PDA

View Full Version : Boiler Advice.



Covenant
04-08-2009, 11:21
<I've moved this from elswhere...>

Hi Mike,
I was all set to contact you about this when a bit of a crisis happened this morning. We were getting the boiler serviced and the engineer reported that it was corroded and needed replacing. So I guess a bill for £3000 is going to arrive shortly.
Anyway a new amp is still important to me so later in the year I will contact you again to discuss the various kits and modules available if thats ok.

Dave Cawley
04-08-2009, 11:27
New boilers are under £1K !! Go carefully here?

Dave

Covenant
04-08-2009, 12:05
Supplied and fitted for a four bed detached house is a bit more than that I think Dave. Also there are many cheap and nasty ones. My Worcester boiler has lasted 19 years so it will be another one or possibly a Vaillant which I believe are also good.

StanleyB
04-08-2009, 12:43
My Worcester/Bosch combi boiler supplied and fitted was less than £2K. I would get another quote from a different plumber if I were you. I just called my plumber, who is also a good mate of 20 odd years, and he burst out laughing when I said to him you were looking at £3K.

STan

Covenant
04-08-2009, 13:03
Thanks Stan, I was just guessing-British Gas are calling on Thursday to provide a quote. I wont accept it of course but will use it for comparison. I believe sizing the boiler is important so BG can do that!

DSJR
04-08-2009, 23:17
We had a Vaillant Ecotec plus fitted last autumn to replace a leaking Ideal W2000 boiler. As part of the warranty, one needs a power-flush (so do I, but don't go there :D) and we needed the motorised gate-valves replacing too (one want shutting properly and the other was over twenty years old and getting sticky). Along with re-routing pipes of the correct gauge, some electrical work and a "magna-clean" to collect iron filings in the system (plus a fernox style inhibitor) our bill was the best part of £3,000

Still, we used 10% less gas at 40% higher cost last Winter..........

Mike
05-08-2009, 08:22
Still, we used 10% less gas at 40% higher cost last Winter..........

:lolsign:

DaveK
05-08-2009, 10:26
Hi Guys,
Just for background: -
We had the latest BG boiler (re-badged Worcester Bosch) fitted Jan 2008 by BG, including power flush, inhibitor treatment and new wireless controller/stat and got change out of £2,000.
A word of advice: -
If BG do get the job don't let them fit one of their RC5 wireless controillers - I'm currently trying to persuade them to change mine FoC - they come with next to no instructions, are not intuitive to set up, and often fire up the CH in the middle of warm summer nights (yes there have been a few this year :lol: ):lol:. Other than that it works fine !! :lolsign:
Cheers.

Dave Cawley
05-08-2009, 10:39
A Worcester Bosch is less than £1K plus extra for fitting! I don't do cheap....

Regards

Dave

DaveK
05-08-2009, 11:12
A Worcester Bosch is less than £1K plus extra for fitting! I don't do cheap....

Regards

Dave
Hi Dave, Thanks for that :) - I don't do cheap either, 'Buy Cheap, Buy Twice' is a good guideline. But please remember: -
1) I live in a much smaller house than you (I suspect), a 3 bedroomed bungalow (and 2 of those are only single bedrooms).
2) I did say it was a rebadged Worcester Bosch - it is tweaked a little to increase the output (as we like a good hot plentyful shower).
3) I have a longstanding agreement with BG for annual servicing - it kept my previous boiler going for around 20 years and my logic was that, if someone else fits the boiler we could be in a 'loop' with BG and the someone else blaming each other for any malfunctions.
4) It wasn't the cheapest quote I got but the points in 3) above swung the decision in their favour, and, with gas, I would much rather pay extra to ensure that it won't be a 'cowboy' job.
The information was 'thrown into the pool' as a little background info solely for the benefit of Jerry, (Covenant) and not as an example of how acute I am.
Cheers,

Covenant
05-08-2009, 11:23
:lolsign: This started out as an apology for not getting a DIY amp underway!
But there has been lots of good advice here-a powerflush and magna thingy are on my list.
My current boiler is a floorstanding one in the garage so I thought it would be better to get a wall mounted one directly above where the boiler is now. This will free some floor space so we can store more rubbish.
Any way there will be some pipe alteration needed and I havent got a room stat so will probably get a wireless one. I wont go for the BG one Dave.
Tomorrow I should get the BG quote and then get someone cheaper to better it.

DSJR
05-08-2009, 14:31
We've already got a wireless Seimens room-stat and I forgot to say that although our pump was working fine, it had got itself clogged up with filings - the former owners of the house had a rad or two replaced, but not the inhibitor and I suspect the system ran on plain water for a while..

I'll tell you something about the latest boilers - they run very quietly indeed, rather than sounding like Concord going through the sound barrier (I exaggerate, but you know what I mean?). In our former, 1993 built house, our bedroom was directly above the boiler in the garage and the whirling of the extractor fan feeding up the wall would wake us up when we first moved there...

Covenant
05-08-2009, 16:25
I wish I could afford a ground source heat pump-then I would notice a difference in the gas bill. I think they are about £6K!

Spectral Morn
05-08-2009, 17:25
Hi Guys

Not about boilers but may be interesting................


Just as, perhaps an interesting aside Vaillant have their origins way back in the 1880's as a German company called Veritas. They made oil lamps and eventually became famous for the Veritas central draft burner/lamp. Towards the end of the oil lamp period a British company bought them out (as they also did to Hinks, Wright and Butler, Palmer etc) that company was called Falks Stadelman. They kept it all going well into the 1930's (which why many so called Victorian oil lamps are not but rather Falks lamps from the 1930's. Very hard to tell from the older original companies). Eventually Gas took over and Veritas became Valor and then eventually Vaillant.

Nice to know that Veritas is still around in spirit.

Veritas oil lamp ...
http://www.winterbourne.freeuk.com/ch/veritas.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c349/birdboy1720/My%20Aladdin/Veritas4.jpg


Regards D S D L

Covenant
05-08-2009, 19:43
Well I never.....
The things you learn on a forum like this.

DaveK
05-08-2009, 20:26
Hi Neil,
Very interesting - where on earth do you dig up these multitudes of facts from, surely not memory alone?
Cheers,

Covenant
06-08-2009, 09:39
Well British Gas have given a quote-£3686.97!
This includes:
Standard horizontal outlet
soakaway for condensate drain
Magna-clean
Power cleanse
expansion vessel
increase gas pipe to 28mm
2 years cover.

No hi-fi for me for a while even if I do get a better price.:(

DSJR
06-08-2009, 09:48
It's true. if you have a twenty plus year old system that's been reliable, there's more to change than *just* the boiler. I do think that labour charges vary a good bit around the country too...

Quick story. The B&O TV's we sold in the late eighties often developed a problem with the line driver transistor going unstable and taking some caps with it. Around London, the dealers would buy an update kit, which grew from a couple of components to at least half a dozen. the repair cost would be around £75 and clients moaned about it. The Cornish dealer would buy refurbed power supply boards and fit them as a complete replacement assembly - charge to client £225 with no complaint. We thried this latter a couple of times and nearly had a riot from the penny-pinching "new rich" clients B&O had in the home counties...

DaveK
06-08-2009, 10:41
Well British Gas have given a quote-£3686.97!
This includes:
Standard horizontal outlet
soakaway for condensate drain Ran mine into foul drain via 'U' bend trap.
Magna-clean
Power cleanse
expansion vessel Purpose?? - mine ain't got one, or at least not by that name. My entire system is on full mains pressure - get a very powerful shower that way.
increase gas pipe to 28mm Question if it is strictly necessary and make sure that it is 28mm all the way back to a supply of similar or larger diameter - believe it or not, one fitter tried to convince me that it would still perform as required by reducing it back down to 25mm or whatever a few inches upstream from the inlet.
2 years cover. Standard for BG

No hi-fi for me for a while even if I do get a better price.:(

Hi Jerry,
I'm no expert so the above points are vague recollections of my findings when we went through this hassle a couple of years or so ago. BTW, we went for BG's quote and they 'tried it on' twice with us: -
1) we agreed that we would continue with the annual maintenance check and they enacted the DD for the annual payment in year 1, i.e. within a few months of them installing it - got it repaid!
2) after the first proper maintenance check, about 15 months after installation but still under 2 year warranty and despite assurance from the young lady who took our call and the fitter who carried out the repair (very minor) that there would be no charge, they still sent us an invoice for either £48 or £98!! - can't remember which - after several phone calls I got it cancelled - tantamount to fraud I call it!
Hope this helps a little.

Covenant
06-08-2009, 10:54
Hi Dave,
The expansion vessel is something to do with the fact that a thermostatic shower is installed in the house. The 28mm supply is for the amount of gas used to heat water on demand-my present boiler has a thermal store so didnt require it.
Forget to say they have also included for bricking up the old flue which is quite big with matching brick.
Its still a whopping amount of money so I will be getting a good few quotes.
Boiling kettles for a shave and to wash dishes is ok for a while.

StanleyB
06-08-2009, 11:47
Forget to say they have also included for bricking up the old flue which is quite big with matching brick.
I turned mine into a storage space.

Spectral Morn
06-08-2009, 17:19
Hi Neil,
Very interesting - where on earth do you dig up these multitudes of facts from, surely not memory alone?
Cheers,

Yes. As a hobby, interest I collect and restore oil lamps and some times sell to the antique trade. We used to have a wonky substation where we live about 13 years ago and ours was the only house in the street with light (oil lamp light).


Regards D S D L

REM
06-08-2009, 18:08
DaveC
It's obvious if you look at the pictures, they're not lamps at all, they are:


DARLEK SPAWN

:lolsign::lolsign::lolsign:

Covenant
06-08-2009, 18:40
Or Dalek jobbies.....

StanleyB
06-08-2009, 18:46
As a hobby, interest I collect and restore oil lamps and some times sell to the antique trade.
Aah, you are the guy from Aladin:).

Covenant
08-08-2009, 13:35
The story continues......
The British Gas engineer gave a verbal figure of £3686.97 but the written quote which arrived the next day was for £4336.97! Terrible inflation at BG.
So today a local guy-ex BG engineer called and has given a quote of £2500.;)
I will more than likely accept this but will get one more quote.
I will have a go at bricking up the hole when the gas flue is removed. Here is a photo of the flue-I need to get about 10 matching bricks I think.

StanleyB
08-08-2009, 14:52
The story continues......
The British Gas engineer gave a verbal figure of £3686.97 but the written quote which arrived the next day was for £4336.97! Terrible inflation at BG.
Was there a Porsche or Aston Martin parked in front of your house?

Covenant
08-08-2009, 16:00
He seemed resigned to the fact that he wasn't going to get the job. I would rather support a one man band that is keen to do the job anyway.

Covenant
12-08-2009, 07:56
I have accepted a quote for £2350. The ex-BG engineer reduced his price! The next lowest was £2850. Job gets done next Monday.:)

Covenant
30-08-2009, 17:09
Job done and all is well. Here is a photo of my brickwork where the flue used to be. Dont think I will get a job as a bricky anytime soon.

Puffin
30-08-2009, 17:47
Jerry built!

PS you might get fined for that bin.

DaveK
30-08-2009, 18:06
Hi Jerry,
Brickyin' don't look bad to me - got to be reasonable as it's at the side of the door and it would pass scrutiny I reckon.
Cheers,