Average life expectancy of Baxi combi boilers? Any advice appreciated!

[Dan Robinson]

It's not the copper necessarily that you need to worry about but the jointing method and system treatment.


Regard:

This fitting fell apart when moved, revealing a rather clogged feed to the heating system. Hot water was not the most generous in this place it turned out.

Joint had held for nearly 30 years though. However, it would only have taken a knock by an unwitting heating engineer, or the cleaning lady with her mops and a rather sludgy mess would have ensued.

 

[dilalio]

How many times have you heard of someone going to a garage and being told they need a part when they don't so this is kind of like the same thing if you get my point except thousands of other readers in a similar quandary can benefit and save money by not replacing things unnecessarily

I wouldn't compare CH and DHW to vehicular maintenance... For most, being without the latter is an inconvenience... The former a necessity, and guess what time of year they fail!

As for your boiler... Keep what you have until it fails, it's not a massive job to swap out a combi but just hope it doesn't give up the ghost during heating season!
The pipework and rads are a different matter as changing them after refurb and decs is expensive and a ballache.

 

[dilalio]

It's not the copper necessarily that you need to worry about but the jointing method and system treatment.


Regard:

View attachment 143188

This fitting fell apart when moved, revealing a rather clogged feed to the heating system. Hot water was not the most generous in this place it turned out.

Joint had held for nearly 30 years though. However, it would only have taken a knock by an unwitting heating engineer, or the cleaning lady with her mops and a rather sludgy mess would have ensued.

The joints are more likely to fail rather than the pipe. Those look like Yorkshire fittings rather than end feed, which raises the question of whether its original install by a tradesman or some old DIY wotk!

Edit: my quote above snipped from OP's other thread about shelf life of copper pipes... Drawing threads of all references applicable to this topic at this location, using the forum tools was beyond me at this time of the evening with my new p20 Pro

 

[george75]

Copper seems to be reliable and long lasting

 

[george75]

Is the system all DIY installed?

 

[Dan Robinson]

Those look like Yorkshire fittings rather than end feed, which raises the question of whether its original install by a tradesman or some old DIY wotk!

The system was nuts - boiler on the floor, the cylinder on some mad plinth with multiple pumps, no relays and an electrical set up that gave me an attack of the vapours - fitted with a lovely Gash now. I suspect it was done in the early 80's by dodgy Irish builders that were all over West London at the time doing flat conversions.


BTW - got a camera drone today for the waste pipe - but crashed it . Think it needs a new motor

 

[Dan Robinson]

Do you reckon that the entire pipework installation is probably DIY?

He's referring to my picture I think.

I didn't really find out the difference between Yorkshire and Endfeed

Yorkshire has the solder in the fitting already - hence the ugly ring around the outside that holds the solder. End Feed means you have to feed the solder in and takes more skill.

 

[george75]

It must have been almost unserviceable for years.

 

[george75]

He's referring to my picture I think. Yorkshire has the solder in the fitting already - hence the ugly ring around the outside that holds the solder. End Feed means you have to feed the solder in and takes more skill.

That makes sense

 

[dilalio]

BTW - got a camera drone today for the waste pipe - but crashed it . Think it needs a new motor

New pilot more like

 

[george75]

I'm deciding if I should take out the pipework

 

[dilalio]

Here's pictures of my copper pipe system

https://framapic.org/gallery#uQBJhD...zjlbkf1mDKa.jpg,OjkMyvkFUpvl/YInr0SlFeU4J.jpg

Mate... Ive see those photos twice now already!

 

[Dan Robinson]

Do you come across that type of thing very often? It must have been virtually serviceable for decades? I'm no expert at all as you can tell from my questions but even I can see that something like that doesn't happen quickly it builds up over many years

The customer never complained and the system operated to her satisfaction for many years before a pump finally dies and we could get the fecker out. She then decided to reclaim the cupboard it was in for the kitchen so we ripped it all out and relocated the boiler. That's when this lot was discovered.

 

[Dan Robinson]

New pilot more like

I'm better at flying the dude's X Wing Drone. Although to be fair I was trying to work the camera as I ploughed the drone into the back of the house Hey ho...

 

[george75]

Mate... Ive see those photos twice now already!

Ok