Boilers....

[b0redom]

Hi All,
The boiler in my house is on the fritz. It seems to be a problem with the fan which currently sounds like the souls of 1000 screaming hamsters every time it fires up. I've been talking to a plumber who says that given it's age (must be at least 15 years old), it's probably worth replacing.

He's quoted me £1150 + VAT to remove the old one, power flush the system and fit a new one (I supply the replacement). Is that a reasonable fee? I've got no idea.

Ta.....

b0redom

[abaxas]

Sounds like an easy day's work to me.

[GoNz0]

or pay about 5% of that for a new fan and fit it yourself.

[herulach]

Considering british gas will fit you one for about that inc VAT then it doesn't sound like a great deal unless you can get a cracking deal on a replacement.

[ik9000]

I'd get a few quotes first. sound high IMO. Having a boiler done soon so will know more then. i'm with the person above who suggests trying to get a new fan. old boilers were made to last.

[peterb]

Certainly look at getting the fan replaced. Depending on the age and type of boiler, it's either the combustion fan or the flue fan.

That said, modern boilers don't last as long as older boilers. The heat exchangers are thinner (to improve efficiency)?but don't last as long. They are also more complicated, more to go wrong.

You might want to go to a plumbers merchant and find out what the retail (or preferably the trade price) of the proposed replacement, to see what the installation charge is. Bearing in mind the plumber may get additional discounts!

[Domestic_Ginger]

Most parts can be found on the internet these days so finding a fan will either be impossible or easy . If you're stuck and the manufacturer is still in business they sometimes digitize the manuals. The newer boilers supposedly don't last as long as Peterb said. I would count the next replacement in ten years or so vs the savings. I think ours is 20 odd years old but seems to run okay.


Might be useful (not sure of the date written):-

http://www.which.co.uk/home-and-gard...ling-a-boiler/

[b0redom]

Replacement fan is ~ £200 including fitting (same plumber). I'm not going to bugger about with the internals of gas appliances myself. I'm quite happy replacing the PCB as that's not in the guts of the boiler itself, but the fan etc is in the main body.

[peterb]

£200 sounds expensive, maybe to push you into replacing the boiler. Legally, once the case is breached, the boiler should only be re-commissioned after an inspection by a registered gas installer. However, there is nothing to stop you getting the part and getting a registered fitter to fit it, or fit it yourself and get it certified. Might be worth getting some more quotes too.

[b0redom]

Well, I just checked online and the part is ~ £125, so I guess ~£75 to fit it isn't too bad. Given the boiler's had a new heat exchanger fitted last winter, I think I'll go with replacing the fan for the time being.

Thanks all....

b0redom

[peterb]

Expensive part! I guess it a centrifugal fan "snail blower" for the combustion chamber. If you had a new heat exchanger last year, probably worth repairing, hopefully it'll be good for another ten years or so.

[DanceswithUnix]

Our boiler is probably 40 years old. The plumber has warned us that parts are getting hard to find and if the heat exchanger goes we would be better off getting a new boiler, but even with a boiler that old and inefficient he recommended repair. Am surprised you were recommended to have a new boiler for just a fan.

[GoNz0]

Our boiler is probably 40 years old. The plumber has warned us that parts are getting hard to find and if the heat exchanger goes we would be better off getting a new boiler, but even with a boiler that old and inefficient he recommended repair. Am surprised you were recommended to have a new boiler for just a fan.

because they tend to have the same layout pipework wise so it can be an hours work to remove and replace as you get a mounting template, worst case is he has to chop back the pipes and run new ones up a foot, thats another 30-45 mins. power clean is automated so he has a cuppa while that's running.

All said half a days work and he pockets £300-500 over replacing a fan for £75 in his pocket.

[DanceswithUnix]

because they tend to have the same layout pipework wise so it can be an hours work to remove and replace as you get a mounting template, worst case is he has to chop back the pipes and run new ones up a foot, thats another 30-45 mins. power clean is automated so he has a cuppa while that's running.

All said half a days work and he pockets £300-500 over replacing a fan for £75 in his pocket.

In my last house we had the boiler replaced, I think it was £1800 including the boiler (~8 years ago). The fan assisted boiler flue was smaller than the old convection flue of the outgoing boiler, so he had to brick up the big gap at the bottom as well as re-work the water pipes and put in a new high temperature board in wall for it to mount on (again to repair the gap where the old boiler flue went through the wall).

The bit I found odd was the number of plumbers we arranged to come around and give us a quote and they just didn't bother turning up. A good plumber is worth looking after.

[pp05]

Find someone to fix it.

If it lasted 15 years then you are onto a good one. Get it repaired if possible. These new boilers nowadays have a shelf life of less than 10 years.