Do I need to Replace My Boiler ?

I moved into my house late last year (3 bed detached with 1 bathroom) and is has a Worcester 28CDi Combi, installed in July 98. I am not happy with the performance of the boiler and am considering changing it for a new model but am not sure if this is necessary. Specific problems are:
When the bathroom hot tap is turned on in the morning it takes approximately 4 minutes for the water to become hot, although the boiler does light instantly. Is this normal ?
I have had a gas bill of £650 for the last 6 months, about the same that I received for the year in my previous (similar) house.
The boiler seems to run constantly when the CH is on. The rads have thermostatic valves but there is no room stat.

Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

fit a room stat, cheaper than new boiler

I would fit a programmable optomising room stat. A R/F one will be the simplest to fit.

You should have life left in the old girl yet at only around 9 years old!

4 mins sounds a long time to wait for hot water. I would suggest getting a local engineer out to service it and check it over. Make sure they like and are happy with fixing Worcesters. A lot of engineers like myself, do not work on them enough to know them properly

Thanks for the advise Dave, I have decided to install a room stat rather than replace the boiler. A Worcester Bosch Engineering did service the boiler late last year when it had an ignition problem, but I was at work at the time and my wife did not mention the time it took to get hot water to the taps. Are there any possible reasons why it is taking so long to get hot water at the taps ?

depends on how long the pipe is from the boiler to your bathroom

if its really long then there is nowt wrong with the boiler and you could do with lagging your hot water pipes

Hard to say really, but needs the basics checked like working pressure at gas meter and burner pressure first