Adulting: Part 1 - buying a new boiler. Help needed

Rich210

Within three weeks of buying my first house the 2009 combi boiler packs in. Heating engineer thinks it's a write off. Bugger.

What do you recommend fretboard?

What are the do's and don'ts of getting a new boiler? 

What are the key considerations? 

Tonight we'll be setting up the tin bath in front of the fire....cold shower this morning was horrific, but I'm embracing it. My partner on the other hand is hating it! Help!

RandallFlagg

We replaced our old boiler after it was condemned as unserviceable with an Ideal Logic+ combi in 2015 with a 7 year warranty, 6 years of trouble free running so far and the installer services it annually, says it's still like a brand new boiler. he only recommends Ideal and has fitted hundreds and never had a fault with any of them. he also fitted one of those magnetic thingies that keeps the system clean.

https://idealheating.com

Haych

Same thing happened to me when I bought my house in 2011, only the boiler was probably installed with the house some 30 years before.

I can't say what the dos and don'ts are.  Gas boilers are now considered evil, a bit like diesel cars, but I think if I was in the same situation I'd still have a new gas boiler fitted while I still could - I'm not convinced by heat pumps yet.

Make sure you get an appropriate size boiler for the size of your home.  You might also want to consider a service plan - generally they are covered for about 5 or ten years under warranty but you'll need to be able to prove it's been serviced to claim under warranty.

I didn't do this but wish I had.  Our boiler is well out of warranty now but if I'd had a service plan it would have caught a fault well before it started leaking earlier this year!

I also chose to keep an electric shower as an alternative source of hot water - at least then if the boiler did pack up we'd all have a way to have a wash and we weren't solely dependent upon one appliance for hot water.

Hope you get it sorted soon mate, it's a miserable time of year to be without hot water.  We haven't put the heating on yet but I can't imagine not having any hot water, brrrrr.

Rich210

@Haych I had in mind to go for a hybrid system down the line and get something a bit fancy and eco friendly installed. But because we've got sweet naff all we're kind of forced to replace with another combi....

@Randallflagg Thanks for the recommendation. They come with 10 year guarantee!  

pjf

Heatable website looked good to me, but I ended up going with local plumbers*, which would be my recommendation for a big-ish job like this. 

*Eventually, when I managed to find a couple of guys that weren’t completely up their own arses! So many plumbers seem to think they are gods among men compared to sparkies or plasterers who are generally reasonable and friendly people - just my opinion of course. 

Haych

Rich210 said:

@Haych I had in mind to go for a hybrid system down the line and get something a bit fancy and eco friendly installed. But because we've got sweet naff all we're kind of forced to replace with another combi....

@Randallflagg Thanks for the recommendation. They come with 10 year guarantee!  

Needs must and all that, do what you gotta do.  We had a Vaillant boiler fitted, if that's any help.  To be fair it's been a cracking little boiler with only the one little fault, which was my fault for not once having it serviced for the last ten years!

I think all the new Vaillant boilers all come with a 10 year guarantee now, too.

RiftAmps

We've just had a new combi boiler installed, the previous one was older than religion and only worked when it felt like it. It finally died on a Sunday afternoon.

Asked my Plumber for a recommendation of a good Gas Engineer, he gave me two that were local who he'd worked with before. I Rang both, got them to come round and quote/advise/recommend and both said similar things...get a more efficient unit, flush central heating system, fit a filter etc.

Quotes were about the same as we got online from various companies, but at least they'd seen the house and knew what was what...we didn't want any "ah, you've got a cracked spigot system waffle machine so we can't do it without this other bit that we don't have that may or may not cost an extra £600 depending on if the gaffer is on holiday or not" bollocks.

Anyway, got a Worcester Greenstar 4000 installed the next day and all is good. Paid £2100 all-in with 10-year warranty etc.

House is warm and takes less time to heat up. Water is hot and quick. Lovely.

guitartango

RiftAmps said:

We've just had a new combi boiler installed, the previous one was older than religion and only worked when it felt like it. It finally died on a Sunday afternoon.

Asked my Plumber for a recommendation of a good Gas Engineer, he gave me two that were local who he'd worked with before. I Rang both, got them to come round and quote/advise/recommend and both said similar things...get a more efficient unit, flush central heating system, fit a filter etc.

Quotes were about the same as we got online from various companies, but at least they'd seen the house and knew what was what...we didn't want any "ah, you've got a cracked spigot system waffle machine so we can't do it without this other bit that we don't have that may or may not cost an extra £600 depending on if the gaffer is on holiday or not" bollocks.

Anyway, got a Worcester Greenstar 4000 installed the next day and all is good. Paid £2100 all-in with 10-year warranty etc.

House is warm and takes less time to heat up. Water is hot and quick. Lovely.

Seems Cheap, we were quoted £6k by British Gas (different boiler)

nanoman

Reading with interest as one of the first jobs when we get in our new house is a new boiler as the old one looked ancient. While that might mean it's very robust and built to last, we could really do with ditching the hot water tank to make a new cupboard space so might go combi for the first time ever.

Can you still get a decent power shower with a combi?

RandallFlagg

nanoman said:

Reading with interest as one of the first jobs when we get in our new house is a new boiler as the old one looked ancient. While that might mean it's very robust and built to last, we could really do with ditching the hot water tank to make a new cupboard space so might go combi for the first time ever.

Can you still get a decent power shower with a combi?

Yeah, ours is fine, piped straight off the hot & cold supply. The only issue we have is due to the small tank in the combi, it can take 30 seconds or more to get hot water flowing in the downstairs sink. We have a pre-heater turned on but as the tank is small it doesn't last long until the boiler gets heating the flowing water.

Wazmeister

RandallFlagg said:

We replaced our old boiler after it was condemned as unserviceable with an Ideal Logic+ combi in 2015 with a 7 year warranty, 6 years of trouble free running so far and the installer services it annually, says it's still like a brand new boiler. he only recommends Ideal and has fitted hundreds and never had a fault with any of them. he also fitted one of those magnetic thingies that keeps the system clean.

https://idealheating.com

Never ever buy an Ideal.

Utter shite and reknown for it - you'll be buying PCBs in pairs to replace them.

Roland

RiftAmps said:

...get a more efficient unit, flush central heating system, fit a filter etc...

... and if any radiators need changing, whether rusty or old and inefficient, then get them to do it while the system is drained down

Haych

guitartango said:

RiftAmps said:

We've just had a new combi boiler installed, the previous one was older than religion and only worked when it felt like it. It finally died on a Sunday afternoon.

Asked my Plumber for a recommendation of a good Gas Engineer, he gave me two that were local who he'd worked with before. I Rang both, got them to come round and quote/advise/recommend and both said similar things...get a more efficient unit, flush central heating system, fit a filter etc.

Quotes were about the same as we got online from various companies, but at least they'd seen the house and knew what was what...we didn't want any "ah, you've got a cracked spigot system waffle machine so we can't do it without this other bit that we don't have that may or may not cost an extra £600 depending on if the gaffer is on holiday or not" bollocks.

Anyway, got a Worcester Greenstar 4000 installed the next day and all is good. Paid £2100 all-in with 10-year warranty etc.

House is warm and takes less time to heat up. Water is hot and quick. Lovely.

Seems Cheap, we were quoted £6k by British Gas (different boiler)

I don't know how British Gas get away with it.  I think we were quoted £8k ten years ago for a new combo boiler.

I think the actual price we paid was £1800 with an independent installer.

I had a rough ballpark quote for a new Glow Worm boiler recently and it was about the same.  How British Gas can charge such extortionate prices is criminal.

Rich210

Looks like we've been saved. £1850 10 year warranty Baxi boiler with some magnetic fancy filter all in, job done. Coming tomorrow. 

mgaw

We got a Worcester boiler fitted about 5 years ago cost us £2100 installed, been trouble free 

TheMadMick

The two that seem best are Worcester Bosch and Vaillant. We have the latter and in 10 years we have had 2 hoses replaced (no longer used - designed out) and a new logic board - nearly £300.00. Our next boiler will be a Worcester Bosch if we can get a hydrogen ready one - not available yet. y son's Worceter Bosch combi has been good for the last 4 years.

chillidoggy

Another vote for Ideal boilers. My Ideal Elan 60 is 33 years old and still going. It’s a bit like Trigger’s broom, but it soldiers on.

It’ll probably cack over and die now I’ve said that.

Iamnobody

Wazmeister said:

RandallFlagg said:

We replaced our old boiler after it was condemned as unserviceable with an Ideal Logic+ combi in 2015 with a 7 year warranty, 6 years of trouble free running so far and the installer services it annually, says it's still like a brand new boiler. he only recommends Ideal and has fitted hundreds and never had a fault with any of them. he also fitted one of those magnetic thingies that keeps the system clean.

https://idealheating.com

Never ever buy an Ideal.

Utter shite and reknown for it - you'll be buying PCBs in pairs to replace them.

I think that used to be the case but they have upped their game. We recently had a Vogue Max 32 fitted by a heating engineer I’ve known for a long time and he recommends them (and Valliant) now over WB , but was quite clear that he wouldn’t have promoted Ideal a few years ago. 

I also double checked with another guy who said the same. 

nanoman

RandallFlagg said:

nanoman said:

Reading with interest as one of the first jobs when we get in our new house is a new boiler as the old one looked ancient. While that might mean it's very robust and built to last, we could really do with ditching the hot water tank to make a new cupboard space so might go combi for the first time ever.

Can you still get a decent power shower with a combi?

Yeah, ours is fine, piped straight off the hot & cold supply. The only issue we have is due to the small tank in the combi, it can take 30 seconds or more to get hot water flowing in the downstairs sink. We have a pre-heater turned on but as the tank is small it doesn't last long until the boiler gets heating the flowing water.

30 seconds sounds amazing. The rental property we're in just now takes about 3 minutes for the hot water to come through. Thankfully were not paying utilities.

spark240

Shouldn't we be considering alternatives nowadays ?

All electric boilers etc?

exocet

spark240 said:

Shouldn't we be considering alternatives nowadays ?

All electric boilers etc?

New house / very well insulated - yes consider electric heating but in the form of a heat pump.

Majority of UK housing stock pre 1990 - good luck.

I'm starting the process of getting my 1969 house in some kind of shape for an electric heated  future. Going for internal insulation on 2 walls, external insulation on another, beefing up loft insulation and replacing a few radiators that will then run at 50 degree or lower water temperatures. Looked at wet underfloor heating which is ideal for heat pump operation but I reckon it'd cost me £25k just to get that laid because of all of the additional work required to allow a level floor across all downstairs rooms....can't justify that so I'm sticking with large radiators.