should i replace my boiler

[darz456]

Hi Please can someone give me some advice . I have the chance of a new condensing boiler to replace my 16 year old F rated ideal classic model . I have heard the newer boilers are not as reliable as my older boiler however it will be fitted for free under the green deal scheme .

Should i replace my boiler even though the old one is working ok ?

Your thoughts would be very welcome

Thanks

Darren

 

[ed110220]

Hi Please can someone give me some advice . I have the chance of a new condensing boiler to replace my 16 year old F rated ideal classic model . I have heard the newer boilers are not as reliable as my older boiler however it will be fitted for free under the green deal scheme .

Should i replace my boiler even though the old one is working ok ?

Your thoughts would be very welcome

Thanks

Darren

Just a quick comment but surely it isn't free - you have to pay it back with your energy bills plus 7% interest? Not saying it's necessarily a bad thing if you can't raise the money another way but I'd be wary that under the Green Deal you might be stuck with the type of installers that are known for overcharging such as British Gas...

Given an F rated boiler replaced with an A rated one, you should save about 25% on your gas so that should help work out the savings.

 

[darz456]

hiya it is totally free as i'm on benefits due to a health condition . My old boiler works but its banging when it gets hot .
The thing i'm worried about is that ive heard the new condensing boilers only last a few years yet my olf F rated boiler will keep on going !

 

[AlexCarp]

Get yourself a quality boiler and it will last. But make sure the system is cleaned before the new boiler is fitted, which should also have a quality magnetic filter fitted on the return pipe to the boiler. The crud inside the system can destroy boilers. That is why they get a bad name. The old cast iron boilers had a lot of water space inside the boilers and they could cope with crud and scale sticking to the insides, which also reduced efficiency. I would expect your boiler to be running at more 50% efficiency. You may find your gas bills will drop by around one third.

 

[darz456]

ok thanks for the advice

 

[darz456]

Thanks again especially alexcarp good advice cheers

 

[ed110220]

hiya it is totally free as i'm on benefits due to a health condition . My old boiler works but its banging when it gets hot .
The thing i'm worried about is that ive heard the new condensing boilers only last a few years yet my olf F rated boiler will keep on going !

Hi, sorry I did not realise the Green Deal did that!

The first thing is to work out how much you'll save on your gas bills and then you'll be in a better position to decide whether a possibly less long-lived new boiler makes sense.

For example if you use 10 000 kWh of gas per year at 6p/kWh then if your new boiler uses a third less gas you'll save 3333 kWh and 200 a year at current gas prices.

 

[AlexCarp]

ed110220, A quality boiler fitted properly in a clean system will outlive Mr darz456. I can do most of the work on my Baxi combi boiler myself and recently have. In fact I can do all of it as the boiler is simple enough once you understand the hydraulic 3 way valve mechanism. It is around 8 years old and as long as parts are still available it will last another 20 years. I am considering buying a few of the diaphragms and other parts that may look like they may fail at some point just to be sure. They are cheap enough. There is a company in Watford that recons pcb boards, or fixes them for you, so once again no reason to buy a new boiler if the boards are no longer available. But as the boiler uses stock Italian readily available parts used on other boilers, I can't see there being a big problem for many years to come.

I have recently fitted a magnetic filter on the return to my combi, so I am not expecting any big problems as the system is clean and the filter will catch any crud that may enter the boiler.

 

[ed110220]

ed110220, A quality boiler fitted properly in a clean system will outlive Mr darz456. I can do most of the work on my Baxi combi boiler myself and recently have. In fact I can do all of it as the boiler is simple enough once you understand the hydraulic 3 way valve mechanism. It is around 8 years old and as long as parts are still available it will last another 20 years. I am considering buying a few of the diaphragms and other parts that may look like they may fail at some point just to be sure. They are cheap enough. There is a company in Watford that recons pcb boards, or fixes them for you, so once again no reason to buy a new boiler if the boards are no longer available. But as the boiler uses stock Italian readily available parts used on other boilers, I can't see there being a big problem for many years to come.

I have recently fitted a magnetic filter on the return to my combi, so I am not expecting any big problems as the system is clean and the filter will catch any crud that may enter the boiler.

Hi, that's good to know. Unfortunately I don't know much about boiler reliability and expected life, I was just recommending doing the sums.

I would be surprised though if it wasn't worthwhile doing though if the boiler is free!

 

[GavThePlumber]

With the money you save on gas, you could get a brand new boiler every few years. A lot of boilers come with 5 or 7 year warranties now.

Nothing is free though, hence why energy bills are rising.

 

[AlexCarp]

I would be surprised though if it wasn't worthwhile doing though if the boiler is free!

I was just making then point that modern boilers can and do last. Poor installation in dirty systems and no filters is a prime cause of early boiler failure.