How old is your gas boiler?

[LifeIsTooFlippingShort]

AIBU for expecting my Worcester combi boiler to last 20 years? Just getting it repaired now (terrible timing financially 😑) and wondering if I should fork out for a new one this summer after 13 years?

That might be pushing it if you live in a hard water area. It knackers boilers more quickly than soft water does, according to my plumber.

My previous boilers lasted 13 and 14 years before they became uneconomical to repair. Neither of them were Worcester Bosch though.

My current one came with a 13 year guarantee, and I fully expect it to need replacing when the guarantee runs out.

If it’s worth repairing still, and the fact it’s undergoing a repair currently, it’s probably worth keeping until it conks out.

However, they always break in the winter, and then you have the hassle of not having it until you can get a new one fitted.

I’ve just had a Vaillant boiler replaced after 16 years but that was only because several things went wrong with it and it wasn’t worth repairing tbh. I’d got to the point of waking up every morning crossing my fingers that the radiators would be on!

Just had a Worcester boiler replaced, it lasted 12 years.

Not impressed.

I've gone with a different manufacturer, I was told Worcester are shit now.

Our valiant one is 24 years old

we have been lucky that it hasn’t had much go wrong…. However it is acting up this winter.

had one repair man out who couldn’t fix it , British Gas came out suggested a new one , in between the two men coming out, it has started working again 🤷‍♂️

however we have had a quote for a new one for 3k from BG , that I think we will go with shortly. The good news about it starting to work again- is that fingers crossed we can save the money for it before hand .

My last boiler was 25 years old and just kept going! We only changed it as we were having an extention and lots of work done to house, it was a Worcester and the one we have now is too

My last boiler (Worcester) was installed in 1996 and I had it replaced last year (so 28 years old). It hadn’t broken down but parts were no longer readily available.

I don’t expect anything to last these days so will see how the new one turns out!

7 years.

24 years old. We had it re-sited after 3 years when we extended the kitchen too. Our heating engineer said say we might struggle to get parts if it packs up. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Worchester Combi, its about 12yo, just had a new pressure vessel, a new pressure gauge and a relief valve, cost £280 to fix, it was an A rated boiler when new and i ve no intention of replacing, parts are plentiful and i ve a great gas engineer.

We’ve just replaced a boiler (Potterton) that lasted 33 years. We live in a very hard water area too. It was actually still going strong but we replaced the whole kitchen so thought we’d better get a new boiler too. We’ve now got a Worcester Bosch, which we’re pleased with, but we don’t expect to get 33 years out of that! (As an aside, our fridge-freezer, double oven and hob were also 33 years old, and we don’t expect the same length of life from their replacements either!)

This is the first repair it's ever had. The engineer was surprised the part was still available (a flow valve sensor). Best part of £300 though! I'm going to hope this sees me through to the summer and get a new one then.

Blimey, was that parts and labour? I just paid £60 for the flow sensor and £177 for labour. Plus vat on top. I thought that was good though. Same day service and engineer had to go 15 miles each way to collect the part.

Ours needed extensive repairs at the 15yr Mark 2 yrs ago before being condemned 3 months ago at the 17 yr mark. wish we had just planned for it to be changed in the summer as would have been less hassle overall.

11 years old. Serviced every year.

The last one was installed in the mid 70s and was still going strong when we replaced it about 5 years ago. Couldn't get parts for it anymore and any replacement had to be re-sited so we decided that a planned downgrade was better than an emergency one.

The replacement ( Valiant- traditional style with a hot water tank ) generally breaks down once a year but just minor issues.

The second boiler (combi) in the annex was installed in 2003 and is still OK with only one major failure in that time. Also Valiant.

Worcesters are generally very good with the proviso that you NEED the burner seals and electrodes changed every 5 years. Do that and they normally last for 20+ years.
A good engineer will know this but the problem can be with boiler cover companies who won’t cover this as routine maintainance, even though it saves expensive claims in the long run.
DH has just changed them on our 10 y/o Vaillant and we should get another 10 years as it’s still running at peak efficiency due to regular magna filter cleaning and new inhibitor every other year.
The lower the flow temperature, the less strain on the heat plate exchanger etc. too.

Just had my 13 year old boiler replaced. Not economical to keep repairing it.

All in inc VAT... the guy lives next door, he said they can go on for years, ours wasn't same day, we noticed a drop off in pressure during the summer, came round that day, to make sure it was safe and did the job a few days later.

Charges £60 for a service :) plus any parts, which so far, there hasn't been.

Ours is 1997 or 98, put in by the builders (Bryant) still going strong. We have been told that spares are no longer available. We only moved in 4 years ago and boiler in our previous place only lasted 5 years after installation by previous owners. When we left the replacement had been in 10 years and was still working well.

Ours is over 30 years old and has never broken down. Hard water.

My previous boiler was an Ideal and was 31 years old when I had it replaced. It was still working fine but I was worried it would conk out on the coldest day so had a new one fitted - again Ideal

12 years and going strong. Never had an issue. Previous one was put in in the 1970s.

Ours is 24, the same age as the house. Never had an issue with it touch wood

Our Vaillant combi dates from 1986. It has been serviced every year and has had almost every part replaced (we have a BG service contract). It's just had a divertor valve replaced and is much improved. We need to keep it going as we are about to have a whole house refurb, so new boiler in different location. Would have another Vaillant though.

Ideal boiler was 31 years old when we replaced it as BG said they’d be relying on eBay if any major parts broke.

We switched to an Ideal combi with 12 year guarantee 5 years ago. Get it serviced every June.