Boiler quote due deligence

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Hello All,

I have got few quotes for replacing our existing Keston C25 (25 kW). We are changing boiler location due to twin flue which goes from our kitchen into living room and out into garden.
The quotes range from £1850 (worcester 24Ri, 5 yr warranty) , £2000 (worcester 18Ri, 5 yr), £2840 (worcester, 18Ri, 7 yr) and then british gas (£3300, Worcester, 24Ri), EnergyCare (Valiant system - £3400 - confused why system), we have a unvented megaflow hot water storage tank with red presurre vessel.

Our house is fairly new build 2004 and radiators are not that big, so couple of questions I have are

1. is 24Ri too much over spec for the boiler will it continue to cut off and be less efficient, what should it be 15Ri or 18Ri ?

2. for cheapest quote installer is saying that we buy the material directly and he will install as per manufacturer's instructions, register boiler and do the required paper work.

My question is shall i agree for that, or am i likely to face issues when there are issues in future?

what are your thoughts
 
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If you already have a 25kw boiler, surely a 24kw boiler won’t be over spec? 15kw may be too low. Did any of them do a heat loss calculation to determine boiler size? I had BG round last week, I have a 18Kw boiler, they calculated my heat loss as 14.3kw so in my case they said a 15Kw will be suitable. An 18Kw would be a waste.
 
. for cheapest quote installer is saying that we buy the material directly

That surprises me. Wouldnt a heating engineer get trade discount? It doesnt seem the sort of product where you would get the customer to buy.
 
Engineer is trying to avoid VAT registration and also is able to slide warranty responsibility if the client supplies. No reason why a trade discount is passed onto the client so that is meaningless.

A system boiler is what the OP has already hence what he is being quoted for now.
 
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Due diligence would be to avoid Worcester, especially the Ri which is particularly nasty...

Beyond that, choose the installer who has done a proper heat loss calculation on your house to find out what size boiler you actually need, rather than just sizing it based on what you currently have. Also consider choosing someone who has mentioned upgrading your controls to more energy efficient ones, and of course is including a powerflush in their price.
 
Engineer is trying to avoid VAT registration and also is able to slide warranty responsibility if the client supplies. No reason why a trade discount is passed onto the client so that is meaningless

Oh I see, the VAT registration makes sense.

I wondered because I wouldve thought a heating engineer would get a decent trade discount, so he could make a decent margin, which he needs to in order to cover the cost of any warranty time etc.
 
Oh I see, the VAT registration makes sense.

I wondered because I wouldve thought a heating engineer would get a decent trade discount, so he could make a decent margin, which he needs to in order to cover the cost of any warranty time etc.
wouldn't the warranty be covered by the manufacturer and not the installer anyway?
 
Oh I see, the VAT registration makes sense.

I wondered because I wouldve thought a heating engineer would get a decent trade discount, so he could make a decent margin, which he needs to in order to cover the cost of any warranty time etc.

Not any more - the Internet has killed the good old days of making a margin on materials
 
wouldn't the warranty be covered by the manufacturer and not the installer anyway?
The boiler warranty is, but the workmanship warranty is very much up to the installer. It's also usual for an installer to attend a reported breakdown before calling the manufacturer
 
wouldn't the warranty be covered by the manufacturer and not the installer anyway?

Yes but I bet with the complexity of modern boilers a heating engineer must have to provide a level of after sales care, even if its phone call advice, unexpected niggles etc. The boiler and parts have to ordered, collected, faulty parts exchanged etc etc.
 
thanks all for your inputs,

It looks like they are not vat registered, so asking me to buy material directly. Interesting point is "passing of warranty", the installer will provide 1 year workmanship warranty and then 5 yr parts & labour from worcester directly. The installer will give me a trade supplier to buy it from - possible commission from them to installer but don't know.

on avoiding Worcester Ri what issues have been there on the boiler and can you give an alternate recommendation please.

none of them had done the heat lost calculation and powerflush is not included in price it's only chemical flush, magnaclean is included in quotes.

so what questions should i go back to them with, sorry do not have much idea so excuse for silly questions.
 
Until I had advice on here, I wouldn’t have been any the wiser about getting a heat loss calculation before changing a boiler.

Many of us can do a pretty good heat loss "appraisal" just by walking around. Just because one wasn't immediately obvious doesn't mean it wasn't done on some level.
 

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