How much does it cost to replace a boiler?

Pennies · 2008-01-07T20:32:58+00:00

My mother has been quoted £6000. Now I know that it can be expensive but this seems extortionate. She's aging a bit and I'm worried that they're (British Gas) ripping her off.

SantaBabyBeenAnAwfulGoodGirl · 07/01/2008 20:34

that is far more than replacing a boiler how many radiators does she have and what sort of hot water is it a combi

FranSanDisco · 07/01/2008 20:35

Well sounds high. My sister has just replaced her combination boiler for a newer model and it cost just under £1,000 all in. How much work would you mum be having done?

Original poster

Pennies · 07/01/2008 20:36

No idea - I just picked this figure up from a message my bro left on her answerphone. She lives in a large house and that she has a very old boiler.

OP posts:

Original poster

Pennies · 07/01/2008 20:36

Sorry - on my answerphone.

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FrayedKnot · 07/01/2008 20:36

We had ours replaced about 18 months ago and was somehwere between £2&3k iirc. It will be costly because all boilers now have t be condensing which means at the moment they are more expensive but £6k is way too much.

British Gas also quoted something equally ridiculous, so we used a friendly neighbourhood plumber instead.

Can you / she ask neighbours etc if they can recommend anyone?

FrayedKnot · 07/01/2008 20:42

Actually no, sorry, I have just checked, as we had other work done at the time.

The actual boiler cost £1,100 and labour to fit was £500, these prices are ex-VAT.

This is for a 4 bed house.

HTH

23balloons · 07/01/2008 20:42

Definitely sounds like a full replacement not a repair. I had mine fixed last year with British Gas and I think it was a fixed cost of £200 no matter what was wrong - of course they had to be able to do a repair though not a full replacement.

Original poster

Pennies · 07/01/2008 21:50

OK - it is for a boiler (no rads) for a large 4 bedroom old house.

Still, the general consensus seems that this is way too steep.

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Heated · 07/01/2008 21:54

We had a quote from BritGas when doing the annual service, what it would cost to replace our combi boiler for another good one and he said 3-4k.

There are other big suppliers out there - Vaillant come to mind, no idea of rep - who'll probably all come in cheaper.

PandaG · 07/01/2008 21:56

we had a new boiler and one new radiator a coujple of months ago - cost us about £1500 all in (4 bed terrace)

eucalyptus · 07/01/2008 22:10

My plumber has just told me about £2.5k to replace and move the boiler

Also the British gas engineer who serviced the boiler told me that BG would most definitiley not be the cheapest but would give good advice about what type of boiler to have

Suggest she gets quotes from local plumbers

Original poster

Pennies · 07/01/2008 22:16

Bloody BG - she's an ageing lady with pots of ££ and I can't stand the thought that they're ripping her off.

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Tinker · 08/01/2008 00:34

Don't use British Gas. Where does she live?

DC2 · 08/01/2008 00:36

Mine also just been done for £2.5k.

Iota · 08/01/2008 10:16

we had our boiler replaced by British Gas last year, plus we had the boiler moved, had an additional radiator put in and another replaced. Also has a powerflush to clear the system in readiness for the new boiler.

Total cost was about 3K

NatalieJane · 08/01/2008 10:36

What ever you, do not let BG do the boiler, speaking from bitter experience, I have never come across such a poor example of a national company before.

They are absolutely useless.

PrettyCandles · 08/01/2008 10:43

My parents were quted £7000 by BG, and between £3500-£5500 by independant plumbers.

Dad says he has no intention of going with BG, he has a really low opinion of their work - for years they have been telling him that the boiler cannot be repaired, yet a few days or hours later Mum and Dad's own plumber turns up with the right spare part.

chopchopbusybusy · 08/01/2008 10:43

British Gas are always expensive and in my experience not always very knowledgable. Check what they have actually quoted for. It may be that the radiators need flushing, if they are not already fitted with thermostatic valves then there is now a requirement to have these fitted to a minimum number of radiators (can't remember the number)if the boiler is being replaced. Then once you know exactly what has been quoted it will be easier to compare with a local corgi plumber. If she is elderly, she might qualify for some sort of grant too.

GreenGlassGoblin · 08/01/2008 10:49

Our new combie was somewhere between £1-2K, 3 years ago. That was to have it moved from the kitchen to the loft as well. £6K is madness for a normal house. BG are pants too. They replaced our radiators last year, scratched up our floors (despite being told 'look, new wooden floor, careful please'), used horrible extension pieces (despite being specifically asked not to). And now we have a leak somewhere in teh system. An independent plumber is coming out tomorrow. I hate BG.

GreenGlassGoblin · 08/01/2008 10:49

Our new combie was somewhere between £1-2K, 3 years ago. That was to have it moved from the kitchen to the loft as well. £6K is madness for a normal house. BG are pants too. They replaced our radiators last year, scratched up our floors (despite being told 'look, new wooden floor, careful please'), used horrible extension pieces (despite being specifically asked not to). And now we have a leak somewhere in teh system. An independent plumber is coming out tomorrow. I hate BG.

ksld · 08/01/2008 11:02

We had BG in to fit a new boiler, remove the old one, install 5 thermostatic radiator valves, and powerflush the system in a 4 bed semi. 2 days work cost us £3.5k. This also includes one year's homecare for the heating system - they will repair for free including parts.

The only reason we had them do the work was we were unable to find any local plumbers to do the work for us. We had 6 quotes and only BG and one other wanted to do the work, and the one other was not CORGI registered. Definitely try to find other quotes as I do not recommend BG - but we needed to heat our house so we had to go with them. One other point - if your Mum owns her house she will need a certificate to prove the boiler was fitted correctly (by a CORGI registered plumber, and correctly registered electrician) if/whenever she comes to sell her house - think it goes in the HIP?

Would recommend finding out if your Mum is entitled to any grants before she replaces the boiler as there are lots available.

Fizzylemonade · 09/01/2008 10:13

New Worcester Bosch combi boiler fitted and 10 thermastatic valves fitted on the radiators, new double radiator fitted into conservatory and moved from its existing position, all pipework removed from loft, both hot and cold water tanks removed, pipework added as the condensor boiler needs to have a drain, big hole in wall for new venting thing where all the steam goes out. This was 3 days work 2 years ago. I live in a 3 bed house.

Cost me £2300 independant plumber.

BG are rip off merchants. Go with someone else.