Has anyone ever had whole central heating/boiler system replaced while living in house?

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

That's it in a nutshell. Feeling really anxious already as I always do when anything needs doing (I have no idea why)
Currently system limping on, going to cost thousands. How long did yours take and did stuff have to come up (carpets, tiles etc) it complicates things as house is really old and has no foundations, just a concrete floor. Any stories

[JT05]

Yes, but in the summer and got a good deal from BG. We had already stripped out the old system during the refurb on a 3 storey 4 bed house. They took 3 days, two engineers and one electrician. Excellent service.
We now have an old house with microbore, which is ok, but not as efficient as we would like. So next summer planning on having a new system again. We will get a BG estimate as well as others.

[pleasebekind28]

Yes. It took about a week, for a large end terrace. They did have to take up floorboards but only here and there to run the pipes under. It wasn't as bad/messy as I'd feared it would be. Not sure what difference a concrete floor would make but try not to worry

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

So probably another day or two to strip out? I don't want to to it in the winter. Bloody DH insisting it was ok during summer. Grrr.

[Schumann]

Yes we did. It only took 2 days. We did sleep at PIL that night as it was January. But by tea time on the second day the heating was on and all working

[LurkingQuietly]

Yes, in December when I was 38 weeks pregnant. Because we're stupid. 2 (long) days because my wonderful plumber was super sympathetic and worked all hours to get it done. It really wasn't as messy as I feared.

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

I feel stupid too (but at least not pregnant) Thank you all, you've made me feel a little better saying it's not crazily disruptive.

[NattyTile]

Yep. In February.

Beg, borrow and buy electric radiators. Move into one room upstairs and take an electric hot plate with you because the gas will go off at some point too and if the boiler's in the kitchen you won't be able to cook down there.

Many layers of blankets. Much use of local friends, library, coffee shops etc. Takeout. And the mantra "it'll be lovely when it's done."

[didireallysaythat]

Yes twice. If your plumber plans ahead, and is replacing pipes, new stuff can go in before the old us decommissioned. One or two days with nothing working max I'd expect. Which is better than the boiler insurance cover we had (3 weeks no heating in Feb waiting for the first appointment - DS just 3 months old but at least we had hot water and we weren't in the house during the day).

[ChozzleopsTheThird]

Yes, ours was finished by the time I got hime from work. Didn't realise it could take any longer!

[PuraVida]

We've just had ours done but kept the old pipes. Just a new boiler to replace an old back boiler and new radiators. Old hot water tank removed from the airing cupboard and cold tank from the loft.

There was almost no disruption. A couple of small areas of paint to be retouched. That's about it. We weren't without water or hot water at all. I think he switched on the never used imersion for the one night between the two boilers

It took 4 days in total. It was fine.

[Lovelybangers]

Yes and it was a big job.

Old house, dodgy pipes, very old boiler and heating system to start with.

I don't remember it being terribly disruptive so we must have just managed.

It took a ream of British gas fitters a week to do it.

[PuraVida]

Oh and British gas quoted £8.5k. Local gas safe, Worcester Bosch accredited engineer was £5k

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

We are oil but I don't think that makes a big difference (apart from smaller number of registered engineers)

[Meadows76]

We did ours last year and it took 3.5 days. It was a simple swap radiators old for new, likewise with boiler so no major upheaval. It totally depends what system you have now and what you are replacing it with