Worcester Greenstar fix or replace?

[Fil1971]

Our Worcester Greenstar HE condensing combi boiler has been losing pressure
We had a plumber come out to look at it and he says that the heating unit needs replacing
he says to replace it would be about half the price to buy and install a new better boiler
The boiler is 10 years old,
my questions are these:
1, Does this estimate of the cost sound about right?
2, is a ten year old boiler getting on a bit or should we expect it to last a few years more? (it's been moved, re-installed in a different room which can apparently shorten their life)
3, if we repair it, will this leave us with a boiler that is likely to go wrong again?

I don't want to resurrect an old crap boiler if a better more efficient one with a guarantee can be installed.
but it seems daft to replace it if a repair will give us some more years...

your professional experience would be appreciated

 

[ServiceNumpty]

Quick question is there water or a damp stain coming from the copper pipe which runs to outside. And how often do you need to keep topping it up.

 

[Fil1971]

the pipe is currently dry, haven't noticed it being wet before, if you mean outside, it's chucking it down with rain now, so I couldn't tell, but I'd probably have noticed if it had been dripping

While we were away for a week, recently, I turned off the flow and return to the CH system after topping up the pressure to '2' on the dial and it went down to '1' in 5 days

 

[Blagard]

I suspect most loss of pressure in sealed systems arise from a minor leak somewhere on the system such as at a radiator valve or air bleed point.

Go around your house and carefully inspect all the radiator valves and air bleed points - If you find one leaking a bit that will as a minimum be contributing to loss of pressure. It may in fact be the only reason!

 

[Fil1971]

yeah we've had those leaky radiator issues before, but this time round, with the central heating system isolated, it still lost pressure,
plumber said it's the heater unit.....

 

[Blagard]

Ah my bad!
I missed the point you made about isolating the boiler.

However if you keep topping it up and pressure goes down, the water must be going somewhere - Find that leak!

If the leak is in the heat exchanger then you may not find it! - Any heat will evaporate the leak and it will go out the flue as vapour!

Bottom line is that there are no hard and fast rules as to how long a boiler should last or when it is best to replace. A ten year old one is getting on and if still current for spares maybe worth hanging onto.

Its really all a bit of gamble. It could go on for another ten years. If the model is reliable check the internet, it may be worth hanging onto. If it is not consider replacement - that's about as much as I can say.

As michele5041 has indicated, first make sure it is not actually something simple like a faulty pressure relief valve. The outside pipe may not even drip but should generally be bone dry all the time (except for when it rains!)

 

[ServiceNumpty]

My opinion if you replace that boiler with one costing 1k supplied and fitted, then you will be replacing that one in 5 years.

 

[Fil1971]

My opinion if you replace that boiler with one costing 1k supplied and fitted, then you will be replacing that one in 5 years.

OK from that I'm guessing that you estimate the repair to be about £500, to supply and fit the new heat exchanger,
a boiler costing £1000 will be a heap of S**t
therefore I should pay to have the old one fixed and if it lasts 5 years then I got those 5 years at half price...?

 

[Agile]

I don't know where those figures came from!

The main HE is probably about £400 to buy and £160 to fit.

Its possible the BG or Worcester themselves will do a fixewd price repair.

A reasonable new boiler is likely to be £1500-£2000 installed.

Tony

 

[Fil1971]

Ah, that was me second guessing what michelle 5041 meant by "1k" after me saying that my plumber had said vaguely that a replacement would be twice the cost of repair (half of 1k is £500)

OK, good advice it may be worth getting a Worcester repair man to come out if we go down the repair route

I read another thread on here and a Worcester engineer said (last year) that it was £230 to come out and repair
if it's the heat exchanger , that's gonna be a few quid on top of that
if it's the pressure release valve then less quid

FYI it's a zwb 7-25 condensing combi

Worcester's website recommends the Greenstar 34CDi Classic from the info i supplied, which I can get for £1,062.46 inc VAT

 

[ServiceNumpty]

What I was trying to say was that in the lower end bracket you'll get a boiler that probably wouldn't last the repair cost. Heat Ex for that boiler is around £500 + Vat.
Don't disregard the 29cdi which is a 30kw boiler. And get a Worcester Accredited Installer to get the 7 Year warranty or 8 Years if you fit their heating system filter. Try the Worcester 'find an installer' page for one local to you. Oxford is a bit far for me.

 

[Fil1971]

What I was trying to say was that in the lower end bracket you'll get a boiler that probably wouldn't last the repair cost. Heat Ex for that boiler is around £500 + Vat.
Don't disregard the 29cdi which is a 30kw boiler. And get a Worcester Accredited Installer to get the 7 Year warranty or 8 Years if you fit their heating system filter. Try the Worcester 'find an installer' page for one local to you. Oxford is a bit far for me.

a new boiler is looking like the best approach,
a 29 cdi is about £1000
with the 8 year warranty and a 10 yr warranty on the primary heat exchanger
How much to install it?
and one of those filters?

also, as you seem to know about these things will the 29cdi be big enough?
My house is an ex council two bed semi, standard size
we have converted (nearly) the loft, and extended it out the back, a ground floor room the whole width of the house with a 3m x 4m bedroom on top of it
the ground floor bit has underfloor heating

 

[ServiceNumpty]

Without checking water pressure and flow rates you have choice of 2 boilers. Your current boiler is a 25kw, so both will outperform.

 

[Fil1971]

Thanks mike,
I'll contact worcester next week

 

[twgas]

Have another look at the fixed price repairs, they normally include the cost of parts.