG were offering an £800 discount at the time so it ended up costing £2400 but I also save almost £300 on not having to pay Homecare for the first year. We had to call them back twice in the first month because the motorised valve stuck and they replaced it at no cost.
I wanted to use a local guy but he couldn't fit us in for 3 weeks and I didn't fancy going 3 weeks without hot water.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
Why would you need homecare in the first year if the boiler is under warranty and doesn't require to be serviced?
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
Guess it covers the radiators and pipe work which may not have been changed.
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
My old boiler is 22 years old and 9 years ago my pilot light kept going out.
All it was was a thermocouple and £50 and 9 years later still going strong.
We had a Worcester Bosch 30cdi installed in December of last year, together with a WB unvented cylinder. The installation has a ten year guarantee, provided it's serviced annually. That's no biggie, as the unvented cylinder needs to be looked at annually anyway. Total cost was £5.5k, but that included ripping out the two boilers we had before and changing the location of the cylinder and a load of other pipework changes, new TRV's and probably a load of other stuff I've forgotten. In case that seems high we had three plumbers on site all day for 4 days. Well, two plus an apprentice, who spent all his time in the loft taking the cold water and CH expansion tanks out which involved them being chopped up into small pieces. The big advantage of having the unvented cylinder is that all the plumbing, hot and cold now runs at 3 bar instead of mains cold pressure (4 bar) and a 10 foot head on the hot. Showers are now brilliant and flow a huge volume of water. They were pretty crap before.
I got the names of all the local WB accredited installers off their website, and had 3 of them quote. I was very happy with the firm we eventually decided on.
Personally, after several tries over the years, we will never use British Gas ever again.
The last BG engineer we had asked me how to wire in the thermostat so after that the contract was not renewed.
Thanks for all the replies so far.
Hopefully, as mjc1216 has mentioned, the problem might be trivial. If it's going to die I would much rather it did it in summer, rather than approaching winter :)
I have BG homecare (or whatever it's called) so would save a years on that, which would be useful. The BG engineers who have done the yearly service have been pretty good and there has been no hard sell in the past to get me to upgrade the boiler, apart from the warning that some parts might be hard to get hold of in the future.
I am a member of a local Facebook group so will ask for recommendations on there (maybe on who not to use !).
Thanks all.
Ditto & we were told 9 years ago by BG our boiler was on the way out !
Yes I am aware it is not a combi or probably as efficient as the new boilers , however we have had this boiler for 25 years , our independent boiler engineer says as long as the parts available we would be foolish to change it .
Enough said .
As a previous TZer had suggested sounds like a possible thermos coupling issue ... explore this first before giving a BG fitter a lovely Xmas bonus and for you ....a boiler with a 10 year life span . CAVEAT ... my experience only , not professionally qualified for expert opinion .
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
BG quoted for a 3 bed house just under £8k for complete new system including a pressurised cylinder.
The current system is working but BG have stated when they serviced it that they can’t support the boiler anymore!
Get a few quotes.
B
Yes I realise that but big companies can give just as bad experiences as small ones. Hence why I,said Facebook groups, if you get multiple recommendations that’s about as good as you can get.
I had BG round to give me a quote earlier this year. They quoted me £3,600 to fit a 15kw Vaillant Ecotec pure and that quote included their standard fee of £600 for either scaffolding or a tower to slip a finishing trim on the boiler flue that was coming out of the existing hole in the wall. I had fitted my own magnetic filter so I got a local firm to quote, and they quoted £2400 to fit an 18kw Vaillant Ecotec Plus (next grade of boiler up from the pure). In the end I got a Vaillant approved installer to supply and fit the 18Kw Ecotec plus for £1,560 all in. Because he was an approved installer, I got a 7 year guarantee on it (provided it is serviced annually by a Gas Safe registered engineer).
Shop around and don’t discount small, independant fitters but make sure they are on the Gas Safe Register and they are able to notify your local building control department to get the all important certificate of installation issued.
My 25 year old boiler had the same problem on Thursday. Yesterday the engineer came out, changed the thermocouple and it’s as good as gold once again.
I know people here love 'peace of mind' but what's the chance of pipes or a radiator going wrong?
My next door neighbour who has the same aged boiler as me also said this last year. He reckoned, although a new boiler was more efficient it probably wouldn't last as long (he also said 10 years) and so we were better off running our existing ones as long as possible.a boiler with a 10 year life span
Talking about dodgy tradesmen, here is my roofer. I only found out this information about him when he went radio silent and never turned up last month to rectify his less than perfect repair job. Life is too short however to start legal proceedings against him for the sake of a few hundred quid.
Funnily enough, this information wasn't on his reviews !
https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/105...o_blow_up_bank
Last edited by JerryTDM; 10th November 2018 at 21:16.
If my house is anything to go by quite high. Have had two leaks in 2 years . Annoying cowboy owners before me who fancied themselves as developers , redeveloped the property poorly. Changed the boiler kept the ancient pipes and radiators too.
I had that installed a couple of years ago, an excellent boiler. Our bills dropped considerably over the Potterton we had.
Old boilers - throw a new thermocouple in every two or three years; they'll go forever.
B
My boiler is about 20 yrs old.
Remember my uncle fitting it. Been excellent but over the last few yrs I’ve had to have bit done to it cost me a couple hundred quid. Maybe time to get a newer more efficient one. Vokera have beeen recommended to me
Most have a long warranty nowadays I think 5 or 7 years
please don't install a vokera.
If it lights but won’t stay on when you turn the knob round then it is likely the thermocouple which is a cheap (universal) part and can be fitted in a few minutes.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Now fixed by British Gas Engineer for free under my care plan.
As others had guessed, it was the thermo-couple thingamejig.
His parting words were 'Keep this nice simple boiler going as long as possible'.
Hopefully get a good few more years out of it yet.
The thermocouple would normally get changed as part of the annual service.
Good to know, I’m thinking of doing the same.
Our experience is the same as Rod's.
If you can run to the flue heat exchange unit as well it saves a few £'s when running hot water.
https://www.bhl.co.uk/worcester-bosc...CABEgIEzfD_BwE
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
We moved into our house 3 years ago and the first thing I replaced was the Vokera boiler. Absolutely hopeless, every single gas fitter I spoke to said they are useless. And they have lots of odd parts with metric threads one end, imperial the other. Just go Worcester Bosch or similar.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Virtually the same! We also have an outhouse converted to my Den that runs off the system as well - pipes go under an area of patio and decking, and it all runs off a new Worcester Bosch 32kw boiler with Hive. Total cost fitted was £3.6k I think, and BG to give them their dues, were excellent. Fitter arrives at 8am to start removing the old boiler, new boiler arrives by courier at 10am, he thens fits it with all new pipework etc, mag filter, etc. Done by 4pm, and all the rubbish taken away. We already have BG Homecare that covers everything - electrics, heating, plumbing etc at abour £80 per month, and we get fifty quid per month off that for the first year with full cover. The old boiler was a Vokera - which as noted abouve was crap and not efficient. The new one is something like 93% efficient compaed to 73% for the old one.
BG don't always get a good rep, but they were excellent at this, and although I might have got it a bit cheaper elsewhere, I know there will be no messing about if there is any problem.
I actually was expecting to pay more, for less.
Last edited by TheFlyingBanana; 25th January 2019 at 00:01.
So clever my foot fell off.
Christmas morning 2004 in my old house, and near boiling water pouring through the ceiling convinced me that our BG Homecare cover was worth every penny.
They had a chap to us within two hours...
So clever my foot fell off.
NEVER use friends or family.
British Gas have always been good for us.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
Worcester Bosch combo with hive £2400 fitted in my sisters three bed semi next week
That’s everything done old kit removed etc etc
Just booked a Worcestor Bosch Combi 25i £1795 incl VAT. Incl magnetic filter , Honeywell Theormostat and Flue for a 3 bed semi rental.
Includes power flush too.
So far a real painless experience booked via boxt.co.uk.
You answer a few questions online and you get an instant online fixed price and they give you a number of options and you can get discounts depending on the day you choose on install.
Worcestor Bosch own a stake in Boxt.co.uk so the only boilers avaialble now are WB.
Currently have a live problem with a leaky boiler and frustratingly dealing with heating engineers. My luck seems to be similar to the OP. We have an unusual boiler make - and a big one at 55kw. First engineer who came to look at it said he knew nothing about that make (despite being told make on phone) and wasn’t willing to look at it. Didn’t even turn it on. 2nd one came and wife calls me with the inevitable news of engineer says it needs fully replaced and quoted £3.4k. At 8 years old it is neither in warranty nor ‘old’. I’m convinced it can be fixed if we could just get a reliable engineer and not those at either end of the spectrum who want to do nothing or get a big job out of it by just replacing the whole thing.
Looking into this at ours the BG quotes are slot more reasonable than ones we got a few years back. Need to have a look at boxt as well
Boxt looks good price wise, and there's ~£100 topcashback too.
£150 "cash back" and 2 years 0% currently with BG.
Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk
BG had quoted us about 4 grand to replace ours, was a few years ago now. In the end we got it done last year by a local chap for about 1500, couple of other quotes were in same ballpark. That's for a 3 bed place.
55kw! Is that a commercial unit rather than domestic ?
That is a monster size for a domestic application.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
That’s what I thought too. I’ve seen quite a few large domestic set ups with two boilers but not one with a 55kw.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote