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Original poster

How do people afford new boilers?

52 replies

BirthdayKake · 05/06/2018 07:55

Just that really. We've got an old system boiler. Need a combi boiler. The hot water takes at least two hours to be hot enough for one bath and we have four children to keep clean!!

Seems that with fitting, the cost runs into the thousands... Any ideas?!

OP posts:
Sprinklesinmyelbow · 05/06/2018 07:56

I think British Gas offer a payment plan, but they are more expensive obviously. Otherwise credit card or loan if savings aren’t available? Loans are v low rates at the moment

Jesuisleloup · 05/06/2018 07:57

Interest free credit card ?

insancerre · 05/06/2018 07:59

When we needed a new boiler dh sold his motorbike to pay for it

Ifailed · 05/06/2018 08:00

someone will come along and tell you that you should have savings to cover this sort of thing. Meanwhile, in the real world, either look for a good bank-loan or possibly use the interest-free offer on a new credit card, so long as you can pay it off during the free period, otherwise the rate will shoot up.

Original poster
BirthdayKake · 05/06/2018 08:00

DP has an interest free credit card but I very much doubt he'd use it for this. He'd definitely say we can't afford the repayments at the moment

OP posts:
Original poster
BirthdayKake · 05/06/2018 08:01

Same with a loan. We already had to take one out for other work in the house

OP posts:
Ifailed · 05/06/2018 08:02

if you genuinely cant afford the payments on a new boiler, have you had some look at it to see if it can be fixed?

raindropsandsunshine · 05/06/2018 08:03

Do you qualify for a free updated boiler via any government schemes? I'm sure I've heard of some.

WhiteVixen · 05/06/2018 08:04

We recently got a new combi boiler from boxt.co.uk. Really great service and cheaper than the likes of British Gas. You can pay monthly with them, but we put it on a 0% credit card and have just focussed on paying it off quickly as we can.

Original poster
BirthdayKake · 05/06/2018 08:06

We've tried the government schemes. They come out, do their assessment and then proceed to ignore us forever! Will have a look at boxt.

Haven't thought of repairs tbh. I don't think it's broken as such - just old. And not a combi boiler :(

OP posts:
Tobuyornot99 · 05/06/2018 08:10

We had a good basic boiler provided and fitted for £1100 by an independent plumber, rather than the 4k British Gas wanted.
If you could get an interest free credit card for 36 months that would be about £30 a month, could you stretch to that?

LoisWilkersonsLastNerve · 05/06/2018 08:11

We old fashioned saved up. A local tradesman did it for less than British Gas but of course needed paying on completion so we had to have the money.

tremendous · 05/06/2018 08:12

Have a look at hassle free boilers. We had the money to pay for ours outright so went direct with a small plumber firm (def the cheapest way) but his might help your cash flow.

Whatever you decide go for a premium brand - we had a cheap one when we first moved into this house and it was terrible.

SoyDora · 05/06/2018 08:15

Ours is 25 years old(!) so we know it’s going to die soon. Basically we’re just saving up for when that happens!

tremendous · 05/06/2018 08:16

Ps we had a big system installed with new radiators and megaflo type cylinder with Worcester Bosch boiler for under £4K by going direct. We had loads of other little bits done too. A bog standard combi should be around £1000. My plumber let me buy the boiler from the trade place (so I phoned up to make payment) so I could put it on an interest free credit card.

Imchlibob · 05/06/2018 08:16

If you can't afford the repayments the the problem is that you are living beyond your means and you need to manage your expectations downwards. There's always going to be some family poorer than you who nevertheless manages to make ends meet, so there's always savings to be made somehow. Of course you will say you can't possibly - this translates as you don't want to.

It doesn't make an enormous amount of difference whether you pay for occasional big expenditures like a boiler by saving up beforehand or by paying off debt after - except that the latter will always be more expensive.

If you are going to be a home owner you need to have at least a couple of hundred pounds difference between your normal income and your normal expenditure to cover things like this. There will also be repairs and maintenance on the roof, kitchen appliances needing replacement from time to time, floor coverings getting worn out and needing replacement - it's all expensive. If you don't have the flexibility to cover this sort of thing you need to downsize your lifestyle in general.

LoisWilkersonsLastNerve · 05/06/2018 08:17

Yes I meant to point out we had to suffer our old boiler for years will we saved, most people do unfortunately.

tremendous · 05/06/2018 08:20

Also, you are probably paying through the nose for energy with an inefficient boiler so if you put it on an interest free card you would most likely have energy savings that you could put towards the cost. Our gas bill halved. But we had a really rubbish old boiler.

HyacinthsBucket70 · 05/06/2018 08:21

My dad is a heating engineer, and the first thing he'd say is that with an old boiler, your heat efficiency could be as low as 50% so you are wasting an awful lot of fuel every year. We had an old LPG boiler that cost nearly £5k to replace a gravity fed system for a combi - and we only did so because it gave up the ghost (to be fair it was nearly 30 years old) but we have already used about £600 less LPG in a year. So it does pay in the long run. Plus the change in our house temperature and not having people shouting about no hot water has been nothing but joy Grin

SoyDora · 05/06/2018 08:22

I’m not sure ours is particularly inefficient, despite its age. Our energy bills are the same as they were in our last house with a brand new combi boiler.

IWannaSeeHowItEnds · 05/06/2018 08:23

You sound so smug bob. With the best will in the world not everyone can downsize their lifestyle. Some people really do have every penny accounted for and are only buying essentials.

You talk about home ownership like it's a totally free choice to be a home owner, but you know that there are not enough council houses for the people who need one and that private rents are insecure, not always available and can cost more than a mortgage!

MollyHuaCha · 05/06/2018 08:25

Ours was £3000 bought a year ago. It has already saved us quite a lot in gas bills. It's a lot of money, but worth saving up or borrowing for.

Remember to also budget for the annual service in order to keep the warranty. My service is £130.

ShotsFired · 05/06/2018 08:30

I agree that old boilers can be wasteful, but on the other hand, they are often more well built than newer ones and a bird in the hand....

I used to have a 30+ year old one which my good-guy heating chap kept going for me, as I wasn't in a position to buy new (first house, very empty purse!).

If that is the case, beware the lazy repair person who says they can't get the spares or its condemned etc - 99% of the time it means they don't know or CBA to fix or properly (and will get a juicy commission for new boiler sales - I'm looking at your British Gas!)

ziggiestardust · 05/06/2018 08:32

Yep, it’s really expensive! In the winter, ours broke down and DH figured out it was the circuit board (thanks, Google). We replaced that for about £200 and then we’ve just been saving for a new one. We would have bought one there and then, but DH was forced to quit his job (contractor, long story) so our savings were used to plug the gap whilst he found a new job and until he got paid.

Could you look into a repair to see you through? In the meantime, apply for a credit card on 0% in case it goes bang before you get enough saved up.

Herja · 05/06/2018 08:33

Sold the car...

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