Replacing an old boiler

[Silkiescat]

We have an old boiler in our house and a water tank and it's working fine but DH thinks it maybe 30 years old. The hot water tank pump appears to be leaking.

I was looking into whether its worth changing the whole system over to a new boiler and water tank or a new combi. 4 of us in the house, 2 bathrooms but 1 bath with shower over. Grade II listed and thatched roofed cottage of fairly average 3 bed size.

DH thinks its better just to get pump replaced and he may well be right but I wondered (partly due to lockdown boredom ) whether worth replacing all of it or tank as well. On the EPC it reckoned we would save £250 a year on energy costs but seeing reports they only last 10 years and some people saying you don't get savings.

Would we need to re-do radiators. Thanks very much for any help.

No need to redo radiators, you will lose a water tank in the roof, cistern and boiler so will make space. I’d get quotes for repair and replacement and if repair is more than about 1/4 and you have the cash make the change. On a 30 year old boiler you are very likely to save.

With a boiler that old, you will defo get noticeable energy savings, if you get an AA rated new boiler.

Combi vs non-combi? That's a debate that will run and run. I'd get several quotes for replacement, see what the heating engineers advise, research the possible energy savings, and possible downsides, and then think it all over.

You probably need to do more research on combi vs non combi.

I suspect for the size of your property a combi might make more sense.

However, my Dad replaced his boiler last year with a system boiler and new pressurised hot water tank and it revolutionised the showers in the house. The house is at the bottom of a slight hill so had good mains water pressure and the showers which had been mediocre to terrible suddenly became amazing.

I've just booked to get mine changed. Current boiler is 40 yards old, and still working fine!!!

However I'm worried as we would be unable to repair as parts no longer manufactured, so have decided to replace in a planned way rather than possibly being months without heating. Quotes were from £3k to £6k and I'll get a radiator in the airing cupboard so it will continue to be useful as a finishing space as don't have tumble drier.

Am only replacing a couple of radiators where the air valve has threaded.

Which, the Consumer Association, have quite a lot on whether combi or not, and best brands/most reliable of boilers. For a big purchase like this, it's probably worth subscribing for a while, so you can access their test info.(non-subscribers can can only view part of their info).

I’d definitely replace the boiler with a condensing one. (And whilst you still can definitely get gas boilers!)

Combi versus other boiler + tank is a king one in a bigger house I’d go for latter we are about to do this in new house + megaflo or similar but were fine with a combi in previous house (but not current house we are renting between houses). Go for a good boiler when installing a lot of the money is installation, power flush of radiators etc. Eg when I had quote for London flat boiler was going to be £3.5k all in with Vaillant boiler and I paid £300 extra to get a boiler which could handle a 3 bed house (I wanted the more expensive boiler mainly as it had a 7 year guarantee). As a consequence the boiler has never been stressed it runs nowhere near capacity and for 10 years a service has not cost more than £100pa. It’s also the quietness and never having had the boiler break down, let alone the much lower cost of bills.

Thanks very much for the help. I think we have a system boiler at the moment but I am worried if it breaks down we won't be able to get parts. Not sure exactly of its age but closest manual for a similar named one is from 1994, its an ideal boiler. Will get someone round. The Worcester Bosch seems to get good reviews though don't give a price for the system one though link to local installers.

We replaced a 20 year old boiler because nobody would / could service it - bloody vaillant wouldn’t send their own engineers out and others couldn’t get parts. Replaced with Worcester Bosch which has been a wondrous revelation of simplicity and no hassle for the 4 years we’ve had it (we were spending a small fortune on servicing and repairs as well as huge bills previously)