Just had a man round to service our boiler. He dropped the bombshell that we shouldn’t throw a lot of money at it as 10 year old Worcester Bosch aren’t as good as older or newer ones and it needs a part (for £300 approx) or preferably replacing at a cost of at least £2000! Our last house had a 40 year old boiler in it when we sold it! I’m astonished and not a little suspicious.
It’s true that we called him out because it kept losing pressure and apparently this means a part has gone which is very hard to get to, so the boiler would have to be taken down before replacement. He said moving a 10 yr old boiler might cause more problems and he was just surprised we haven’t had any problems before and we’d been very lucky.
My husband wants to leave it until later in the year as we don’t obviously need a new one just now and we’d struggle to just find £2000 plus like that but does anyone have any opinion please?
Hi Luckylegs! A gas engineer of 30+ years assures me it's the expansion vessel which needs pumping up. Not a hard nor expensive procedure.
Did they actuals check the expansion vessel pressure?
Great boiler which should serve you well for a few years more!
The loft IS a terrible place for a boiler. Not only difficult to access but gets cold up there so switches itself on when not needed, usually in the middle of the night, then we freeze during the day to pay for it. I have a long bungalow with 2 boilers, one at each end so maintenance insurance was colossal. This system was in place when we arrived unfortunately. It was too expensive and impracticable to replace all the pipe work so we put the new boilers in but one has the leak. Both guaranteed 7 years and annual service is only about£50. Vaillant who made the boilers say the pressure problem is nothing to do with the boiler so tough.
Our plumber also recommends Worcester boilers, however he came to service our GlowWorm boiler last week and commented that the noise it was making is because it needs a new pump. DH asked if it was better to put the £300 it would cost towards a new boiler and he said no the boiler is good and will last many more years. I would also get a second opinion but would also say avoid British Gas as their estimates are exorbitant and they charge for them if you don’t purchase from them. We respect our plumber’s opinion, he is very good and only charges £70 for an annual service.
Just an update. Thanks all of you but particularly Oopsminty whose friend was right. Got a second opinion who came today. It is hopefully just the expansion vessel which he fettled there and then for £40 and he assured us that if it fails again it’s not a big job to replace and the boiler should last a few more years! It just goes to show, you can’t trust anyone, can you?
On the bright side, we decided to get a new TV which is coming on Sunday so I’m excited about that!
I am pleased for you Luckylegs these big bills are a worry!
This is interesting as I’ve just had a quote from BG as a result of my annual service. My boiler was new when the house was built so now 23 years and apparently running at 75% efficiency. Also, no spares available. New one quoted at £2300 which includes Hive. I’m going to get a quote from an independent installer for the same boiler. Not eligible for a grant. I think understandably you have to be on benefits or have a very low income.
Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk guidelines.
Has my nearly 20 year old boiler replaced a couple of months back. I thought I might be eligible for a grant, but as I live in a flat this was not to be. Grants are NOT available for changing out a gas combi-boiler for a gas combi boiler, in flats.
Have had a lot of problems with boiler this summer, resulting in much work being carried out by British Gas who are under contract to look after our boilers. Last time engineers expressed some doubt as to how it would cope in the winter, and I decided not to take the chance.
Many years ago, in my house had a small leak in my boiler and the BG Engineer tried very hard to persuade me that I required a new boiler (the one there was then less than seven years old), obviously he was in for some sort of payout for every successful introduction he made. I let him go ahead and make that appointment, as soon as he left the house I cancelled that appointment and put in an official complaint to British Gas about his behavior - he had not even fixed that leak which required another engineer the following day, to change the washer to stop that.
Two local 'gas Safe, recommedned companies quoted and so did British Gas. Those two companies were about the same, and grand less than BG - BUT British Gas give the opportunity of an interest free loan over the next two or three years (Just two for me due to my age). I needed a like for like so as not to mess up the look of the kitchen.
Work was carried out speedily and neatly.
This Worcester B boiler will outlive me with a 12 years guarantee on it. Will help when my kids are selling the flat, when I die. I am, however, still a little concerned at the HIVE thermostat control that has been installed. Everyone says they are really simple to use - I hope so.
4 year old thread resurrected by a Spammer.
The OP reported her situation resolved, so could that be a cue for GNHQ to close the thread?
Similarly, could there be a Dead Thread Bin, that posters could read, but not add to? Often one sees that ‘comments on this subject are now closed’ on other websites - would that be an option?
I’ve seen recent old threads, added to, but not on the same subject, by newish GN names. They often get no response, as posters refer to the original subject.
Just asking,
We replaced our old gas boiler two years ago with a new Ideal having got a few quotes. We did look at having a heat pump but rejected the silly price (even with the grant). We've had it serviced twice by Ideal engineers to keep the 7 year guarantee valid. The new one is cheaper to run.
Sparklefizz
My boiler was old and kept breaking down, and I was told by several different engineers that parts were hard to obtain. There is never a good time to be without heating and hot water, and I was fed up.
My new boiler has been brilliant. It's not actually what you would call "new" now, but much more efficient than the old one, much cheaper to run, and I have never regretted getting it.
One word of warning - get 3 quotes, as I had 3 including one from British Gas - all of them recommending the same boiler, but the BG quote was double the prices of the others.
When my last boiler packed in several years ago I got several companies out to give me a quote and the guy from British Gas was so rude to me I resolved never to use them again!
It is not just a quastion of whether a boiler works, but whether it is energy efficient. You could have a boiler 50 or 100 years old that worked, but it would be consuming twice as much gas as a modern energy condensing boiler, which means apart from the huge waste of fuel and very high energy bill, the damage to the environment would be large.
Modern CH boilers are built to last about 10 years. Then the manufacturers stop manufacturing spares and repairs become difficult. A new boiler will probably be more energy efficient than an older boiler.
Always get your boiler serviced every year. For safety as much as efficiency. The fitter will be checking to see that flue gases are not escaping into the house. Do not think you will smell them if that happens. Carbon Monoxide is without odour and can, and does kill people, without them knowing it is happening. You should also have a carbon monoxide alarm on the side somewhere near your boiler to set off an alarm if this happens. But much safer to get it serviced.
I would get a second and third quote for replacing the boiler.
Luckylegs
I thought about boiler grants but thought you had to be on benefits or something to qualify. I’ll look into it. I’m tempted to get a second opinion but is it not just throwing more money at it?
There are different schemes in different areas too.
Check with your council.
🤞
Luckylegs had her boiler repaired FOUR YEARS AGO!
2nd opinion certainly. Both our recent houses needed new gas boilers. We had Ideal ones fitted and they were fine. The present one had teething troubles but the Ideal engineers fixed them in one visit. We have Ideal service it annually and their service is excellent. We looked at heat pumps but far too expensive and our house is solid wall so insulation would have added a lot to the cost.
Free boiler replacement check your eligibility in just 60 seconds and get your new boiler through ECO4 Scheme funded by Government of Uk.
Reported
I had a new boiler fitted last year. I am on Pension Credit, and looked into help with a grant, but discovered this grant did not cover combi-boilers.
Went with British Gas as they give up to four years interest free credit for their boiler installations. I only got three years as it all has to be paid up prior to your 85th birthday!!!
The boiler has a guarantee for 20 years, so seems as if not all have built-in obsolescence.
Our flats service charge covers the cost of annual service and a 24/7 callout from British Gas,.
Zombie thread Franbern
Georgesgran
Luckylegs had her boiler repaired FOUR YEARS AGO!
But still useful for others, surely Georgesgran.
Registering is free, easy, and means you can join the discussion, watch threads and lots more.
Register now »Already registered? Log in with:
Gransnet »Get our top conversations, latest advice, fantastic competitions, and more, straight to your inbox. Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
