How old is your gas boiler?

9 months. Yearly service and plan on it lasting at least 20 years.

I have a Worcestor Bosch that's 20 years old and still going strong, hard water area too. Its had bits and bobs over the years but nothing major.

Potterton. It’s older than me.

Installed in 1972.

Worcester Bosch Green Star Jr 25 (I think from memory) - installed in 2005. We've had the odd problem but frankly I'm not complaining - it's lasted 20 years and still running fine.

I have a big house and have big boilers (which is why we have 2..) and correspondingly big bills but I'm not seeing any meaningful reduction in my gas bills since having the 1970s boiler replaced even allowing for the rise in prices.

I was expecting a big drop in gas usage in the months after replacement but it was maybe £5 a month or so which is a drop in the ocean.

This one will have had to be replaced long before it covers its costs to buy and install.

The problem with super old boilers is they are super inefficient in terms of gas consumption, using anywhere from 1.5x to 2x as much gas as a modern boiler that is condensing properly. This makes them super expensive to run and super polluting.

Couple that with the repair costs and you can get your money back on a new condensing system quite quickly.

I moved from an old ideal standard non condensing to a valiant condensing boiler and my gas bill practically halved.

Every winter I turn mine on and cross everything. It’s 18 years old and I do (when I remember in the summer) get it serviced.

Boilers and dentistry are why I have £20k in savings never to be touched.

The only negative with old, non condensing boilers is they are probably under 70% efficient regarding gas use so you need to do the maths as to how long it will take to recoup the cost of a new boiler. If you use a lot of gas then a 30% reduction in usage could be quite a chunk of cash.

We saved almost 50% when replacing our 1995 Gloworm system boiler.

Ours was installed in the 1970s. Big floor standing thing.

Only replaced it last year as it looked hideous but it worked just fine.

Yes, I've just replaced an ideal classic which was 28 years old with another ideal boiler with a 12-year guarantee.

I was worried that it would break down in winter and also the parts were becoming rarer.

If you get 20 plus years then all good. 15 years to 20 OK. 10 to 15 not great but you can not really complain unless you spent loads and have great service history. Less than 10 then be pissed off.
Your new one should be more efficient so save you some money which is a small blessing.
My Dad, RIP, bizarrely told me at a young age (around 13) that if I ever buy a house put 1 hundredth of the cost of a new boiler away every month when you pay your mortgage. Because a boiler expense is one of the stresses in life when you are starting out.
I genuinely hadn't a clue what he was talking about at the time, but it has since become very clear to me in the next half a century that it was wise advice. I actually followed it too.😁100 months saving means you are fine if you get 9 years. You stop after the 100 and just wait until cash is needed. Then start again on replacement.
Thanks Dad.

Had my ch boiler replaced 11 months ago. A brand new Worcester boiler that replaced a 20yr old Worcester boiler. In those 20 years we had it repaired once. The part that fails most commonly is the pump ( I think) because it’s the only moving part. It was replaced around the ten years mark and the replacement last another ten years.
When it packed up again there was also corrosion ( normal after 20yrs) as well. The new boiler should see us out. And with yearly service, around £90-100 it will remain under guarantee for 10 years.
The biggest bonus is that the new one is AA+ rated and I can control it from an app on my phone. Because it’s so much more efficient we’ve seen a significant drop in fuel bills.
They now fit them with industrial grade filters to stop the build up of deposits/debris. It’s also connected via the app to the installer so they receive notification of any fault and indicates when it is due for service. I do love the digital age.

I think it was worth fixing OP
I moved home earlier this year and my wb boiler in my previous home was 13 years old.

Just had our boiler replaced for £3.8k (we changed the type of boiler which made the price £500ish more). It was 17 years old. Plumbers told us that 12-15 years is the usual life span of a boiler.

21 years old

20 years+. We moved in 18 years ago and the boiler was "fairly new". Potterton Suprima. We replaced the circuit board a few years ago.

Our boiler is 30 years old and still going strong. We had to have it repaired last year and the engineer told us to do whatever was necessary to keep it going because they don’t make them like this any more 😆😆. Our boiler is a potterton.

Purchased our house 5 years ago, from the service stickers on the boiler, it’s 22 years old. Valiant combi. Will have to replace at some point, but for now, it’s still going strong!

6 months old Vaillant, replaced 25 yo Vaillant.

We didn't go for a combi boiler after looking at the reviews,we went for self condensing, combi was cheaper to install, but we were told they go wrong a lot,thus costing more overall..we also kept the emersion heater, and tanks,hood job, because we now have solar.

Well we moved in here in 2008 and haven’t replaced it. Every year when BG come to service it they say that the parts are becoming harder to get…

I was chatting to a plumber in the launderette recently and she told me to hang onto it until it was no longer repairable, as new boilers can also be a pain in the arse. Every winter I am sure I’m on borrowed time with it but so far so good.

Same here.
Our boiler guy said they were made to last back then. He said don’t replace it until you really need to!

(And avoid BG as they seem to rip people off )

Obviously it will now break at the next cold snap.

Mine came with the house when it was built in 1989. We purchased the house in 2015 and before exchange it did break but they fixed it and told us once we had completed that we might want to start saving as they didn’t think it would last much longer. It’s still going strong and doing an outstanding job.

We had our gas meter replaced with a smart one and the engineer was amazed to see one so old but we were doing the right thing in waiting for it to break - no point replacing one that works - but changing the meter may be the end of it. There was a massive leak at the meter point outside and he was about to condemn it but as soon as he set up the meter, it came back to life and was safe with zero leaks. I’m hoping we can get to 40 years old.

we’ve never serviced it.

Our last 2 houses,Baxi Bermuda boilers behind the gas fire, very simple and 30 years old. Moved,Potterton Flamingo,25 years old, needed a heat exchanger,no longer available. We re fitted the kitchen,it was in the middle of the wall taking up a lot of space,so had a new Worcester Bosch which was installed in the loft (bungalow) it's 12 years old and has had a few new parts.