Need a new boiler - anyone got experience of this?

[toomuchtodo]

ours has broken down and we've been told it needs replaced

haven't got a lot of money, will probably get someone to do it as a homer, but unsure what make of boiler to buy, size etc etc

we live in a small terraced 2 bed house

we will be keeping the old radiators to keep costs down

any advice welcome!

What is a homer?

We've had three lots of quotes for a new one, including Scottish Gas. Basically, the price varied by thousands, but they all recommended a Worcester Bosch boiler. For a 28 something (K? I?) the boiler costs about £700. I'd imagine someone could fit it for about £300 as a homer - that's if you're replacing an existing combi with a new combi.

islandofsodor, a homer is when a workman does the work in his own time - evenings or weekends - for cash.

We replaced our broken down boiler last summer.
British Gas quoted a minimum of £2000 plus VAT. We didn't go any further than that with them, so didn't get a proper quotation.

We replaced our Ideal boiler for a like-for-like one. Local heating engineer found it(new) for £500 on the internet. He supplied and fitted it for £900 including VAT. It complies with new environmental/economical laws.

That wasn't a homer, but a full quote from local firm.

Ah, you mean a foreigner. I work for a heating company.

It might be more difficult now, new boilers have to be commissioned and registered with CORGI which is more or less impossible to do as a foreigner as the the inland revenue can trace things more easily.

MOst people who work for larger firms are only CORGI registered under the name of their company rather than in their own right. One of our workers did some gas work in their own time and used our company name to write out the certificate, there was a problem and it was reported to CORGI, he was very lucky not to lose his job over it.

DH likes Vaillant boilers. You need someone CORGI registered, whether they do it for a company or for themselves. You need a certificate. It's their own business whether they declare the work or not for tax purposes, but there's such a paper trail nowadays, they'd be mad not to declare it.

a homer is a qualified fitter doing the job outwith his normal hours

islandofsoder, no not a foreigner!!

a guy doing out of hours work

In which case isn't out of hours more expensive. Our lads charge double time for out of hours.

We've recently had a new boiler because the old one (bit of a dinosaur at 20ys old) couldn't be moved or vented properly where it was when we had our extension done. It was verrrrry expensive, but we had pipework done and a new tank as well. If you are just replacing the boiler and paying a CORGI person to fit it like for like, you're probably looking at around £1,000. We've had a Worcester Bosch fitted as that's what the plumber recommended and has in his own home. So far, so good. It's improved the heating in our house no end, showing just how inefficient our old one was.

Another trustworthy plumber I know recommends Vaillant boilers as well as Worcester Bosch and advises to avoid Swale. HTH