Had anyone replaced a back boiler with a normal one recently?

[Mylovelylovelyhorse]

And could give me a rough idea of cost?

I fear we might need new radiators throughout (3 bed semi) too

We're in the south west

We rent so not sure of cost but do know that our bills dropped by about £40 a month (although did have new shower and washing machine around that time too)

Our boiler packed up two weeks after we accepted an offer on our house! We had to replace as it was a carbon monoxide risk but we asked the boiler people for a straight forward replacement rather than a new all dancing combi boiler. It cost us 1250 inclusive of VAT and fitting costs. We are in south east.

We have - it was just under £3k for a new combo boiler (worcester i think?) 3 new radiators and new valves on the old rads. 3 bed semi in the north east.

Thanks all, that's useful

It's a bit if a dilemma. Apparently these old back boilers are very very reliable and the cost of minimal maintenance can go towards balancing the energy savings. We've got a co2 alarm but it is pretty ancient

My main motivation for wanting to get rid is the ugly gas fire we're stuck with while we've got it. Dh thinks I'm insane to consider spending £££ when we've got a working boiler, albeit an inefficient and ugly one

Sorry, the boiler is ancient not the co2 alarm

Is it a baxi Bermuda? Have a look at a replacement fire front if you hate the look. They were made to be a direct swap. The fuel saving Is more pronounced if replacing a back boiler with a permanent pilot light rather than a electronic pilot.

replacement fire fronts If you decide on keeping the back boiler it will be reliable. Please make sure it is serviced at regular intervals and that ant ventilation is left clear

4 years ago, 2 bed terrace, 1 new radiator. Came to £2000 (In the NE)

And the boiler itself wasn't the deciding factor. The hot water tank in the loft burst. There was already 2 other old ones in there.

Jeeze they still sell them like ours

Happily it seems ours is 'deluxe'

I want it gone and a woodburner instead. I know £ £ £ :(

unfortunately the tank in the roof is made of plastic and so I assume is younger than the bloody fire

I was in a similar situation to you, OP, a couple of years ago - old but working well Bermuda deluxe back boiler, regularly serviced but obviously not going to last forever. And an ugly, ugly fireplace!

I bit the bullet and had a new combi boiler fitted (c£3k, if I remember correctly). Advantages and disadvantages as follows :

PRO

1. New boiler is very efficient. I was paying £90pm to nPower at the time of the change, switched to Coop Energy shortly thereafter on a £86pm direct debit but have recently recouped £300 credit from my account and reduced monthly payments to £75.
2. The ugly fireplace is gone! I didn't want a fire or fireplace, so have more usable wall area and the room looks massively bigger.
3. I no longer have the nagging feeling in the depth of winter that this could be the day that the back boiler dies.

CON

1. Apart from the cost of the new boiler, removal of the fireplace resulted in wall needing to be replastered and the whole room to be redecorated.
2. Fireplace had taken up floor space, so there was the cost of new carpet to be added, too!

None of the expenses was a surprise to me, though, and I was fortunate enough to be in a position to get all the work done. I'm very pleased with it and would only offer one piece of advice - our deluxe back boiler apparently contains some asbestos, which needs to be disposed of by specially-licensed people. One of the quotes I had did not include disposal of the asbestos part, and it would have been up to me to arrange it and pay separately. The quote I accepted included the cost of disposal. Make sure it's clearly understood whose responsibility this will be!

HTH

Thanks optimist that is useful. I'd have not known about the asbestos

Room needs redecoration anyway and I think once the 3678 layers of wallpaper come off, which being of various different patterns and textures they'd need to, plastering would probs be on the agenda anyway

And we've got bare floorboards so no carpet needed.

Any other cons

We have a Baxi Bermuda back boiler too (ex-local authority house) and yes it's old, noisy and completely inefficient but it works brilliantly. I swear there's actually a little man behind the chimney breast shovelling coal in.

Anyway I hated the look of the gas fire too so we had a lattice radiator-cover type thing built for 40 from a local hardware shop. It looks nice and you can't see the fire through it. It fits on a little hinges so we just lift it off on the very very rare occasion we use the gas fire - double glazed centrally heated at both ends lounge so it doesn't get very cold even in the depths of winter.

I'd considered a radiator cover, but, I may even have asked on here, was told somewhere not to because of ventilation issues?

We recouped a load of space where the hearth was, as well. I'm currently sitting in it :o

We haven't yet got around to replacing the carpet, mind. We've jsut got a spare patch of completely different colour carpet covering up the concrete, for now.

This is ours. Hopefully the holes are providing enough ventilation. We have a CO2 monitor nearby!

Ooo it's good threepeicesuite

We've got a hearth too, fake beige marble with a wooden rim. It's fucking hideous and sticks out about 50cm. The room is only about 3.5m wide

I bloody hate it

Don't want to rain on the parade but I'm gas safe registered and I would cut off your boiler if I was at your house. It would be classed as immediately dangerous. The boiler will become a death trap very quickly without an adequate air supply .

What? That there cover?

We had ours done about 5 years ago as no one would cover it for servicing etc and every time it fired up it was like having a plane take off in the lounge. It was circa 1982 I reckon.

It cost us £5k in the south east but that included re routing the gas supply for the new combi boiler to move upstairs, 6 new radiators, towel rail for the bathroom and a new shower cos the old one ran off the hot water tank which came out.

It made a massive difference to the heating bills and it was worth it just to not have the constant worry about when it was going to give up the ghost.

I don't know about replacement costs but our last rental house had a back boiler, even with not using the heating much and being freezing cold the yearly bill was £900.

Our newbuild has a condensing boiler, £45 a month dual fuel bill. £20 of that is gas.

Hmmm hiccup that sounds, I think, similar to we'd probably need. I'd thought poss £4k plus £2k for my woodburner

Problem is I've only got about £2.60 to my name

Anyone know the average life expectancy of a new boiler?

Look at 12 years life out of a new boiler and factor in a 200 pounds repair four times during that period. The back boiler may breakdown once in that time but there is a good chance it won't. This counters the saving you make on your gas bill.

Yes that there rad cover!

Back boilers require ventilation more than the gas fire does. Approx 2/3 of the ventilation requirements are for the boiler. Also the chimney won't pull if a cover is in front of it. It is dangerous - I wouldn't let my son sleep over at your house knowing that cover was there.

Surreptitiously moves piles of toys from around the ugly fire

So

new boiler/ radiators / removal of old =£5000
Maintenance of new boiler over 12 years = £800
Divided into 12 years = £ 483
divided into 12 months = £40

So the energy saving would need to be in excess of £40pm to make it a financially sound decision?

(Shit at maths)

Our current gas DD is £60 per month

It's not going to reduce by £40 is it?

That seems a reasonable calculation to me (also shit at maths)