another boiler quote question

[hughes20]

Totally confused now as I've had three quotes for a new boiler installation - BG recommended their own (4000£); another national firm quoted 3500 for a combi boiler (vaillant 831 Eco-tec+) and over 5000 for a non-combi and local firm quoted 2500 for a non-combi (Vaillant Eco-tech 624).
Current boiler is a non-combi Ideal over 20 years old. As I understand it the work involves fitting cylinder thermostat and room thermostat, power flush for 9 rads, repairing the brick work outside for the flue, plumbing the condensate drain, and descaler.
The latter two installers have basically both told me the other one doesn't know what he's talking about and what's being recommended is wrong and won't work for a four bedroom, 2 bath house. I don't particularly want a combi and don't see what wrong with current cylinder set up AND don't understand why there would be such a huge difference in price.
Can anyone offer any objective way of sorting this out - what's a reasonable price in Yorkshire?

[Osem]

Originally Posted by hughes20

Totally confused now as I've had three quotes for a new boiler installation - BG recommended their own (4000£); another national firm quoted 3500 for a combi boiler (vaillant 831 Eco-tec+) and over 5000 for a non-combi and local firm quoted 2500 for a non-combi (Vaillant Eco-tech 624).
Current boiler is a non-combi Ideal over 20 years old. As I understand it the work involves fitting cylinder thermostat and room thermostat, power flush for 9 rads, repairing the brick work outside for the flue, plumbing the condensate drain, and descaler.
The latter two installers have basically both told me the other one doesn't know what he's talking about and what's being recommended is wrong and won't work for a four bedroom, 2 bath house. I don't particularly want a combi and don't see what wrong with current cylinder set up AND don't understand why there would be such a huge difference in price.
Can anyone offer any objective way of sorting this out - what's a reasonable price in Yorkshire?

Sounds expensive to me. We used to have a Potterton combi boiler to provide household heating (9 rads) and hot water upstairs in our chalet bungalow plus a separate gravity fed copper cylinder/immersion heater set up (economy 7) to provide the downstairs hot water.

We've had this all replaced with a new boiler (Worcester Bosch 24i) and pressurised hot water system installed in our 5 bed house. All of what you describe was included plus the installation of a new stainless steel cylinder (Santon - 25 year guarantee), 4 new radiator TSV's, digital control panel, removal of cold water tank in loft and old copper cylinder (and associated pipework) and the running of new copper pipework to provide a new mains pressure shower in our main bathroom and convert all hot/cold water services in the house to mains water. The job took 2 guys a week and the cost was £2900 inc VAT.

Don't go for a combi - we kept our separate immersion heater/cylinder when we had the combi installed because of the problem you get when more than one source of hot water is being accessed at the same time - the boiler just can't cope and you wind up with just a trickle.

[Itshim]

First of all keep clear of Vaillant( poor build cheap parts).

Secondly I would go for a combi - there is a model for for what ever your needs are. They are cheaper to run. Once you get used* to them you will never run out of hot water. and you free up space. no header tank no hot water tank = more space.
I have had a Worcester for 8 years - great boiler. was put in & runs Rads that were in the house already. Sorry but to me its a no brainer. Combi every time

* Will find you need to run for a few minutes to get hot water- but then it keeps on coming !

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Itshim

* Will find you need to run for a few minutes to get hot water- but then it keeps on coming !

Unless someone else runs a hot or mains cold tap elsewhere in the house in which case the flow will reduce to a trickle to both taps and the temperature of the water may drop.

Even though our combi only served our loft bathroom with hot water we had regular problems with the hot supply to the bath/shower being compromised by people running taps downstairs. It was a pain in the bum. Compared to our old combi boiler system our new one is far better. Combi boilers are not ideal for large households where they simply cannot always cope with the demand for hot water. The problem is worse in winter when the temperature of the incoming mains is far lower and a combi will always struggle to produce both a good temperature and high flow rate.

This is what we now have:

http://www.onlineheating.co.uk/santo...-cylinder.html

[lucy7]

I have just had a Worcester Greenstar 24i/28i junior put in.
A small radiator and a large radiator put in as well, brand new ones in new positions, piping etc.
One man, a day and a half.
Removal of all old waste.

£2750.

Vey happy, good clean job, minimal mess, and its a silent bolier(my old one was SO loud)

[Osem]

Originally Posted by lucy7

I have just had a Worcester Greenstar 24i/28i junior put in.
A small radiator and a large radiator put in as well, brand new ones in new positions, piping etc.
One man, a day and a half.
Removal of all old waste.

£2750.

Vey happy, good clean job, minimal mess, and its a silent bolier(my old one was SO loud)

Glad your happy with it (that's the main thing of course ) but that job makes ours look very, very cheap indeed.

[haydnwalker]

Ours is a Worcester Combi and it was like £2500 fitted. Only took 1 man 5hours to swap out the old non-combi and replace it.

Worcester have a good reputation and offer 5year parts & labour warranties (which is always good).

There is some issues with flow rate of hot water but its not as bad as a trickle. Mainly if someones in the shower and another person puts the cold-fill washer on (as cold water pressure is usually higher).

There's only 3 of us in the house so its fine. If for a larger family though I would consider one with a hot water tank though they do cost more to run due to the fact it has to keep the water hot.

As has previously been stated, steer well clear of valliant.

[joglynne]

The quotes seem a bit on the high side but I suppose different areas of the country may be dearer than others.

We chose the same boiler as Lucy had installed, (Worcester Greenstar 24i/28i junior,) 2 years ago to replace an old non - combi boiler and immersion heater when we redesigned our bathroom..

We had the old water tanks and hot water cylinder removed together with the airing cupboard that housed them, a new large chrome radiator in the bathroom and 4 new/replacement radiator thermostats all supplied and fitted for £2700. (This also included the labour costs for fitting new chrome fittings in the shower, fitting a new basin/taps and relocating our bath)

The 2 guys took a day to do most of the work just returning the next morning a put a final skim coat of plaster on the area where the cupboard had been and cart away all the rubbish.

[Hugh]

We had a Worcester Greenstar 24RI Condensor boiler fitted about two/three years ago (kept the hot water cylinder), to cope with 14 radiators in a 4 bed detached house, with 8 radiator thermostats (the other 6 already had them), installation, any new pipework, and flushing out of the system.

Took two men two days, and cost us about £2400.

[j52c]

I have to replace my combi boiler, my current one is on it's last legs.

I had a guy come to the house last Friday, he looked to see what the job would consist of, he said there were 2 things that I had to have, 1 was a programmable room thermostat, which I have and the other thing was that I had to have a thermostatic valve on bedroom radiator, my house ha 3 bedrooms, 1 already has a thermostat fitted to the radiator, so he said I had to have them fitted to the other 2 rooms.

Now I have not heard of this before so not sure if he is trying to add a bit extra onto the quote, he also they have to register each boiler as it is installed, never heard of that before.

The thing is, My current boiler is a Glow Worm Compact E which is 14 years old now, and what Glow Worm, or Vaillent as it is now, do what they call a Timex Team Quote, this is for customers who already own one of their boilers, they supply the boiler and they choose one of their registered installers to do the work, the package comes with a 5 year warranty.

The guy that came to do the survey said he had to send of the price he wanted for the work and then Glow worm would send me the final quote, the guy said it would be around £2,000 t0 £2.200, does anyone think is is a fair price for the work.

[martyh]

Originally Posted by hughes20

Totally confused now as I've had three quotes for a new boiler installation - BG recommended their own (4000£); another national firm quoted 3500 for a combi boiler (vaillant 831 Eco-tec+) and over 5000 for a non-combi and local firm quoted 2500 for a non-combi (Vaillant Eco-tech 624).
Current boiler is a non-combi Ideal over 20 years old. As I understand it the work involves fitting cylinder thermostat and room thermostat, power flush for 9 rads, repairing the brick work outside for the flue, plumbing the condensate drain, and descaler.
The latter two installers have basically both told me the other one doesn't know what he's talking about and what's being recommended is wrong and won't work for a four bedroom, 2 bath house. I don't particularly want a combi and don't see what wrong with current cylinder set up AND don't understand why there would be such a huge difference in price.
Can anyone offer any objective way of sorting this out - what's a reasonable price in Yorkshire?

Although i'm not a plummer i do have a lot of experience in house renovations and boilers/rads ect always come into it .For a decent system you are being quoted for 4-5000 seems about right as long as you are getting a good boiler and of course a good plumber .With 9 rads +hot water i would always choose the cylinder heated by the boiler and agree with Itshim about valiant ,i've heard plumbers on sites complaining about having to use them

[Rob]

Building Regulations for energy efficiency measures now apply to replacement heating systems. The Registration process is one of self certification by the installer who's trade body takes care of the notifications with the local authority system. To achieve the potential energy efficiency savings of a modern boiler, almost universally a condensing type these days, radiators need thermostatic valves and there will be a need for a proper programmer, thermostat on any hot water cylinders, and such like.

[NoKnowledge]

@martyh: were you meant to quote post#1 as that is from September last year?

[martyh]

Originally Posted by NoKnowledge

@martyh: were you meant to quote post#1 as that is from September last year?

qiute right quoted the wrong post thanks