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?

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Potterton. It’s older than me.

Installed in 1972.

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.

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

Ours is a Potterton Netaheat, and is 44 years old - I thought I was going to win, but I see that cinquanta has one which is even older. I've been told that parts are no longer available, but a plumber who looked at it said they were well built, and surprisingly efficient, so we haven't touched it. It's worked fine for the 14 years we've been here.

I’ve lived in this house for 28 years the boiler was here then. I own BTLs and have replaced boilers several times. They don’t make them like they used to.

This one is 5 years old prior to that it was the original form when the house was built before even my parents where born 😅

AFAIK, if you have 15mm pipes going to/from your radiators you’re in a good place when it comes to an air source heat pump.

I saw a comment on a YouTube video saying if you wanted an idea whether your existing CH system is suitable for ASHP, turn the flow rate to 50C and leave the CH on ( up to you whether that’s 24/48/240 hours! ). If the rooms stay warm your CH system ( meaning the rads and the piping ) likely don’t need changing.If overnight when the heating temp is lower ( usually ) you find the rooms cooler than the heating temp, your insulation needs investigating.

My old 17yr old glo-worm combi finally started giving up last spring. Expander valve IIRC and the fan was getting noisy. Had a new combi installed in summer.
Always have the boiler serviced at the end of summer.

At least ten years. I bought my house four years ago and it was rented out before then. It needed a bit of an overhaul the second year and they said it was at least that old. Still works fine though and an annual service and maintenance contract has worked well.

We replaced our boiler last year, it was about 28years old, while it was still working we had started having the odd minor problem with it and they couldn't get parts anymore. So we decided to replace it during the summer rather then wait for it to break down. Our last one was a glow-worm and we replaced it with a glow-worm, not sure it last as long but it does have a 10year guarantee on it.

That sounds like an installation issue, for example the return temperature is not low enough for the boiler to start properly condensing, normally evidenced by large emissions of water vapour coming out of the flue.

Modern condensing boilers should be 20%-30% more efficient than ones from the 70s at the minimum.

Not necessarily. I did the maths after getting a flyer through the door saying pretty much the same thing.

It said it would take over 40 years for a new boiler to pay for itself as was only minimally more efficient than our old Worcester Bosch, which is now 19 years old but has had a couple of fairly pricy repairs in that time.

Annoyingly there was a plastic part that was known for cracking so a design flaw IMHO so the type of consumer law that should entitle you to a free repair but almost impossible to enforce, especially when you're stuck with no heating in winter.

Sales of condensing boilers were made mandatory in the UK in April 2005 so it's highly likely yours is a condensing one anyway, unless you were sold old stock.

And if it isn't, there is a even a significant difference between a 2005 non condensing boiler and a 1970s one in terms of efficiency. And it's a 1970s boiler I was referring to here.

It might have been the first repair, but have you had it serviced each year? You don't mention it, but that will obviously have an effect on how long one lasts.

I have a glow worm booker. 10 years old and had 3 repairs so far.

the boiler before had been in since 1982 - replaced 2015. It was off the bottom of any efficiency chart and started to need repairs

I had it serviced every year for the first 10 years, but I must admit I let it slip for the last 2.

i am in a hard water area. Have a Worcester Bosch boiler. 13 years old serviced every year and so far ok. I do have funds saved to replace if necessary