ripoff for new boiler

[L.F.F.]

Someone at Lakes Runner told me that thing about them basically being made in China but 'finished' here. Not sure why he was telling me about boilers, but he was very helpful.

[OneHillWonder]

I want a wood burner in my new house, I do I do I do... At the moment it's got no central heating, but has got some of those horrid storage heaters and a couple of gas fires.

[ydt]

Gambatte, If the old gas boiler is working ok why change it? How old is it? Most older gas boilers are around 70-75% efficient and condensing gas boilers are 15-20% better but are expensive and more complex. If the boiler provides hot water, you can improve system efficiency by having this pumped and by having a well insulated hot water cylinder. ydt

[Stagger]

Coal fire. Its the way forward.

[Usually at the back]

better to spend the money on good insulation, I have saved far more that way with loft insulation and cavity walls

[Rob Furness]

I work in the heating industry, and if you want my two pence, here it is.....

The company mentioned are well known in the industry for charging excessive prices, they work on the fact that people trust the brand and therefore can get away with it. In reality, they often use subcontractors (jim the plumber from down the road or whoever) to do the work and had you gone to them direct you would have probably saved half the price. New boilers are definitely more efficient when set up and used correctly, and if you buy a decent boiler to start with like Worcester-bosch or Vaillant for example, you will get a pretty reliable decent quality product with a reasonable warranty. This doesn't mean it won't break down, because modern boilers by necessity (to help make them more efficient) contain numerous electronic components and sensors thus increasing the chance of a fault simply by the law of averages, ie more things to go wrong. The main benefit of buying a more expensive quality boiler however, is the fact that spares will be much much cheaper when they do go wrong. I've known some cheaper boilers that if two or three parts go it costs more than the boiler, these are just a rip off.

That said, I have a £20 year old vaillant in my house, and as long as it continues to give me trouble free heating and hot water I won't be touching it. The older ones are much more reliable. Some only have 2-3 parts that can fault and even if they all went at once it would only cost a couple of hundred quid. Modern boilers have PCB's that can cost more than that for just one. Stick with the old one, it makes sense.

[TheHeathens]

Everything is overpriced, but this seems just too much...

We live in a 3bed det house, boiler is running well but old and not efficient, British Gas came to inspect the house and give us FREE advice on how to save energy.
They advised to get a new energy efficient boiler, total cost about £4800. So we can SAVE about £150 a year.

Thieves.:angry:

I realised the root of the problem when I got to British Gas. We had our whole central heating and new boiler done for cheaper than that.

[Grouse]

You have got a great name for someone who works in the heating industry Rob.

[Rob Furness]

You have got a great name for someone who works in the heating industry Rob.

:thumbup:

[Grouse]

Anyway shouldn't we be going nuclear on domestic boilers by now?