Back boiler help, illegal or not?

[LeeApole]

Hi Guys,

As you can see im new here so please dont shout at me if this question has been asked a thousand times before and ive not found it!

My question relates to the famous back boiler in my parents house, due to the lose of my father it now falls to me to look after the house and all the oddities inside it!

A local Corgi plumber has been looking after it on and off for the past few years and told me that its spitting out fumes and requires replacing soon! its about 20 years old so i guess its done well! but they are illegal to fit or re-fit unless you jump through some goverment hoops??!! Any info here??

Can it be fixed legally?

As im sure you guys know all the pipes go to the boiler in the chimney so moving to another location requires some serious re-plumbing! and we're not made of money.

Could someone please just tell me what the law says and where to find some cast iron information about it all, also how come companys are still making and selling back boilers if they are sooooooo bad!!??

Many thanks,

Leigh.

 

[simond]

They are not illegal as such, it is just contrary to Building Regulations to fit them if certain published criteria are not met.

The reality is that the criteria are difficult to achieve and therefore in nearly all cases when the BBU is changed you will end up fitting a high efficiency alternative to comply with Building Regs.

If the old unit is spilling this is a dangerous situation and should be immediately resolved by repair or replacement.

 

[namsag]

unfortunatly when the regs came out it actually mentioned cost to customer is not a consideration,
Which is ok for some t##t on a fortune to decide but not for the paying public.
If boiler was giving off fumes then he should have cut it off instead of saying it will need changed soon.

There is a points system that allows back boilers to refitted and can be reached in certain houses but few genuinely meet it.

Do a search and one firm are selling off gloworm back boiler and fires for £150 plus vat which if you got someone to fit it you would just say it had been fitted pre may 2005 if the house got sold. Just a case of finding right person

 

[TicklyT]

I suppose one question is "how many parts of an existing back boiler can be replaced before it becomes a new boiler?"

A bit like Paddy's hammer - Paddy used the same hammer all his life, and in that time it only had five new handles and three new heads......

 

[bengasman]

you can repair it as many times as you like and replace every single part without limit.
it is not illegal to keep it, just not allowed anymore to replace like for like.
just look at your annual gasbill, and imagine almost half of that amount will be saved each year if you get a modern boiler

 

[LeeApole]

What a nightmare!

Shouldn't some smart bugger have invented a direct back boiler replacement thats also condensing?? or is that wishfull thinking?

Think i might have to look down the gloworm route.

Thanks for your help guys,

Leigh.

 

[namsag]

www.discountedheating.co.uk not the greatest looking fires but would do a cold pensioner
Back boiler 78% efficent (and not allowing for heat into fabric of buildingfrom flue) . new condensing boiler 86/92% and that is not continious
So all the talk of 30 to 50% savings are complete an utter nonsense put out by companies wanting to make it look so so good to change and amazing how many fall for it .

Condensing back boiler . Dont think people would like the waste pipe running across the living room

 

[ctp]

find out why it is spilling fumes(or is it ?)find out cost of rectifying against cost of new boiler,remember you will still only have an old boiler and proberly system 2 match ,maybe time for an update.