Repair or replace? Help!

[Happysinglemum72]

Not sure where to post this but can’t sleep worrying about it! Boiler broke down yesterday, been quoted nearly £800 to repair it. They can do this tomorrow and I will have my hot water back. But the boiler is 10 years old…. Is this a waste of money to repair at this age? I’ve no idea what to do? I urgently need it back up and running as have no hot water. Been looking at the possibility of a grant for a new boiler but think this is just for a heat pump…. I’m totally lost and out of my depth. Can usually do this single person stuff but slightly overwhelmed and feel sick at the cost of it all. Have two teens who are at their dads this weekend and so can get by a few days with showers for myself at the gym but that’s a very very short term measure. So I guess my AIBU is to get it repaired? It’s an expensive possible short term fix…

@Happysinglemum72 i know you said you are getting a heat plate replaced, and I’m not sure of your economic circumstances, but in the event you need a new boiler, check if you are eligible for an ECO4 grant. I think you need to be in receipt of certain benefits and need an EPC rating for your house which shows energy inefficiency. Worth investigating. Hope you get it sorted, my boiler was out of action last week and it was bloody annoying.

Get a second opinion. Pumps are well under £100, usually £50-60 plus about an hour to change.

@Lakelandwrinkly where have you seen pumps that cheap? I couldn’t find any less than what they’ve quoted.
@Netaporter thanks….. looking into grants…. I’m a single parent, work full time but get my salary topped up with a bit of UC - I think that the fact that that is deemed necessary says slur for today’s wages…. But that’s another topic. Also looking at getting 0% credit card… hate putting stuff in credit - if by I cant afford it I don’t buy it but this kind of has to be done.
feel better now I have a workable plan but you know sometimes it feels no matter how hard you work life is just waiting to pull you back down.

That will be for a stand alone pump, the sort of thing you had with a back boiler, not one that's an integrated into the boiler.

I just googled heatline pump.

You could explore the cost of a new boiler. Ten years these days is considered oldish. Great deals around. £800 for a repair is mega and could easily go towards a replacement boiler.

NO, not British Gas. They quoted my mother double the price of a plumber for a replacement, even though the had one of their insurance/service contracts.

May be worth checking free boiler replacements, which seem to be available for anyone with an older boiler. We got one but then moved house to one with an older one but not old enough for replacement bah!

What make boiler is it? If it’s a Vaillant or Worcester Bosch I’d keep and with former phone them they will do a fixed price repair not sure if latter. If it’s a cheaper boiler I’d replace.

Do you mean a Vaillant? What do you mean as good as premium brands? It’s one of the best?!

I replaced a 5 year old British Gas boiler with a Vaillant boiler a better spec one than I was quoted for as i looked online and saw a 7-years guarantee and I thought if paying £3k for new boiler/flushing the system/installation may as well pay an extra £300 for the next model up. Engineer hasn’t suggested it but said it was a good decision as instead of working potentially 80% of capacity it would probably never even get to 40%. 10+ years of boiler services never cost more than £80 so with that and the saving in fuel bills paid for itself in 3 years.

In another property with a Vaillant boiler 15+ year old kept having issues but was told to replace but called Vaillant themselves in for £200-£300 fixed fee repair and they did a major patch up and it was still going strong when replaced 5 years later.

Just been in the same situation with my 15 year old Worcester. Plumber said could try and patch it up or get new boiler. He suggested Vaillant but that was only because he wasn’t certified to install a Worcester

phoned Worcester direct , cost £3.1k which was slightly more than their fixed price offering, as they needed to re do some gas pipes, came with 12 year warranty and is the same model the owner of the plumbing firm has got

booked in for 3 days later and done in a day. They do offer finance but it’s 10% so I went down another route

I really didn’t want it patch it up now for it to break in the middle of winter

This.
Boilers should last about 15 years.
Has it been serviced regularly?

If you own or are in a council house get a heat pump. Hot water 24/7, cheaper bills and way less maintenance (once a year). If you turn leave the heating off during summer etc. you still have hot water. If you don't have a guarantee or maintenance included with the old one

We had to have a new boiler earlier this year after our 15 year old one packed up. We had had it repaired a few times but were in a plan so it never cost us anything. We went with the same plan for the new boiler (hometree) and our payments only went up an extra £50 a month so we got a new boiler and a service/repair plan for around £65 a month. We did get lots of quotes but this option was the best for us.

Eh? Ours is 20 years old. I did the 'efficiency will pay for replacement' quiz for it online after getting a flyer through the door.

It said it would take 32 years to get ahead on the investment so I think we'll stick with it for now.

So after nearly a week without hot water and heating ( would not have had the heating on anyway) the boiler is fixed! £196 which is far cheaper than the original quote. I also had someone lined up to put in a new boiler if this part didn’t work. £2000 with 12 yr warranty…. So kept his number for future. But for now I can relax and have a hot shower! Kids back tomorrow so just in time. Thanks for the calming advice.