Cost of fitting one radiator.

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I realise that queries about the pricing of plumbing/ gas fitting jobs are a difficult area because the costs depend on so many factors, but here goes.

We have a long, narrow front bedroom which was converted from a garage in 1986, and it has a flat roof with minimal insulation. There's a gas wall heater in there which is expensive to run, so most of the time I don't use it.

The room gets very cold in winter, and although there's no visible sign of damp it does smell musty during the winter months, as do the clothes in the fitted wardrobes which take up one entire inside wall. I asked BG for a quote to fit a radiator in there so that the room would get a few hours of heat during the daytime when the CH is on: quote came in at over 600 quid.

The job would involve fitting a single panel 1000mm x 600mm rad, supplied by pipework dropped from the pipes in the loft down the angle of the living room wall, through a double skinned wall into a wardrobe in the front bedroom then to the rad. Total length of pipework each way is probably around 8 metres. The boiler is a Glow worm Flexicom 15hx supplying a conventional system, and there are 6 other rads, all supplied in 10mm copper microbore. The property is a bungalow, it has concrete floors and I live in Wales.

Would I save much by getting a quote from an independent engineer?
 
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Would I save much by getting a quote from an independent engineer?

It couldn’t do any harm asking for a quote, you may do, you may not save much, depends on the engineers day rate/hourly rate. Most people say to get at least 3 quotes.
 
Thank you. I've asked a local gas fitter for a quote and also posted the job on My Builder. I'm wary of the latter due to previous experience, but worth a shot.
 
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Thank you. I've asked a local gas fitter for a quote and also posted the job on My Builder. I'm wary of the latter due to previous experience, but worth a shot.
where in wales?
 
Probably worth trying to get more insulation in there at the same time.
 
Thanks for the responses.

I live just outside Holywell, bennymultifinish. Why, are you a plumber? You sound more like a plasterer, if your name's anything to go by.

Ianmcd, on reflection I'd concur that MyBuilder probably isn't going to yield anything useful. Last time I tried them I received some very strange replies, none of which inspired any confidence in the likely ability of the respondents.

jonbey, I agree that better insulation would help, but the work involved and the loss of space is something I'm simply not prepared to countenance. I'm looking to take the chill off that room in winter rather than actually make it warm.
 
I had a loft conversion done from people off MyBuilder. They did a good job at a good price.
They never replied to my messages after finishing the job though!
 
The pipe route on paper seems easy, actual will have hidden issues. Some to mention are sleazing the double skinned wall for pipes to pass through and also why the loft? Is that where the boiler is or a radiator? If a radiator on microbore, then feed to garage radiator cannot Be tee’d to microbore.

Sounds expensive, but will be done right and if issues, will be under warranty.

Gas wall heater, is it flueless? Cannot imagine garage having a chimney unless gas heater is balanced flue to the outside in which case some of these heaters and fires can be very efficient
 
What were your messages about??

Andy

Just thought it would be nice to invite them out for a dinner & concert.

Think I might have mentioned that the toilet didn't flush properly - the waste pipe was a bit wonky. Totally ignored.
 
The pipe route on paper seems easy, actual will have hidden issues. Some to mention are sleazing the double skinned wall for pipes to pass through and also why the loft? Is that where the boiler is or a radiator? If a radiator on microbore, then feed to garage radiator cannot Be tee’d to microbore.

Sounds expensive, but will be done right and if issues, will be under warranty.

Gas wall heater, is it flueless? Cannot imagine garage having a chimney unless gas heater is balanced flue to the outside in which case some of these heaters and fires can be very efficient


Sorry, I don't know what "sleazing" means in a pipework routing sense. The supply pipework is in the loft ( its a bungalow) and all the other rads are on inverted loops because we have concrete floors. I think the quote is for 15mm rather than microbore, probably because of the issues you allude to, but I should get the quote in writing either today or tomorrow and hopefully that'll be clarified.

Yes, despite the high price I am attracted by the idea of using a long established company which, in my experience over 40 years of being a householder tends to do things right. I did briefly flirt with the idea of doing the job myself, but as documented elsewhere on this forum I had issues whilst replacing another radiator, and I'm not keen to repeat the experience.

Gas wall heater has a balanced flue, and in a room with decent insulation yes, it probably would be more efficient. What attracts me about the idea of having a rad fitted rather than using the wall heater is that it would be on all day with the rest of the heating and therefore probably wouldn't add much to our bills. Though I guess you could argue quite reasonably that spending 600 quid negates any savings that might be achieved by not improving insulation and using the heater.
 

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