Boiler advice

[planesick]

We have just bought to a house previously owned by an elderly lady. The house has a back boiler on a one pipe system. The day we moved in we had it checked by a certified engineer (friend). It has been kept in really good condition, but as with all back boilers the fire is ugly with a capital U! My question is this: this house is a stop gap house to get us into the area. It was all we could afford. Do we keep the old boiler and have it affect the resale potential or bite the bullet, have a new boiler and new pipework. The new boiler will make it more sellable but we wouldn't recoup the money because of ceiling prices on this estate. Thank you for your wise words.

I would put a new boiler in. You must be planning to be there for a few years at least so you get the benefit of using the new and efficient boiler and it makes it easier to sell later on. We had a back boiler a few houses ago. It was the first thing to go.

Thank you. I agree, but OH doesn't! From your experience, how long was the process? Did the workmen work around your furniture etc or do I need to empty the place out?

We happened to do it as a refurb. We moved in the November and found out the boiler worked intermittently anyway (great when your 5 months pregnant and it is November) so had it removed and new one installed as a priority. From memory it took them about a week. We had moved into the house but hadn't really properly unpacked but they worked around what they needed to. We had the new boiler sited in a side return that had been converted into a storage room so it didn't end up impacting kitchen walls etc. That was just lucky due to the house layout so impact to the fabric of the house was minimal.

Thank you. It's very interesting, I shall pass the info on to OH. I appreciate that you took the time to reply.

My dad is a gas engineer and he changed my back boiler to a combi and related from the chimney breast to the loft in 2 days. It shouldn't take a week and we didn't have to empty our place out.

Relocated *