AKICOLJ

[wellinghall]

(1) How much does a new boiler cost (including fitting)?

(2) How much more efficient is a new boiler than a 17-year-old one?

Comments

[lanciatore.livejournal.com]

1) depends what you have now and what you want to replace it with. If you have a boiler + hot water tank and want to keep it that way, the new boiler will cost less than if you do away with the hot water tank as well (which is what we did) and get a combi boiler. I would also reccommend going on some online forums to ask about god makes of boiler. We got a Worcester which is top of the line and it hasn't had a single problem in nearly 4 years. At the same time, we had the whole central heating system powerflushed to get rid of years of accumulated sludge and had TRVs (thermostatic radiator valves) fitted to all the radiators. All in it cost us £2700

2) It will be hugely more efficient as all new boilers installed nowadays have to be condensing boilers. These are somewhere in the region of 95-98% efficient compared to 70-80% efficient for conventional boilers. Mind you, you should also look at whether your loft lagging is up to scratch (you can get grants from councils for replacing it) and whether you have cavity wall insulation and how good your windws are. You might be better spending the money on stopping heat from pouring out of your house.

The other important factor to bear in mind is that finding spares to fix a 17 year old boiler if it packs up could be tricky, meaning you have to get it replaced anyway. When we moved into our house, we got a heating egineer to look at it and he said it was fine but if it packed up it wasn't going to be economically repairable. And I have to say the central heating is much better with the new boiler and TRVs

[bunn.livejournal.com]

The going on forums thing is what we did, and we ended up with a problem system. Forums work well for the kind of thing where people are likely to have experience of more than one system, but even plumbers only tend to have experience of a limited number of makes, and it takes long enough for boiler problems to show up that they won't necessarily be reflected in what online users are buzzing about. When we bought ours it was the latest thing, but it turned out a major mistake, largely because it was new and the problems didn't show up till it had bedded in a bit.

What I would do now (will do if, as seems likely, we end up having to rip the damn thing out and start over) is go to an established local firm, not a one-man-band, and ask them what they have installed a lot of and regularly service. :-(

[lanciatore.livejournal.com]

Well, long standing reputable brands like Worcester can be relied upon although they cost a bit more. The guy who installed ours said he didn't do any other type, which kind of backs up your point but then it has worked flawlessly for 4 years

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your very useful comments, lanciatore.

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your very useful comments, bunn.