Need a new boiler

[Andybtsn]

Sorry to hijack but do oil boilers last longer or something? We are just changing our Worcester after 23 years, we regularly serviced it and have had a lot of parts replaced, but I think it's finally giving up the ghost. Unfortunately costing an arm and leg and going the external route but no space outside the house so need to re route into the garden.

 

[mattyg]

Our valiant went after 11 years and had to be replaced

Is that a chinese knock off Vaillant

 

[robfosters]

Is that a chinese knock off Vailant

Absolutely not. But it was very heavily used over its life, much more than the average

 

[200sols]

 

[Bug One]

When our Worcester died, every plumber I talked to said they wouldn't touch a Worcester, and recommended using their in house fixed price repair.

£275 and they replaced a load of components - and it was working fine again.

 

[glenimp617]

I've heard Visemann are supposed to be really good

 

[Ayahuasca]

A Gas boiler? You climate killer. Limit your search to heat pumps immediately and say 'I love Greta' 100 times while hugging a tree for penance.

(On a more serious note, I've always been told by every fitter I've asked that Worcester tend to be reliable. We had a Valiant and it was great, however I've mostly had no-name cheapies and they've done the job fine. They've needed a bit more maintenance over time, but more than made up for in the lower purchase price).

had a quick look into heat pumps but it's a lot of money upfront and then you're relying on trying to cut your usage down drastically if you want anything meaningful back from the government grants.

I'll wait until that's the forced upgrade path, hopefully the technology improves significantly in the next 10 years.

 

[Bug One]

The only way heat pumps boilers will be a better option is if the cost of electricity and gas become equal. And I doubt the cost of electricity will be going down

 

[200sols]

The only way heat pumps boilers will be a better option is if the cost of electricity and gas become equal. And I doubt the cost of electricity will be going down

No, but the price of gas will be going up.

 

[a1ex2001]

No, but the price of gas will be going up.

Indeed it is the only way to make a move to heat pumps acceptable to the general public as at the minute gas works out so much cheaper.

 

[a1ex2001]

From what I've seen anything over 7 years in now consider "old" for a boiler.

Nonsense a decent brand will still be in warranty at 7 years, the problem is plumbers pushing new boilers instead of repairs so they make more money! The op’s boiler repair quote can likely be halved if he goes direct to Worcester and spending a couple of grand replacing a boiler to avoid a 200-300 quid bill is bonkers.

 

[Ayahuasca]

The op’s boiler repair quote can likely be halved if he goes direct to Worcester and spending a couple of grand replacing a boiler to avoid a 200-300 quid bill is bonkers.

If the boiler was under 10 years old I would have considered a repair. I’d rather not sink £2-300 into it for it to go again in a couple of years.

I’ve searched other forums for the same model and they frequently blow out around the 10-12 year range.

 

[Bug One]

I’ve searched other forums for the same model and they frequently blow out around the 10-12 year range.

Is it serviced yearly? What do you mean 'blow'? As in - it doesn't ignite - or it's had a catastrophic explosive failure?

I was in the same boat, and a Worcester own engineer came out and fixed it in about half an hour for a fixed fee. The bits he replaced were consumable parts that would have been replaced if I'd have had it serviced properly.

If you take care of it, I suspect a boiler would last a lifetime. As long as replacement parts are available for it.

If your issue is 'flow' and not getting heat to radiators - I suspect this is more likely due to sediment in your pipes. A power flush, and fitting a MagnaClear would likely help a great deal more than a new boiler.

 

[Ayahuasca]

Yes, it has been serviced yearly...

The three gas fitters who've looked at it have seen the exact issue before on this model and all said it's an expensive fix. I'm aware that Worcester do a fixed fee repair but I don't know how many more times I need to say that I don't want to sink money into an already 11, coming up 12 year old combi boiler. If there are models out there that can last a lifetime I'd like to see them recommended?

Anyway, I'm getting the Baxi Platinum 40 fitted later today for £1750 all in so I'll report back on any improvements.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

11 years isn’t isn’t ancient, it’s fairly modern in the grand scheme of things. Ours is pushing 20 years old now.

As others have said, the issues with the rads are unlikely to be the boiler.

It’s also my understanding that combi boilers are normally sized for hot water demand. An equivalent system boiler would only be 14-16kw as it doesn’t need to deal with instant hot water. The logic of putting in a more powerful boiler because the rads don’t get hot in a certain location doesn’t follow.

 

[Ayahuasca]

For our requirements, a 35kw was the minimum recommended and again all three fitters said the one that was fitted isn't suitable for the property. Large victorian terrace with long pipe runs from where the boiler is to the other side of the house.

As it's getting power flushed later the improvements may come from that if it's sediment buildup.

 

[Harnser]

and again all three fitters said the one that was fitted isn't suitable for the property.

At least you've had 3 fitters saying the same thing. We've had two companies out to talk about a full overhaul of our CH & HW system (boiler 25+ years old, house extended twice and weird pipe runs) and they've proposed completely different solutions

 

[fezster]

For our requirements, a 35kw was the minimum recommended and again all three fitters said the one that was fitted isn't suitable for the property. Large victorian terrace with long pipe runs from where the boiler is to the other side of the house.

As it's getting power flushed later the improvements may come from that if it's sediment buildup.

Too late in your case now, but most domestic installers don't really understand the intricacies of how heating systems work. They'll usually just recommend what whatever worked in a previous install in an "average" house. It'll probably be sub-optimal but will work and most people don't know the difference.

Combi boilers are nearly always oversized for your heating system, as they're chosen for their high kw hot water output. Contrary to popular belief, having an oversized boiler presents a lot of problems, inefficiencies and will most likely reduce the life of your boiler. Your radiator not heating up will not be down to an undersized boiler, that much is guaranteed. It may be an undersized pump, though - a bigger boiler may have a bigger pump, but that's not the correct way to solve the problem.

 

[Ayahuasca]

The work went ahead and all is well at the moment

 

[FlyingFish]

Baxi Platinum excellent choice. Old school tech (The platinum model is 15 years old as its just so good, installers love them) they are bomb proof, very reliable, superb performance and easy to repair. Happy to run on various systems. We fit loads of them at work, more than any other model. Mine is about 5 years old, my mums (which I installed), 13 years old, with out a single fault.

No plastic parts, no alloy heat exchangers, very robust.
The only things to note, is there is no preheat (but stainless heat exchangers heat faster than alloy) and there is no sound proofing within the boiler.

If your installer hasn't already done so, then get the weather sensor kit fitted. It doesn't cost much, and you can run a heat curve on the heating temp.