Gas central heating and a combi boiler

[CinnamonStix]

We're about to buy a house in the south east which needs gas central heating (7 radiators) and a new combi boiler fitted. We've been quoted around £3500, give or take £100 for the whole job. Is this reasonable? We'll obviously shop around a bit more and gather some quotes, but is this the ball park we're looking at?

[fluffygal]

We recently had a new boiler fitted, but not radiators. Was a water tank before so already had pipes but was moving the boiler into the loft. It cost us 1k for the boiler (vallaint one) and 1400 for the other parts/labour. Did they breakdown the cost? Offer you different choices of boiler to bring down price? My plumber was happy for me to buy my own boiler and parts so I could shop around.

[nocake]

That sounds very reasonable. We've had a quote for £1,800 just to replace a combi boiler. There's a lot more work involved in fitting an entire system.

[CinnamonStix]

Well we asked for two quotes - one for the full job (as DH knows someone who might be able to help us put up the rads and lay down the pipes), and one for just installing the combi.

He hasn't given us a full breakdown of the full job yet, he said he needs to measure where the pipes would go but it's around £3500, give or take £100 or so.

For just the combi, he's given us this breakdown:

Worcester 30si boiler - £920
Vertical flue - £250
New wireless programmer/room stat - £120
TF1 Filter - £90
Lime scale reducer - £20
Condense to outside hopper or under bath
Connect gas at meter and boiler
Commission, test and sign off installation to buildings control.

Labour cost £ 400

Total cost £1800 this includes VAT and 5 years warranty on the boiler and 1 year on all other work.


Are Worcester boilers any good? Is this a fair quote? I have absolutely no knowledge on boilers/plumbers/anything remotely DIY..

[mrswee]

Worcester boilers are great! I have one and very happy with it.

[PigletJohn]

Worcester Bosch and Vaillant are two popular good-quality mid-price brands of boiler.

[CinnamonStix]

Thanks, that's good to know!

I'm not sure whether to just go with this guy, because his quotes seem reasonable enough and he's a nice enough bloke, I don't think he's going to try and rip me off. I just hope I'm not being naive!

[tricot39]

Hi
just a suggestion but it is well worth installling one of these
http://www.adey.co.uk/
Magnaclean filters on the return leg of your heating to extend the life of your boiler. Saves the need to power flush your system in the future too.

[PigletJohn]

Magnacleans are very prone to leaks (usually after the warranty has run out)

The Fernox TF1 is comparable but better made. That, and the Sentinel one, are copies of the solid-brass Spirotech which is also very good.

[tricot39]

Interesting about the leaks. Ours has gone 5 years without trouble. Useful to know about an alternative. Still miles better than the power flush tho?

[CinnamonStix]

Thanks tricot39 and pigletjohn, will bear that in mind but I think it's early days yet!

[KimaGreggsSausageRoll]

We had a WB combi boiler put in 3 years ago, with quite a lot of work moving pipework and adding and moving radiators, and it came to about £3500 so I think your quote sounds about right.

[PigletJohn]

tricot

yes, the Magnaclean is fantastic at getting black sludge out. How often do you empty yours?

you can now get a revised plastic sleeve with a sort of filter on the bottom that captures non-magnetic detritus, well worth having.

It's true about the leaks though, both from the threads on the cap, and the poor-quality service valves. Adey had the mass market sewn up for a while, but their product is mostly made of plastic and the build quality is poor, BG and many professionals refuse to install them now because the cost of call-backs is so high.

In my own house I have an older Spirotech which is solid brass and much better build, used to be very expensive, but does not work as fast as a Magnaclean on a dirty old system. I fitted a Magnaclean for a test run, but the water is so clean it caught almost nothing.

[tricot39]

We emptied/cleaned off the sleeve once in 5 years. Maybe we got lucky but have had no leaks at all. I have never heard of anyone else having one so have no idea of any problems. Fingers crossed it keeps working well. I would definitely install one (or maybe your alternative if a longer life) again if/when we move.

[Ponders]

we just had the same boiler fitted (Worcester Greenstar 30si) in place of an ancient Vaillant

boiler, flue & room stat were all replaced; they had to fit larger pipes the length of the house pretty much, & there was some brickwork & making good around the old flue. The condensing pipe was connected to an existing washing machine drain pipe.

plumber said we didn't need a Magnaclean as the water drained out of the old system was clear.

it took a day & cost just under £2K

HTH

[Ponders]

(British Gas quoted £4.5K for the same job but including a magnaclean )

[PigletJohn]

We emptied/cleaned off the sleeve once in 5 years

Time to do it again, then!

[tricot39]

Ha ha! Well that was end of last year so i think we are ok! There wasnt so much sludge that it was gummed up - something like 3mm maybe so that magnet hadnt lost any stick.

[Clargo55]

We've been quoted roughly the same. This might not apply to you but bear in mind any extra costs, such as hiring any scaffolding. Do you have a gas supply to the house already? We?ve been quoted an additional £600 for this.

[Clargo55]

Opps! missed that you already had a meter. Sounds like a fair quote.

[FishfingersAreOK]

Wow - so many people know so much detail about their boilers feels a bit like a boiler dunce The only thing I want to add is possibly a spanner in the works - is a Combi Boiler the best solution? We are having a house renovated and both our builder and plumber have advised that Combi boilers are only any good for small houses/flats...and for families of more than 3 you are better off with the whole hot water tank thing - in particular a megaflow. I know nuzzink about boilers but having seen my parents combi boiler at work (fine for heating but PITA if more than one hot water tap on at once) and MIL's regular boiler/megaflow (lots of lovely good pressured hot water) I am with my builder.

[PigletJohn]

fill a bucket at the kitchen cold tap, time it, calculate how many litres per minute it delivers.

If you have a combi and no tank, that will be the total amount of water you can get out of one or all of the taps in the house at any one time. That is the flow measurement.

For example it might be 12 litres per minute, which gives quite a good shower (unless you want a drencher head). However, if while you are having your shower, someone else in the house turns on a tap, or flushes a WC, or the washing machine or dishwasher takes in water, you might get only 6 litres each, which is rather poor. A cold water tank in the loft means you can deliver water to the bathroom taps faster than it comes into the house from the main, because it is stored ready for use.

To increase the amount of water flow into house, you usually have to fit a new, larger water pipe all the way to the main under the pavement. This will cost some hundeds of pounds, depending how far and whether it is easy dig earth or concrete.

A Megaflow can give a lot of hot water, but it relies on good flow and pressure (they are not the same thing) coming into the house.

[everythingtodo]

Quote is a good price. We had a 38 worcester boilet so double check the size.

As for more info abouth the thermostat. Modern ones allow you to set the house to be a temp at certain times of the day. The first one we got only had 6 time settings we found the house got cold in between as the time between settings was too long. We had to get it replaced with one with more settings- 10 i think

[Ponders]

family of 6 - when we had our old (dead) combi boiler we managed fine with that, & the new one is way better (4-bed house, bathroom & shower room)

it is true that sharing the flow can be a PITA, but it only causes problems very occasionally, & then we just yell.

But if your house is too big for a yell to work then maybe a combi isn't for you