| Non-motoring > Boilers | Miscellaneous |
| Thread Author: zippy | Replies: 42 |
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New Mon 16 Oct 23 17:23
Boilers - zippy
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Our 40 year old Potterton Kingfisher is due for replacement. Do I go for a combi for about £5k fitted or a direct replacement for about £3.5k fitted? At the same time I would like to increase our shower pressure which is currently awful. If we go for the standard boiler I will have a pressurised water tank fitted, though I understand this might not be needed with a combi boiler? Has anyone used a fitting service like Boxt? A heat pump isn't practical as our house is too draughty at the moment. |
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New Mon 16 Oct 23 17:41
Boilers - Bromptonaut
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Our slightly less ancient 1998 Baxi was serviced on Saturday. It's old but solid and reliable and we can still get parts. Discussed 'what if' briefly with the Baxi guy and I think we'd replace like/like. A heat pump would not, I think, work without replacing microbore pipes and possibly some rads too. A combi might be more efficient than like/like would be a lot of messing with plumbing and, unless we re-sited the boiler, would trade a delay on hot water in the kitchen for a wait for the shower to warm up in our en-suite. Curent one's all good though for now. The tech suggested we replace the flue fan as the bearings are getting noisier than they should be. Domestic and General will cover it. Heating's the one thing I still have insurance type cover for. Anything else I can wait and/or replace for less than £600 but fast track when the heat goes off is worth paying a bit for. |
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New Tue 17 Oct 23 11:09
Boilers - VxFan
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>> The tech suggested we replace the flue fan as the bearings are getting noisier than they should be. A quick squirt of WD40 quietens ours down for 4 to 6 months. Landlord is too tight to replace our old boiler and gets their engineer to keep on bodging it whenever it goes wrong. The engineer showed me where to give the bearings a squirt, and how to do it without even removing the casing. The immersion tank in the loft had to be replaced the other day as we were barely getting any hot water, and you could hold your hand under the tap. Tank was ¾ full of sediment and scaled up worse than a 40 yr old kettle. Replacing this has now had a knock on effect to the shower. Landlord isn't very happy, but no doubt will adjust our rent accordingly to get their money back when it's next reviewed. |
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New Mon 16 Oct 23 17:53
Boilers - Terry
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A few thoughts. If your current system is also 40 years old it may make sense to get pipework, radiators etc looked at to ensure they are still fit for purpose (internal corrosion etc) Is the system single pipe or flow and return. Newer systems will almost certainly be flow and return - more efficient. Single pipes have a tendency to leave the last radiator on the loop cold. Updating an old single pipe system would (I think) be fairly disruptive, AIUI combi boilers are best suited to houses with fewer occupants as their water heating capacity is limited and may be compromised if (for instance) two folk shower or bath at the same time. They are best suited to 1-2 bedroom houses A larger house 4+ bedrooms) with potentially more occupants using hot water simultaneously is best suited to a conventional system with hot water tanks. Finally - with a conventional system it is fairly simple to fit a shower pump to boost pressure. With a combi system the pressure of showers and taps is limited by mains pressure. |
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New Mon 16 Oct 23 18:32
Boilers - sooty123
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| If you've got space you can fit a shower pump to boost pressure. There's a bit of modification but this might suit your needs at less money. |
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New Mon 16 Oct 23 20:27
Boilers - smokie
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My neighbour was a plumber and I needed my hw cylinder replaced a year or so bac., due to internal perforation. We went through what would be required for "hot water at mains pressure" and I stopped him at £2.5k as the direct replacement was only £800. We have an Aqualisa power shower which is great. |
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New Sat 9 Mar 24 13:42
Boilers - R.P.
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| We have finally sorted our shower pump out - after a lot of faffing and 8 months after a new bathroom was fitted - it works !!!!!!!!!!! it took our architect nephew to resolve it after visits from an electrician and various plumbers ! It provides a good pressure now |
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New Mon 16 Oct 23 21:13
Boilers - Kevin
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Had a new boiler fitted last week. Installed as part of work to combine and refit kitchen and laundry so it replaced the old Potterton which was in the laundry. New boiler is in the garage and is a conventional heat-only (non-combi) unit. Also had the hot water cylinder, pump, valve and controls replaced. Initial idea was to have a pressurised HWC but the existing layout meant it would involve substantially more work and expense. It was really just a nice-to-have so we'll wait until the showers need doing and look at pumps. Total cost by a local fitter was £4300. The Boxt online quote was £3500 to replace just the boiler in the same location with no other work so would probably have come in above £5k with additional pipework and cylinder etc. House is a 3BR detached with 11 rads and the new boiler is a Vaillant 18kW with 10y guarantee. Fitters told me that they've recently had problems with Worcester Bosch since they started using some plastic components in their boilers. The equivalent Vaillant units still use stainless parts. |
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New Mon 16 Oct 23 22:39
Boilers - bathtub tom
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Had the system totally renewed in this bungalow I got last year. It had a tank in the loft that must have provide poor flow to the two showers. Got a 40KW combi boiler that's proved adequate so far. Alternative would've been a pressurised hot water cylinder at far greater cost. Colleague had a pressurised hot water cylinder that failed after around ten years, it flooded the house, resulting in them moving to a hotel. Insurance company said that's about the expected life of the things and adjusted the claim to suit! |
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New Tue 17 Oct 23 09:46
Boilers - Falkirk Bairn
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5 years ago I replaced a boiler like for like. The reason was alternatives required needed floors up, copper pipes & radiators changed ................. money was not an issue BUT inconvenience & mess was. New boiler in/out, new pump etc 2.5 hours to get it connected. It took some 2.5/3 hours trying to get rid the airlocks etc. Boiler & pump £2400+ £400 labour and disposal. |
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New Tue 17 Oct 23 10:17
Boilers - smokie
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My plumber was happy to take away the old boiler at no cost cos he reclaimed the copper from it (along with offcuts from pipes etc). He left it outside the front door while he readied the new one and it disappeared within about 30 minutes!! (I remember where my daughter used to live in Brum there were totters round all day long, every day, looking for building and other waste. Mostly quite useful as it often saved a trip to the tip but they should at least ask first!!) |
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New Tue 17 Oct 23 22:30
Boilers - Ted
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Yesterday on our local group, a local cat lover found a nice ginger pusscat outside his house in the road. It was quite dead so he posted a pic of it in a box to see if anyone owned it. He planned to take it to the vets for a chip check this morning so put a lid on the box and left it outside his front porch. You've guessed it, it was gone when he got up. Some toerag expecting a nice pair of trainers ? Still, he could always skin the cat and make a pair of slippers as consolation ! Ted |
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New Tue 17 Oct 23 23:18
Boilers - smokie
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| Reminds me of finding a dead cat in the road when finishing my paper round as a 15yo (or thereabouts). Took it in to school and gave it to the biology teacher, who was chuffed to bits with it. It didn't really cross my mind at the time that it was probably someones pet. |
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New Wed 18 Oct 23 10:40
Boilers - VxFan
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>> He planned to take it to the vets for a chip check this morning so >> put a lid on the box and left it outside his front porch. >> >> You've guessed it, it was gone when he got up. Some toerag expecting a nice >> pair of trainers ? Was it a cat burglar? |
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New Wed 18 Oct 23 10:53
Boilers - tyrednemotional
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| ...it probably bounced across the road... |
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New Wed 18 Oct 23 23:54
Boilers - Fursty Ferret
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>> A heat pump isn't practical as our house is too draughty at the moment Fix the draught first would be my advice. Relatively cheap and easy to do. Heat pumps attract an increased £7,500 subsidy at the moment (although cynically one would observe that the installation cost appears to increase by roughly the same amount) and would be my first port of call. I’m down to ordering oil in 500l chunks because the moment my oil boiler shows signs of popping its clogs it’s going in the bin. My house is already EPC B though. |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 08:07
Boilers - sooty123
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Talking of boilers news.sky.com/story/all-hands-to-the-heat-pumps-government-agency-urgently-prioritises-electrifying-uk-homes-12986642 |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 09:03
Boilers - Falkirk Bairn
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Where is all the electricity coming from? Assuming the UK is producing Wind power is Scotland / North Sea and getting it to somebodyin their street in Worcester? When the wind does not blow, or blows at 2am on a Sunday, when demand is minimal what have we got planned and ready to deliver for 2035? |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 10:11
Boilers - smokie
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There's any number of infrastructure projects in progress, from large battery storage through to vastly increasing the interconnectors which run up and down the country (and under the sea). There are now many people who (unlike some here) were not afraid of smart meters who have embraced battery technology at home and are happily using time-of-use tariffs which move the load on the from busy periods to quieter ones. Next? :-) |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 11:13
Boilers - Falkirk Bairn
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A few years back Australia spent $500M on battery storage - it gave them some 10 minute window to switch other sources of power (Gas/Coal stations). The only storage of any value TODAY is pumped storage. Off-peak pump water up a hill and release it when needed. Problem for us is that the high mountains needed do not exist in the UK (small scale in Scotland but limited supply for short periods). Norway has made a success of buying Danish wind power on the cheap when there is over supply and pumps water uphill. In periods of High demand they sell the power back to Denmark (& the UK) At this exact moment in time we have good supplies of wind power, nuclear, gas supply, hydro, coal (ticking over) - we are importing French power. Our problem is that demand today is 35GW (mild & wet Autumn), we need 55GW in a cold winter day when there could be little or no wind. Press ahead with Air Heat Pumps etc demand figure will rocket should gas be phased out for home heating and increased demand for car charging. We do not have really any plans other than more wind power - 11,000 windmills today , 20,000 wind mills in 2030 - no wind the supply is always ZERO |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 11:40
Boilers - sooty123
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I don't think the peak is 55gw in winter now. But I don't know how much demand there'll be with more evs and air pumps. A lot of the targets are aspirational i don't think any of the targets will be met. There's only so much capacity in the infrastructure industry, it'll take many years to sort the grid for power to be where we need it. UK homes are miles away from being ready. Its moving at a snails pace mainly due to cost and capacity. Few plumbers/electricians fit them. I think the costs put alot off, its only 10-15 grand if you got that sort of money laying about but many haven't got that sort of money. I think 1 in 3 households have 3 months or less in savings. Only way i can see those families getting newer technology in their home is if the government increased the grant to 100% or some sort of sort loan where they could pay it back over a long time. Just look how long smart meters have taken, years and years behind for something that is free at point of fitting and a simple swap. These other plans are far more complex and expensive. Last edited by: sooty123 on Thu 19 Oct 23 at 11:41
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New Fri 20 Oct 23 16:51
Boilers - Manatee
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Road vehicles are another thing, but insulating homes and using heat pumps to heat them saves a lot of energy. Our draughty old 120sqm bungalow used 7000kWh of electricity plus 27000kWh of gas per year. My wife liked using the conservatory in winter which she heated with direct electric. The rest of the house was heated by the built in Potterton boiler in the gas Rayburn. The 210 sqm house that replaced the bungalow used 8900kWh of electric in the 12 months ended 30/9/23, and no gas, that is 25000 kWh less. |
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New Fri 20 Oct 23 18:15
Boilers - Dog
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Our heat pump is being serviced at the end of this month - £294 :( Not been here a year yet, but I reckon this timber framed new build all electric 3-bed house shouldn't produce any shocks in the wallet department. |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 14:55
Boilers - Zero
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>> There's any number of infrastructure projects in progress, from large battery storage through to vastly >> increasing the interconnectors which run up and down the country (and under the sea). Err No, there isnt. There should be, but most of them are stymied in the planning and appeals process by the eco warriers - the same ones who want us to stop using oil and gas Last edited by: Zero on Thu 19 Oct 23 at 14:58
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 16:30
Boilers - Kevin
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I haven't checked the figures quoted in this opinion piece but: www.thesun.co.uk/news/24448563/hs2-cost-billions-know-trains-net-zero-cost-trillion/ |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 18:30
Boilers - Terry
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As usual with The Sun there is the odd truth nugget, but much of it is garbage designed to inflame opinion rather than rational commentary on the issues. A few thoughts: - peak demand is 61GW - demand will increase 2-3 fold over the next 20-30 years - EVs + domestic/commercial heating - EVs will become a configurable storage device feeding back power into the home/grid - sand batteries can store large amounts of energy and cheap (in development) - hydrogen is not a home heating solution - inefficient, costly, technical issues There is no place for complacency - delivering the green energy generation and associated infrastructure needs planning and resources. On a timescale of 2-3 decades it is all achievable given commitment. The alternative is to assume it is all too difficult and carry on burning oil and gas. This will ultimately fail as global supplies diminish, and leaves the UK vulnerable to global market prices, conflicts etc etc. |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 19:39
Boilers - Kevin
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Oh No! Are you telling me that you need to read between the lines with opinion pieces in The Sun? Please tell me it aint true! I believe the point he was trying to make was that the people who were appointed to advise the Govt on Net Zero have estimated that the taxpayer will get no change out of £1Tn even with their wishful thinking. We already had the technology to build HS2 and it's a steaming pile of... What do you think the real cost of Net Zero will be? |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 19:48
Boilers - tyrednemotional
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>> What do you think the real cost of Net Zero will be? >> ...net, Zero...? |
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New Thu 19 Oct 23 21:47
Boilers - Kevin
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| Oh I hope not. I have a fair bit of cash in units invested in 'Green' technology companies. They made me 8% last year, I want them rolling in it. |
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New Sun 24 Dec 23 14:13
Boilers - zippy
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I had mentioned upthread that our boiler needed changing. I was hoping to eek it out to the new year - but it had different ideas and failed catastrophically week before last with water flooding out from it. British Gas wanted £6,500 to replace like for like - as near as possible re building regs - so moving from the floor to wall etc. or £7,800 to replace it with a combi and again move it. Local firm wanted £3600 for a straight swap - same as the first BG quote - but couldn't do it until after xmas. A couple of independent plumbers were a few hundred cheaper but availability was difficult. We decided to go for an online company - they had availability - and read the reviews. We went for iHeat who had decent reviews - there were a few bad reviews too, but that was the same for the others and even the local firms had the odd bad review up. We specified a similar set up to the second BG quote and it came to £3500 with us choosing a more powerful boiler. They used a local plumber / gas safe engineer anyway. Turned up when promised. Took 2 days to do the job. Left us with water over night. You get to know how good a company is when things go wrong. They delivered the boiler to the gas safe installer. He brought it to site and opened it up to find the wall bracket missing. The fitter was worried because he called around and it's not the sort of part that is stocked locally - the company couriered a replacement part same day - so it arrived without delaying the job. Then some upgrades we ordered weren't required and they cost £150. The plumber took them away with him and we were refunded without asking or chasing! (I had ordered some TRV's but over ordered as I forgot some radiators already had some fitted.) When checking the plumbing before the install the plumber found a leak to the pipework to the sink in our en-suite. I knew there was a slow leak as the vanity unit was damaged by water, but I couldn't find it. The plumber fixed it and added two isolation valves so we could change the vanity unit over at our leisure. Switching to a combi - boiler was controversial - because using two showers at a time can impact performance but the difference it has made to water pressure around the whole house is amazing and whilst there are only two of us here at most times, there have been five for a few days this week and no real problems have been encountered. (First world problem - the water pressure is now so high to the showers that the plastic roses within the shower heads - both Mira - were actually blown out.) I would recommend iHeat - good pricing - did everything that was quoted by BG including removing both cold water tanks from the loft and were less than half the BG price - for a better boiler - and an install about 10 days sooner than BG could manage. Old flue removed. Brickwork replaced - with bricks - re-rendered - though not painted. Last edited by: zippy on Sun 24 Dec 23 at 14:15
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New Sun 24 Dec 23 15:00
Boilers - smokie
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| Did you consider a heat pump? I think I would have, if I had to do an emergency change now. |
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New Sun 24 Dec 23 15:06
Boilers - zippy
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>> Did you consider a heat pump? I think I would have, if I had to >> do an emergency change now. >> Yes, love new tech and only one standing charge etc. But the house isn’t currently compatible - it needs money spent on stopping draughts and more insulation first, new double / triple glazing etc first. |
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New Sun 24 Dec 23 15:01
Boilers - Robin O'Reliant
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Glad you got it sorted Zippy. Twelve months ago mine sprung a leak on the 22nd (The third one in four years) and our plumber managed to get round next morning and sorted it - I wasn't in when he called and the missus had to hobble to the door to let him in despite a very painful hip which knackered her all over the festive season. I couldn't be there because I was down the vets having the dog put down, all in all a lovely Christmas!. We had the boiler replaced this August with a like for like combi, £3400. Much quieter and more economical that the old one with a seven year warranty. |
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New Sun 24 Dec 23 15:11
Boilers - smokie
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My Octopus online quote (to be confirmed in a visit) is £2715 for a heat pump for me, including any consequent changes. Though it does sound like, at the moment, it would cost twice as much as electricity to run. Still, the saving helps towards that. The website says: Includes £7500 off from the Boiler Upgrade Scheme Air source heat pump expertly configured for your home Heat pump compatible water cylinder Any necessary new radiators Any necessary plumbing and electrical work Labour and workmanship And of course it's free of VAT!!! |
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New Sat 9 Mar 24 11:27
Boilers - zippy
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Would you e***** believe it. Ideal boilers catch fire.... www.youtube.com/shorts/wKzry6UQak Apparently 1 in 10,000 is affected and guess what - our serial number matches. Can't win sod all on the lottery, but this, I'm right there in front - Victor Meldrew is nowhere near as unlucky as me! Feel like calling the company up and asking them to remove it and replace it with a new one - of course that won't happen. Brompt. could do with your legal input please! |
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New Sat 9 Mar 24 12:42
Boilers - Bromptonaut
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As you know, IANAL but rather have an advice background. My gut feeling is that, provided Ideal are dispatching and fitting upgrades at proper speed you're in 'stuff happens' territory. www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/ is a starter for ten... It sounds as though the issue is the absence of a safety cut out should the boiler run dry. Mine did that once - header tank problem - and before it cut out it banged away fit to wake the dead. Maybe different with a combi though. |
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New Sat 9 Mar 24 13:17
Boilers - Kevin
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Which reminds me. We recently had a new boiler fitted and relocated into the garage. I need to move the monoxide sensor. Is there a smoke sensor near your new boiler Zippy? |
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New Sat 9 Mar 24 13:34
Boilers - zippy
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Thanks Bromp! Worry is the fix stops fires but not the problem, if you see what I mean, by shutting the boiler down when it should otherwise work. Kevin, yes smoke, heat and carbon monoxide. |
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New Sun 10 Mar 24 19:34
Boilers - bathtub tom
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>> Ideal boilers catch fire.... www.youtube.com/shorts/wKzry6UQak I get "This page isn't available". I've also got an Ideal boiler! |
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New Sun 10 Mar 24 19:41
Boilers - tyrednemotional
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Check at: www.idealsupport.co.uk/ |
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New Sun 10 Mar 24 21:57
Boilers - Ted
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I'm the same as Tubby Tom. The page comes up now but is equally useless ! What's this fashion for using dark grey font on black background ? Don't they actually want people to read what they're telling us ? Grrrr. Te3d |
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New Sun 10 Mar 24 23:27
Boilers - zippy
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Try this link for the video youtube.com/shorts/wKzry6UQakg Last edited by: zippy on Sun 10 Mar 24 at 23:27
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New Mon 11 Mar 24 09:10
Boilers - bathtub tom
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Found the detail on gov.uk site: www.gov.uk/product-safety-alerts-reports-recalls/product-recall-ideal-heating-logic-2-combi-and-system-boiler-range-2401-0138 Also Ideal site: idealheating.com/blog/important-customer-safety-notice Got a crick in my neck trying to read the 14 digit number! |
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