Repair or replace 9 year old system boiler?

matt1793 · 21 Jun 2007

Hi great forum, I‘d really appreciate some advice.

I recently moved into a medium size 100 year old house with a 9 year old Glow Worm Ultimate 80ff system boiler heating a hot water cylinder and 14 medium to largish radiators. Last month I had an extra radiator put into the loft conversion, which at first wasn’t getting hot, so I had a pressurised expansion tank installed and now all my radiators get really hot. I also had the hot water cylinder increased to 120 litres so it can supply 2 showers powered by a new 3 bar pump. All was going great.

However for the last 2 weeks the Over Heat Cut Out switch on the boiler trips at least one a day, resulting in cold showers if I forget to constantly check it.

2 months ago I spent £100 getting the boiler fixed as it wasn’t firing all the time, (spark just needed cleaning), so is it worth me spending another £100 + parts, on fixing this boiler again, or should I bite the bullet and get a new SEBUK A Condensing boiler, which should also reduce my £100/month gas bill?

Thanks

2face · 21 Jun 2007

i would fix it ... cracking boiler .. it sounds like you have ur system sorted .. the boiler u have is a good boiler and with the right externall controls also not an inefficient one.
try a different installer this time the electode fix at 100 is a little pricy in my eyes ..
there are very little to go wrong with the ultimate compared to the other s on the market ..

stick with it ..

chrishutt · 21 Jun 2007

matt1793 said:
..should I bite the bullet and get a new SEBUK A Condensing boiler, which should also reduce my £100/month gas bill?

£100 a month! Where did you get that figure from?

ChrisR · 21 Jun 2007

From his gas bill, presumably!

One of me customers had a £1600 winter quarter bill which she thought was rather a lot.
Turned down the timer, and expected a lower one for the quarter recently finished, it being warmer an all. £1200!

chrishutt · 21 Jun 2007

With those sorts of figures you might expect to save £100 a month in the coldest months, but I wonder if the OP has been fed some unrealistic expectation of the potential savings.

Garfeild · 21 Jun 2007

He is saying his gas bill is £100 a month,not that he is expecting to save £100 a month.

JohnD · 21 Jun 2007

Hundred year old house and 14 radiators. Bound to use a fair bit. Probably no scope for wall insulation but I bet it has a big roof.

Money spent on insulation, draughtproofing, TRVs and timer (and preventing your family from turning up the heat and throwing open the windows) will give a better ££ return than a new boiler.

Garfeild · 21 Jun 2007

JohnD said:
(and preventing your family from turning up the heat and throwing open the windows) will give a better ££ return than a new boiler.

Now how that feels,often come home to find wife and kids have been out all day,and left every single effing light on.

Ive told her that when she goes back to work,the gas and leccy bill are down to her

matt1793 · 21 Jun 2007

Thanks for all the responses.

www.sedbuk.com say that going from a Band D to a Band A boiler should shave 10% off my gas bill per year. I also just moved supplier from nPower to utlita that should save me 15%.

My monthly gas bill is about £100. The house walls and roof are reasonably insulated and the family don’t leave windows/doors open for too long. I’ve also installed TRV’s on all the radiators, apart from the one near the thermostat.

The boiler does seem to be quite hot when the Over Heat Cut Out switch trips, what do you think is causing this and is it likely to be expensive to fix?

Apart from having a slighter larger than average 4 bed house, the only other thing I can think of that is pushing up my gas bills is that the hot water cylinder timer is not independent to the central heating timer, so basically the hot water heating is on all day, firing the boiler whenever the cylinder thermostat drops below 60C. The cylinder and its thermostat are both new. Would it save me money if the hot water only got heated for 3 hours in the morning & evening? What else could I do to reduce my gas bill?

Thanks

gas4you · 21 Jun 2007

Garfeild said:
Now how that feels,often come home to find wife and kids have been out all day,and left every single effing light on.
Ive told her that when she goes back to work,the gas and leccy bill are down to her

Couldn't agree more, mine goes out and leaves all lights on so the house looks nicer (but no one at home to see them

) ch on and tv on so the cats dont get cold or feel lonely if it is too quiet

JohnD · 21 Jun 2007

Have a look in your loft (take some pics if you can) measure the insulation,and see how many gaps and joins it has. That, and draughtproofing,will make the biggest difference.

How thick is the insulation on your cylinder, and are all the hot pipes insulated?

How draught free are your doors and windows? If you buy a joss-stick and carry it round the house you will see how much the smoke is blown about.

If a new boiler saves you £100 a year and costs you £1200, that's 12 years payback

But if you invested the £1200 at (currently) 6%,in a tax free ISA, it would bring in £72 a year. So the net payback is only £28 a year, so it really takes 42 years

before you're in profit. Don't buy a new boiler until you need to.

(double glazing is far, far, far worse at saving money)

the__apprentice · 21 Jun 2007

pay the hundred pound get it fixed then get it covered by british gas, £20 pound a month will cover all your rads, controls and boiler

gas4you · 21 Jun 2007

Could be something simple like the main boiler stat gone so is cutting out on overheat. If it's getting that hot then yes it is wasting loads of gas. Yes a full programmer set up with independent times for ch and hw will help.

chrishutt · 21 Jun 2007

Garfeild said:
He is saying his gas bill is £100 a month,not that he is expecting to save £100 a month.

Sorry, I misread the OP and thought he was saying it should reduce his gas bill by £100 a month. Always worth having a second read through before sticking your foot in your mouth.

Garfeild · 22 Jun 2007

Yes a bit like the ACS (just redone mine)got to read it carefully, "which one of these four possible answers ISNT applicable"

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Repair or replace 9 year old system boiler?

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