Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Is this a Reasonable Boiler & Radiator quote?

16 replies

piemistress · 21/02/2013 15:56

Hi

Have been quoted £6700 (inclusive of VAT) to fit à new worcester combi 440cdi boiler with 12 new steel panel radiators (incl moving one to différent place) with thermostatic valves and digital room thermostat.

Is that à fair price? We are in Scotland. The other quote i had was £1k more for an Alpha boiler?

Thanks
Pie

OP posts:
ClaimedByMe · 21/02/2013 15:59

I think I was about £6000 last year for a new worcester combi and 7 radiators, I am also in Scotland.

upinthehills · 21/02/2013 16:09

I think that seems a fair price. Double check the spec of the thermostat. It is probably something like a Danfloss and, if it was like ours you could set the house to be a set temperature at different time of the day. Ok on paper, but ours only had 6 settings and, if we were in all day the house would get cold as there was a long time between the time settings. Plumber had to replace for a 10 time setting one and we had to pay the difference.

annalouiseh · 21/02/2013 16:12

how expensive are your rads?

Boiler is around = £1400/1500
12 x rads at £200 = 2400 (expensive rads)
12 x valves at 20 = £240 max
digital thermostat = £60 max
max total = £4,200 + pipes for rad move
= fitting 2.5k

seems expensive up there??

where we are (manchester) we paid £1100 boiler fit and rads and moved all rads, but we supplied everything except the copper pipes

MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot · 21/02/2013 16:12

Not sure - but it sounds about right?!

I was quoted between £3k & £4k (£5 if you include British Gas - ha flipping ha) to fit a new system Worcester Junior 28i boiler & 4 rads (therm valves & digital room therm.) - but that included all new pipes etc

I chose a medium priced quote because I liked the guy, he had a good back ground in it & his gas safe checked out. I then rang a plumbers merchants and they went through their prices with me & what he was charging me was reasonable and about £1 - £1200 labour on top.

Seemed fair to me, just a lot of money to spend on something so boring! Grin

MyHeadWasInTheSandNowNot · 21/02/2013 16:14

Oh & location seems to play a big part in it - I'm in the South East of England, everything is expensive!

piemistress · 21/02/2013 16:25

Thanks peeps,

Just checked quote and they will have danfloss thermostatic valves and the radiators will have top grills and side panels? I imagine moving the radiator will bump it up a little (but not masses)? They guy seems very nice and fair compared to the other more expensive quote. He said it will be an extra £250 for a 550CDI versus 440CDi boiler, not sure if we need it though.

House needs two new bathrooms too, a lot of money being spent on DIY!

OP posts:
piemistress · 24/02/2013 10:36

Had a look online and the boiler is around £2k but guess the plumber will get a discount, 12 radiators, valves, moving one to a different place, new controls, flushing, removing old hot water tank etc. he didnt say how many days it would take though!

Guess I can always claim £400 back from the Scottish boiler scrappage scheme?

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 24/02/2013 13:48

have you already got a combi? What's the water flow from the mains like? As you have two bathrooms that will be very important.

The Danfoss RAS C2 and C3 are very neat valves and IMO the best, I prefer them to the Drayton, so that's a good sign.

The more powerful boiler will be able to deliver more hot water to the taps, but this is only useful if you have a big incoming supply. An older house may have a small supply pipe, in which case you would need to dig it up asnd lay a new one all the way to the road to get enough. Otherwise if you try to use two or more taps at a time you might just get a weedy trickle. If you have a lead or old steel pipe it would be advisable to replace it anyway.

The installer should have measured the water flow at the kitchen sink or garden tap.

Flow is not the same as pressure.

The flue from a big combi will throw out a lot of steam in frosty weather, so have it positioned or extended so the plume will not blow past a window or (preferably) the front of the house.

BTW it is very important to have the condensate pipe plumbed to a nearby internal drain (this should be easy in a kitchen or utility room) and not run outside, where sooner or later it will freeze, and your boiler will stop working just when you need it most.

piemistress · 24/02/2013 14:19

Thanks pigletjohn, we arent moving into the house until next month but I dont think its à combi as they have separate hot and cold water tanks. Would that make sense?

I will need to ask about the condensate pipe. The boiler is in the garage by the utility room door. Does that mean its,likely to run outside? The house is about 25 years old.

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 24/02/2013 14:41

If there is not already a combi, they will be used to having good availability of water from the tanks.

When the tanks go, you will be limited to whatever comes in through the supply pipe, which will be shared among all the taps in the house. Unless the incoming flow is very good, you will be disappointed despite your big boiler.

Many incoming supplies are 12 litres per minute or less, which is not enough for a good supply when you have a combi.

If the boiler is going next to the utility room, there is presumably a sink drain it could be run to.

The garage is presumably unheated so the boiler will intermittently run during cold weather to protect itself and its pipes from freezing.

piemistress · 24/02/2013 15:05

Thank you, do you think the quote is fair?

OP posts:
piemistress · 24/02/2013 15:06

ps, just re-read the quote and it says the boiler will provide water at 20 litres per minute, or we can choose the 550cdi which will deliver 25 litres per minute?

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 24/02/2013 15:26

that flow rate is good, but it is dependent on the capacity of the water supply pipe from the main in the road into your house. I suspect it will not deliver that much. Do the bucket test. If not you will need to lay a new (larger, plastic) water pipe all the way with no restrictions.

The quote might be a bit on ythe high side, but the only way to test it is to find another well-recommended local installer or two and see what prices are like. If you do get another person in, ask if they think a Megaflo would be a good solution for you. They ought to test the water flow rate before advising.

piemistress · 24/02/2013 16:45

Thank you, i will ask the Guy the question about the supply pipe. He is à decent bloke (or at least came across that way) and recently fitted à new boiler and replaced 7 radiators and installéd an additional one in my mums house for £3600.

OP posts:
PigletJohn · 24/02/2013 16:55

that sounds like a good price. Is yours much bigger or more difficult?

piemistress · 24/02/2013 17:13

Yes, hers is à three bed semi and radiators are all smaller and différent boiler type, our quote is £3k more ! He does get good reviews locally and I.dont think he is trying to rip us off ?

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page