Kiwi

I'm looking at replacing my 18 year old gas central heating boiler with a new condensing boiler. The bumff from BG claim these are 37% more efficient than old boilers.

Does anybody have experience of these boilers ?
Which makes are ok & which should be avoided ?
I may go with a British Gas deal are they any good at fitting replacements ?

dnb

We got a quote from British gas for a heating install. Was goung to be £6k. for a 1 bed flat in London

We got some quotes from some local (and not so local) Corgi plumbers, and that figure nearly halved...

I would suggest getting more than one quote

mj

i think you can get grants for these type of boilers.

mj.

jasonwrxowner

Is it a Scooby boiler?

ozzy

Kiwi,

Condensing boilers are technically more efficient that a normal combo boiler as they don't just vent all the hot-air into space. It depends on which model you go for as too how efficient they are.

Have a look at the Sedbuk database to check the efficiency of any boiler.

I've recently replaced our whole central heating system (4-bedroom bungalow). Cost was approx. £1250 all-in. We bought the boiler, radiators, a couple of towel rails and all the piping/fixtures from our local branch (Motherwell) of Plumb Centre. Then I got one of the local plumbers to do a homer over a weekend.

The rads, boilers and pipework all have manufacturers warranties and our Boiler manufacturer also provides a 5-year support contract that covers everything (the boiler itself, pipework, rads, valves, tapes, the whole lot). The plumber was obviously CORGI-registered and came very highly recommended by friends from our village.

We used to have this with BG until they decided that they wouldn't cover anyone that didn't have copper pipes. We had plastic pipe, so in was cheaper in the end to rip it all out and lay some copper stuff.

We've now got a 5-year contract through the boiler manufacturer for about £8 per month; and that's even cheaper than our old BG contract.

Took 3 lads Sat/Sun to do all the work. That was 11 rads, a couple of towel rails and pipework to 10 rooms. We've a 4-foot basement, so it made life a whole lot easier for them. They had all the rads and towel rails on the walls and the boiler in the Kitchen in under 2 hours

It depends on your house and what you need out of the system. Ours was simple; a combo boiler with enough grunt to handle multiple hot taps and a shower.

My suggestion is speak to a local plumber and see what system they recommend. Then source all the stuff from a plumbers merchant and either get a plumbing firm to estimate the labour costs for installing it all.

It's not rocket science and shouldn't cost anywhere near £6K (or even half). Mind you BG were charging £2K for a boiler, you could buy for £700 in the plumbers merchant

You can check Discount Heating Supplies for rough ideas on costs (especially boilers).

Stefan

[Edited by ozzy - 9/5/2002 11:12:50 AM]

[Edited by ozzy - 9/5/2002 11:13:41 AM]

dsmith

Parents changed a faultless 25 yr old boiler for a condensing boiler. Got through 2 heat exchangers in 18 months. Eventually Boiler manufacturer did a good deal on an equivalent non-condenser to replace it.

The collective opinion of everyone who came to attempt to get the boiler working properly was to steer clear of condensers. Pain not worth the energy saving.

Flue for a condenser gives off more steam aswell

Just one experience of a condenser....

Deano