Any honest plumbers out there?

[Creemteez]

Spot of brain-picking required.
Have had three different firms in to give us a quote for new central heating boiler and some further modifications to the system. British Gas came up with the eye-watering amount of - wait for it - £7100!!! After finally managing to stop laughing hysterically, and pointing out that we didn't actually WANT solid gold rads, they did a bit of re-jigging and came up with £6100. Not giving them the pleasure as they also told us that we would "need" a 42kw Worcester Bosch boiler and we have been told since by both the other plumbers who came that 30kw would be more than adequate.
The second chappie seemed to be quite genuine, but he made no mention of something that the third bloke said, to the effect that because we have different sized pipe-work through-out the system (put in prior to us living here) no central heating system will work efficiently unless it's changed!!!!!
Come on guys! I know there must be someone of knowledge out there who can guide us through this maze!

[VirginVegGrower]

Heads up Potty

[RedThorn]

BIL is a plumber, lives in North London so a bit far from you , problem is he ain't pc savvy and never ventures into the vagaries of the tinternet

[Bigmallly]

I'm no plumber but it sounds like he is out to make an extra few quid.......unless of course they are lead pipes.

[chris]

I've had about 7 quotes... for new drain valves downstairs, a 37kW boiler (logic ideal I think - I'll have to check, but apparantly they're out to make a name for themselves after numerous flops before) we're looking at 2.3k.

That includes running a new 22mm pipe from the supply, moving the boiler to a new location, and "making good" (though I'll be re-making good when they've left as I'm a bit of a perfectionist), along with a radio controller thermostat.

For a Bosch, it's 2.6k

I've saved a bit by doing the rads myself (my old man used to be a plumber so he's helped too ).

[chris]

Oh, that's not the cheapest.. cheapest was 1.8k for a 28CDi bosch I believe. I didn't go with him as he burnt my mother in laws wallpaper when fitting new rads, and also forgot to connect two rads up and flooded their downstairs when re-filling.

I've had this chap take my fire out, so have seen his work which I'm pleased with.

[Creemteez]

I'm not expecting anyone to come and give us a quote, just allow us to bounce a few bits of info off them and give us an honest reply..
I think I've watched too many episodes of "Rogue Traders", I view EVERYONE as a potential ripper-offer!!!

[RedThorn]

and that's not a bad starting place CT

[Creemteez]

Sad, though, innit!

[Bigmallly]

Sad, though, innit!

It's a fact of life though, some tradesmen assume you know nothing about what they are telling you. Did he say why the pipework needed changing?

[veggiechicken]

I have two sorts of pipework in my house, standard and microbore. The microbore was put in when the house was extended, and before we bought it. Its been laid under the concrete floor and is a real disaster waiting to happen! However, all the rads get hot, even the 3 on the extended system.

[Creemteez]

Hmm, but we have always had a problem with the radiator in our bedroom never heating up properly, AND a lot of the pipework is buried in the concrete floor.
He said it wasn't so much the difference in size of the pipes (15mm and 20mm) it was where the changes in pipe-size occurred....
I dunno. My brain is completely fried!

[Two_Sheds]

Our new combi boiler & pipework was £2,300 (mates rates). We kept the old rads

[Creemteez]

Interesting, TS. We do need some extra rads, but that's a good ball-park figure to work from. Do you know what sort of boiler you had. We've been advised to have a Worcester-Bosch or an Ariston. There is about £400 difference in the price, but WB boilers are supposed to be worth it for their reliability....ARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!

[Two_Sheds]

It was an Alpha something or other, as recommended by our plumber. It has a "remote control" thermostat which you can carry around with you, but I'm not impressed with it: it keeps losing the signal to the boiler

The boiler itself seems OK though