Boilers.

[Yosh]

Currently trying to get a new boiler fitted.

Had several quotes, recommended Vaillant Ecotec / Ecomax, Worcester, Glow Worm.

The Vaillant / Worcester quotes have come out around £2000, the Glow Worm has come out at £1600.

We currently own a Worcester Heatslave Floor Stander, think it kicks out about 25kw, we are running 5-7 rads, the quote includes:

Boiler
4-5 Metres of vertical flue
Thermostatic rad valves
22mm Gas pipe. (our current pipe is 15mm but apparently we need 22mm for a condensing boiler)

Just wondering really if the prices seem fair and which boiler to go for, in times of recession knocking £400 instantly off the bill by going Glow Worm seems like a good idea, but how good/bad are these boilers?

Thanks

[Saracen]

Considering the £5500 I paid out a year or so back, I'd say you've got a bargain.

To be fair, mine was a conversion job that involved moving the boiler (out of a purpose-built boiler cupboard, thanks to changes in the rules ) into the utility room, which meant a 3-day job in repiping half the house, lifting floorboards, cutting holes in walls, etc.

I looked at a variety of boilers, including from Bosch, Worcester, Vaillant, through to Ideal, Potterton, etc. I ended up with a GlowWorm (HX18). So far, it's been faultless. It's small, pretty quiet (though there's a kind-of whistling noise), fast and given no problems. It was checked out a few weeks a ago as part of a service contract inspection, and was operating perfectly.

From what I understand, the boilers typically are about £800-£1200, but the full job, including labour, will be more than that, depending on the nature of the job, and what else (like thermostatic valves) needs doing.

We also got half a dozen firms to quote, two of whom never bothered to send the quote. The cheapest, surprisingly, was British Gas who, when I umm'ed and arr'ed about the cost, knocked several hundred quid more off the cost .... and included the annual service contract, which the others hadn't. They're worth asking for a quote, in my opinion, because of that experience. I'd assumed they'd be expensive, but compared to others, they were not.

[alsenior]

Ours was meant to cost £2500 but we got a grant through warmfront to cover the cost.

But we got with that was a a-rated boiler that literally sips gas and makes the house nice and warm.

I'm thinking you're getting a good deal there

[BUFF]

I just replaced an old (~18 years) Worcester Hi-flow floorstanding storage combi boiler with the latest condensing version. That boiler alone costs ~£1550-1600 incl. VAT even discounted plus I went for a more sophisticated controls solution (if you don't already have 1 they will also have to fit a room stat to comply with current legislation).
Don't know if they are still running it but when I had mine fitted before Xmas Worcester were doing a free extended warranty (5 years from std. 2) if fitted by an approved installer & as a rule of thumb you won't get better than a Worcester.

I too managed to get a grant towards it so it's worth investigating but it may take a while to come through.

[Yosh]

Called one gentleman back, the Worcester fitter seems to have the best deal so far, £1900 incl new 30kw condensing boiler with the 5 year warranty on parts and labour which is worth an extra £400 on its own for the extra 3 years imo, when you consider BG charge £13 a month. He will also install a 22mm pipe, with thermo rad valves and a Controller so its a pretty good price.

I will try to locate another Worcester fitter and see if i can bring the price down a bit more, you never know

[greenalien]

Can someone explain why a Condensing boiler, which is supposed to be more economical than an older design, needs a larger diameter gas pipe to feed it...?!

[james_d]

Older boilers have two states - on and off. Once the output is up to a certain temp they turn off until it falls somewhat below this point. Newer boilers regulate the gas to keep the output water temperature at a steady state, rather than permanently cycling on and off, it's more efficient this way... this efficiency gain is in addition to the condensing part.

As the newer boilers can regulate down from a maximum, they can have a much higher maximum to start with to get up to temperature quicker, again more efficient. Most of the time they'd be burning less gas than an older unit, but it's during the startup phase they need more.