Just wondered what people's thoughts are on this...

I've had a couple of quotes for getting my old conventional boiler replaced with a combi boiler and relocated to my utility room (about 10' away through one wall to the current location).

One quote was on a worcester bosch 28kw and the other on an Ideal Isar HE 35kw.

The quotes include 5x thermostatic rad valves and wireless stat and all properly corgi registered and relevant building regs accordingly sorted.

Anyone had this done recently and if so would you mind sharing the rough cost or likewise any plumbers/heating engineers care to give me what they'd imagine a rough/guide price bracket should be for this work?

I'm reconing boiler and associated parts should be under a grand so I'm struggling to figure out where the money goes

I know I live in Surrey but I'm still thinking the prices I've had seem a bit high.

cheers,

Ned.

well , its not cheap getting corgi registered , and moving flus/boilers is always a pain .

mind you the old man isnt so busy this xmas , your a bit far tho .

Someone at work has just had their backboiler replaced with a combi including ripping out the back boiler and fitting a cheap electric fire in its place and it cost them about £3000

Worcester Bosch combi boilers aint cheap but are meant to be good, the cheapest I saw on their site was about £750ish

Looking to get mine done in the next year so would be interested in what it has cost others to get it done.

I am sure my dad paid around £1900 to have a simlar thing done. This included new pump, 3 poition valve fitted etc etc.

He needed bits like the gas pipe earthing etc as well.

Steve

I had old std boiler replaced with very nice Vaillaint recently. Old tanks etc removed. Boiler moved from kitchen to loft. System power flushed, thermostatic valves fitted and a remote control room stat supplied (£100 on its own). Fully approved fitting with certs etc was £2000. The boiler was more than half that alone. I thought £2000 was a bit steep but end result was great. Took just over 2 days.

Cost me 2 years ago, that was the Worcester Bosch 28kw. To have the boiler relocated from bathroom upstairs to utility room downstairs.
No wireless stat, they can be had for about £80 with receiver.
No rad valves, but they are not expensive an could be fitted by yourself when they drain the system.
Mine plugs into a socket so no wiring.

Gas pipe runs outside, needed extending.
I know the price of copper has gone up.

Allan

I'm a letting agent and I regularly get this sort of thing done.

Sounds like £1500 - £1800 to me.

Cheers

Mark

Trade price for a boiler would be around £500 ish.

Hahaa....

This is funny...

I have just been quoted £1100 to have a boiler screwed to the existing pipework and wiring.... no more than half a day...

Thats nearly £200 an hour

Had mine done last weekend. I went out and bought a Valliant boiler (3year warranty) flue kit, valves thermostat etc. Plumber turned up with pipe and bits as required. Charged me £250 a day (1 day) and £50 for some pipe and fittings etc. Suspect yours might be 2 days labour so £1500 sounds resonable. Getting a decent plumber is the tricky bit.

i've just replaced my back boiler for a condensing boiler.
had quote for £1500 from a plummer . but decided to do it myself and get the plummer to do the gas side only.
bought the boiler from screwfix for about £700. fitted trv's to all but one radiator. removed and cleaned all radiators(very important as new boiler easily clogged)
also fitted a MAGNACLEAN(£80) to the radiator circuit to stop black muck getting to the boiler.
the price of copper seems to have jumped up but got it from screw fix(10x2m 22mm £55)
then you only need thermostat and timer.
all you do is run your 22mm from your boiler to your existing radiator circuit.
WICKS do a very good leaflet explaining were you can site your boiler( away from windows etc)
probably came to about £1000 in the end
plus price of plummer connecting gas

As stated above - £1300 to £1500.

That's certainly what I can get it done for.

Somewhere slightly to the good of £3000 for a full system.

Having said that, I managed to get my last house done for around £800 for a full system. That was doing a lot myself and getting a family member who is a plumber for the gas.

My grans just had her back boiler removed and a new ideal i think boiler put in and plumbed through, new timer etc. Was about 2 grand i think which included moving the gas and flue etc. Not a combi i dont think though.

[Edited on 27/11/07 by Danozeman]

I had a new system installed a couple of years ago,
the worcester bosh boiler is very good a couple of minor problems with the condensation tank leaking which was an easy fix just a pipe coming loose, and dribbling
The wireless thermostat is F---ing useless it says 25 mtrs range,
i've had it replaced three times with it going wrong, plus twice at the boiler end, i does'nt want to know if there is any wiring within 3ft of it, or if any of the house electrics are in between it and the boiler in a straight line,
none of them worked more than 10ft from the boiler,
mine now sits 2ft6inch above the floor on the end of the kitchen units near the back door, this was the only place it would work reliably,
they do a hard wired version,
but plumbers don't like fitting them because its extra work to put the wireing in,

I can't really help you on the quotes as I never see how much our company quotes.

What I will advise is if its a big house that currently has a hot water cylinder and you use alot of hot water or like hot baths.. do NOT get a combi!.

Either keep your existing cylinder set-up or whatever heats your water, or if your doing it to make space in the airing cupboard get a Unvented hot water cylinder as these can be placed anywhere in the house.

Combi boilers really are ok for feeding the tap next to them in the kitchen etc but not very good for running a bath at the other end of the house.
To achieve a good temperature the flow rate is poor or visa versa, if you look the manufacturers quote the heat gain at a flow rate, say 45 Deg at 10L/min so if the incoming water is 8 deg then it isin't going to make it very warm.

Please think carefully as combi's aren't the be all and end all people make them out to be there just a quick easy instalation ans space saving for people.

I have an ultra-reliable but quite old Baxi back boiler which is located in my basement that will probably need replacing at some stage. If and when this dies, can I simply have another Baxi back boiler fitted? I simply can't see a suitable place in the house to locate a boiler that uses a balanced flu.

Can you get condensing back boilers?

You might be able to fit another back boiler but there is a points scoring system where you have to prove why you can't have a condensing boiler.

Due to the way the work Condensing boilers have to be fan flued, as the flue gases have to go through a restricted heat exchangers/flue ways to the point that they are condencing and are on the verge of no-longer naturally rising from the appliance.

This is where there name, and their efficiency comes from.

A condensing boiler can be put just about anywhere in the house provided the flue can get out somewhere (possibly even up the existing chimney if there are no other appliances), there flues are goverend by how long the flue is and how restricted it is i.e 1 90 deg bend = 5m of length but they can generally be alot longer than conventional flues as the fan is pushing the products of combustion out of the appliance rather than them naturally rising.

[Edited on 27/11/07 by MkIndy7]

I agree with MKindy put a combi in our offices, waste of space takes 10 minutes to fill a basin let alone a bath.
When the boiler went at home asked a few plumbers and they all said dont bother with a combi, condensing is the way to go less to buy, easier to fit, less to go wrong and most important cheaper to run.
Cheers,
Bob

I had a new gloworm condensor boiler fitted last month to existing position + stat valves fitted to 14 radiators, together with associated sundries. Cost £1500 from my local trusted plumber.

I think when you have plumbing work done the most important thing is to use someone you trust.

I also had a quote from British Gas for the same thing. £3200!

David

worcester greenstar 28i junior £930.00 including flue, loop and clock!
£20.00 per trv max depends on the brand! 22mm copper @ £10.00 per 3 metres! plus labour probably about a day and a half to two days dependent on the site ! It all depends on what you consider a reasonable deal but doing heating the lions share of your money goes on material costs. hope this helps ned?

Drop me a line if you want it done and i'll see when i can fit you in?

I ended up using a heat only, open vented boiler. All valves are external as is the pump so if any of them pack up they are easy to change, all cntrolled by £50 control unit connected to the boiler so there shouldn't be much need to get someone in to fix things if they go wrong. agree with thoughts on combi boiler, stick with hot water tank if poss.

I got a worcester bosch condensing boiler + 2 new rads fitted a year ago costing £2900. I got 3 quotes all within £50 of each other.

Think i'll go on a night course to become a plumber
Paul

Had mine done in North London 3 months ago. Vaillant Ecotech Pro. £3000.

10 hours work AND they cleared the old one away which not many firms round here do.

And I thought you were all locosters, soo many of you paid thousands out for changing a boiler.
Unless I have been misinformed, you can actually fit your own gas appliances, as long as your not receiving payment for it.
And before everybody starts - I wouldn't condone doing it yourself unless you absolutely knew what you were doing.

But is fitting your own boiler anywhere near as risky as building (and then driving) your own car.

yes , done wrong they become bombs just waiting to go off .im not sure how the law stands if you do get it wrong even if you havent taken payment for it .

you can only fit condensing boilers now anyway (in a nutshell) .

my old man has taught most of the plumbers round here ,nuff said

Blimey was out last night - what a response!

I have looked at doing part of the work myself (as much as I'm confident I'm competent enough to do) but finding someone corgi registered who's willing to check my work, connect gas and commission a boiler I've put in myself seems impossible.

I was quoted a couple of months back by british gas who wanted to pull my pants down and bend me over for £4.5k. He left quite quickly after giving me that price

Quote last week was from a friend of a colleague who wants £3k for cash with me removing old pipework and disposing of boiler etc.

Being realistic I thought in my area I'd be able to get it done for £2-2.5k. Willing to pay cash and take time off to do as much as possible myself if it were to suit whoever was doing the work as it'd save them time and me money! But whether they think having a customer on site would be a hinderance rather than a help I can only guess.

cheers,

Ned.

Its interesting what MKindy7 says ref combi's. I have a mate who owns an Electrical and Plumbing business and has just done his own boiler. He wont fit a combi - doesnt have a kind word to say about them. He has just fitted a Vokera, ive not heard of them but they must be Ok if he has one, he certainly wouldnt want to have to fix warranty issues for the number that he will buy in a year.

quote:

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Originally posted by DarrenW
Its interesting what MKindy7 says ref combi's. I have a mate who owns an Electrical and Plumbing business and has just done his own boiler. He wont fit a combi - doesnt have a kind word to say about them. He has just fitted a Vokera, ive not heard of them but they must be Ok if he has one, he certainly wouldnt want to have to fix warranty issues for the number that he will buy in a year.

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Also as far as I remember, Combi's can be a nightmare from a water hard/softness point of view. Whichever one it is, will clog it up.