Gas Plumber - Fix/Replace Boiler

[MartinRSharpe]

Hi All,

Anyone know a good gas plumber in the Rossendale/Lancashire area they would like to recommend.

Our boiler died on Friday so due to the very windy conditions causing a back draft on the flue (automatic safety precaution the manual says). Started it up again and we get a smell of gas in the room the boiler is in and a small amount of smoke coming from what looks like the join between the boiler and the heat exchanger.

Given the boiler is ~15years old we would probably like to replace it with a more efficient one.

So any recommendations?

[Aberdeenplotter]

My personal suggestion would be that you decide on the boiler you want and then find out if the manufacturer has recommended installers in your area. Failing that, we have a resident expert who will be along shortly <Calling Potty, calling Potty>

[MartinRSharpe]

The suggestion from British Gas blokey was to avoid a combi as it would struggle due to the length of the pipe work in our house. By the time the water comes out hot you would waste a couple of bucket loads of water (we are not on a meter so not the biggest concern, but still....)

To be honest all the boilers look the same to me, big white box that heats up the water. All seem to have an efficiency of around 90-91%

Not really an area I have any knowledge of!

[veggiechicken]

I'm no expert but the last people I'd ask would be British Gas and I've always had Worcester Bosch boilers.

[Aberdeenplotter]

we are looking to replace our combi with a Worcester Bosch condensing Combi and I know they have a panel of approved installers up here. Britsh Gas's quote to us was substantially more than the other quotes we got in fact very substantially more.

[SarzWix]

I agree re. British Gas - they quoted us just short of £5000 for boiler and radiator controls, we got it done by someone local for £2500... Ours is a Worcester too

[chris]

The suggestion from British Gas blokey was to avoid a combi as it would struggle due to the length of the pipe work in our house. By the time the water comes out hot you would waste a couple of bucket loads of water (we are not on a meter so not the biggest concern, but still....)

To be honest all the boilers look the same to me, big white box that heats up the water. All seem to have an efficiency of around 90-91%

Not really an area I have any knowledge of!

BG said the same to me. They are pushing conventional due to the margins (I work for a large energy firm)

I had a combi, it's fine - my en-suite is the longest pipe run from the boiler, granted it takes maybe 30 secs for the hot water to come through, but the rest of the house is fine.

An individual plumber will be much cheaper than BG. BG for me, were 1k more expensive than what I paid (£2.4k for a Bosch 42CDi), TRV's on each room bar 1, and a new pipe run (22mm) from the mains supply.

[MartinRSharpe]

I full expected there to be a British Gas markup. They came this morning and gave me a quote of £3.3k to replace with one of their standard boilers.

I have a local bloke coming this evening to give a quote and am looking at a couple more.

[Potstubsdustbins]

Throw BG out the door. They charge way more than anyone else simply because they use sub contract fitters so need to make two profits.

Can you let me know the name and model of your existing boiler a picci would be good I may be able to suggest a repair. 15 years is quite an age for a modern/today boiler but those built 15 years ago are somewhat different.

The main problem with getting quotes is like for like. For instance I could put you a nice cheap standard boiler in for £1200 or there abouts dependant on what controls you have already.

If you wanted a top of the range Worcester with all the bells and whistles you could nearly double that.

However guess what make I have in my own house. Why? because they are very reliable, and if they do fail the spares are a reasonable price, not a rip off.

As to combi's I am biased, I love em. There can be a problem with the length of pipe run supplying a hot tap (dead leg) especially if you live in Buck House. But if you think about it my 3 bed semi is 7.5mtrs front to back add 3 mtrs for hook ups and you have a pipe length of 10.5 mtrs. round about your average garden hose. It don't hold that much water.

If you want any advice just give me a knock.

Colin only Potty when gardening

[MartinRSharpe]

Hi Colin/Potty,

Thanks for the info, a PM will be on its way to you shortly!

[chris]

forgot to add, my controls are "smart" - all wireless and stuff. Quite funky. honeywell rf controlled vavles and stuff

[Potstubsdustbins]

Martin PM sent.

Colin

[green thing]

I've always used bosch Worcester boiler never had any problems with the them
Think they now do two year parts and labour
they have approved fitters on the web site.
Wouldn't go for the highflow 44cdi uses lots of gas keeping
The hot water tank topped up with hot water.
This boiler is more suited for a b&b
The greenstar 42 cdi will do most large houses.
and you can turn the instant hot water top up tank off
Just takes a few seconds longer for the water to get hot.
Take a look at the bosch website .

[MartinRSharpe]

Good news, the existing boiler was fixable (Thanks Colin). I have heating again :-)

[veggiechicken]

Potty to the rescue again Well done