What do you think? New boiler required

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What do you think? New boiler required?

We recently got our Worcester Greenstar boiler, which was working fine, looked at as it was time for it to be serviced as it hadn't been looked at for several years. The boiler chap after taking off the cover took one look at the main heat exchanger and said it's gone and it wasn't worth replacing, at least he wouldn't do it and said we would need a new boiler. His justification was the boiler is old and said it would cost £1000 (£600 for the primary heat exchanger and £400 for the work) and because of it's age (18 years old) other bits may begin to fail and at the end of the day we'd be better off getting a new boiler which would give us a 10 year warranty. This was fair enough and I can see where he was coming from. He said he wouldn't issue a gas safety certificate based on what he could see. I've attached some photos and am wondering what other people think. We're hoping to sell next year hence why now an outlay of over £3000 is not something we were expecting.

My partner thinks we should go down the route of a new boiler as she feels it would add to the house's saleability and reassure buyers. I'm not so sure.
 

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Boiler should get looked at regularly if not every 12 months then perhaps every 18 months to ensure they continue to work correctly.
Get Worcester out to attend
The HE is ribbed, many I see are the same

To pass judgement with a visual look is very harsh, perhaps the guy is an installer but not a repair person hence pushing a replacement

Get someone to service the boiler
The service procedure is listed in the manual
 
Some of these guys are programmed to say "You need a new boiler" before even looking at it. As DP says, get it serviced, or at least a second (or more) opinion.
 
One of the worst I've seen there, if it's not already leaking (and it looks like it has been) then it will be soon. If you replace it with something cheap but decent like a Vokera Vibe Max with a 7 year warranty you should get change from £2k
 
These days you have to declare things when selling a house and provide a gas safe certificate : you could get a second opinion but looks like a new boiler to me. 18 years is pretty good for modern boilers as they are more complex.
 
I don't really want to go down the route of a new boiler esp as we're hoping to move next year, I'd rather save the cash for the doer upper we'd be moving into. Of course we want the boiler to be safe but I don't believe a Gas Safe cert is required for boilers when selling privately unless you are a landlord from what I understand though I'm not against getting the cert. My idea would be to get a replacement main heat exchanger reconditioned (do the secondary, hot water one while we're at it) and have a proper service.

Incidentally can all Gas Safe approved boiler professionals provide a Gas Safe certificate?
 
There is no such thing as a reconditioned primary heat exchanger for this model....the o ring (the seal that has leaked on yours) is not accessible.
Any 2nd hand/reconditioned part could fail in exactly the same way within a short time. Furthermore you can't recondition aluminium alloy that has corroded away after years of use.
Most "reconditioned" boiler parts are nothing of the sort...just cleaned up parts ready for mugs to buy.
Some companies do specialise in pcbs and fans but the quality of the work is very variable and some pcbs were so bad to begin with that by now they are well beyond safe repair.

These primary heat exchangers are available brand new with all the seals required for around £200 on ebay. Many retiring gas installers sell their van stock. There are 2 types so you'd need the correct one.
I suggest you see if you can find an installer willing to fit the heat exchanger that you've supplied. If it goes well then allow a 1/2 day labour.
Of course the boiler should be fully serviced with new electrodes/bearing plate/auto air vent (normally leaking) etc. so add another £50

In my experience most solicitors now like to see some evidence of recent boiler servicing/condition.
That model has been around since 2005 with very little design changes over the years...it's up to you but if the lower end is ok then I'd get it fixed for the likely price of £400 to £500.

Most Gas-Safe installers will have boilers on their list so could issue a gas record/servicing cert.
You could try Worcester but it might be too old.
 
Sounds like excellent advice and a very helpful post I will have a proper look tomorrow at eBay, I didn't realise new ones could be got that cheap. When I did have a quick Google I saw old/reconditioned ones, a lot had the ribbing which I was told is the coil inside. I did see one new one from a company and it was going for £600. But as you say if I can get a new one for a lot less that would be amazing. To clarify then a new HE for £200 off of eBay, £50 for other sundry bits (I'm going to say £150 as I reckon the secondary HE might need replacing) and a half day labour.

What do you think would be fair for the labour?
 
The ribbing is caused by the aluminum spiral formed on the outside of the casting expanding to the point that it stretches the stainless steel jacket.
It's not that unusual but suggests the boiler is running a little too hot...plenty of boilers have it with little issue.
However, overheating will no doubt reduce the life of the seals which are the weak point on these.
My own heat exchanger suffered the same fate after 2 years....it only runs at a max of 70 degrees and feeds an unvented cylinder (1 hour max usage per day). Just another modern boiler design flaw.

Secondary heat exchangers are easily cleaned in acid...I've replaced 1 in 20 years (where it was so cheap it made sense).

Labour rates in all the trades are now out of control with so many thinking they should earn the same as accountants/solicitors/doctors.
Find a semi retired (old) installer that might still charge sensible rates. Charging the rates many do is sheer greed.
 
Totally agree with Gasguru here far too many youngster/inexperienced people out there that want to charge the cust for their learning experience instead of for the job
Its frightening what some people want to charge for a few hours work
 
lost count of the amount of jobs i have fixed for less money than someone who couldnt fix it and walked away .
 
Gasguru said:
Labour rates in all the trades are now out of control with so many thinking they should earn the same as accountants/solicitors/doctors.
Find a semi retired (old) installer that might still charge sensible rates. Charging the rates many do is sheer greed.
Click to expand...

Totally agree, it's madness! And the thing cost is absolutely no guarantee of the quality of work either.

I've replaced a secondary heat exchanger myself. The main HE looks very doable from the Worcester videos online but I'd rather get a boiler engineer to do it and esp if we're selling the house. I couldn't sleep if I thought there was any danger to someone else. Also our boiler is in the attic with a carbon monoxide alarm planted beside it.
 
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145851208591 is it one of these? I had a boiler guy say he can't install something without having an invoice from a proper supplier but someone else told me thats BS. Someone else told me can install parts if i have them. Presumably refurbed parts or new old stock for your older boiler are out there and getting cheaper because no one else is bothering to fix things
 

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