Combi boiler to be installed - opinion please?

[phykell]

Any opinions on this quote please? Should I at least get some other quotes?

 

[FMC]

I got 4 or 5 quotes before I got my central heating installed just to compare prices

 

[phykell]

I've just been to the local plumbers' merchant to get some cards of recommended installers. Hopefully getting some more quotes *is* a good idea I just wondered if there's at least a ball-park figure for this sort of job.

 

[Rail]

I've just been quoted £900 for supply and fit Ferroli F30. It would be replacing existing and deceased combi.

 

[oilman]

I got 4 or 5 quotes before I got my central heating installed just to compare prices

"I got 4 or 5 quotes........"

Well, was it 4 or was it 5? Or was it so many you can't remember?

You might be able to do this, but it is rather thoughtless, let alone selfish, if you didn't pay at least 2 of the people for their time. Just so you can amuse yourself with price comparisons. Do you think first of the time involved in discussing, surveying, pricing and finally sending you a quote.

I hope I'm wrong and you did pay for the quotes you didn't use, but if you didn't then it would be poetic justice if your system was to give you a hint of its existence from time to time.

 

[phykell]

Had another guy in this morning. Seemed decent and said the job would be no problem, that it shouldn't take more than a day and he doesn't mind if I supply the boiler. I've managed to have one put to one side for me for Monday morning - a Worcester 24CDi for £549+VAT complete with flue. I've got one more bloke coming and I'll leave it at that. Just glad I didn't say yes to the first quote now!

Anyway, the guy this morning said something about condensing boilers and how they'd pay for themselves in the first few years and that their efficiency band was A compared to D for the Worcester. Is this right and is it therefore a better idea to pay the (substantial) extra for a condensing unit? I've tried looking for a thread on this already but haven't found anything...

 

[oilman]

Beware the cost/benefit claims. I don't know the link address, but if you look up SEDBUK, you can find the government figures for savings http://www.hrmboilers.co.uk/condensing.htm has some useful information, but I can't get it to work at the moment.

The benefits are nowhere as good as the claims and the payback perion may be a lot longer than the claims.

 

[phykell]

Interesting stuff on that site, thanks. My current system is a cylinder with huge lengths of copper pipe everywhere. It's a very amateur job and it takes ages to get hot water to the kitchen tap and upstairs isn't that much better. Coupled with the 20+ year old boiler I reckon the saving from having a new combi should be enough hopefully. I was a bit surprised at the fact modern combis are only band D, but then I expect to reap most savings from the fact that I won't be heating water I don't use anymore. There's only two adults in a 3 bed semi, and the shower is electric so the 24CDi should be adequate.

 

[oilman]

I'm not going to go through it all again, look up combis and their benefits or otherwise on this forum. Summing up, if the boiler breaks or the power goes off, you will have no hot water. It will be more expensive to maintain, your water supply may not be adequate, and so on and so on...........

But you spend your money how you like.

 

[ChrisR]

Important part of the work is the cleaning of the system. Ask how he does it and how long it takes. If he says it'll take a couple of hours, rather than something like "up to a whole day", you have cause for concern.
If he's good and thorough and neat and does it all correctly the £1600 might just work out a better deal than the £900.

 

[phykell]

Well, the guy still hasn't rung me back with a quote, and the guy who was supposed to turn up this evening hasn't bothered and didn't even bother ringing me to let me know. On the bright side, I now have a brand new Worcester 24CDi BF with flue sitting downstairs. Wonder if I'll be able to get someone to fit it before the new regs come into place?

 

[ChrisR]

Beats me why diyers go buying things like boilers. You paid £500 too much, and if there's a bit missing you can hardly expect the installer to do any running around for you.

 

[oilman]

You paid £500 too much,.......

Given that phykell got the thing for £549+VAT, do you mean you can supply a boiler for £145.07?

 

[phykell]

Beats me why diyers go buying things like boilers. You paid £500 too much, and if there's a bit missing you can hardly expect the installer to do any running around for you.

I got it from the local plumbers' merchant who also supplied the business cards for the installers and knows most of them. The boxes are unopened and will remain so until the installer does the job. I've ordered the programmer separately and it's a well-known boiler. Another reason was that I wanted to ensure the installer fitted the boiler *I* wanted rather than the one they wanted to fit, e.g. a Ferroli I was even going to buy a 35CDi from EBay second-hand, but decided against it - preferring a new one to make the installation job as straight-forward as possible. Also, as oilman says, how can I possibly have paid £500 too much for a £549+VAT boiler? You tell me where I can get a Worcester 24CDi for £150 and I'll buy 10!

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Everyone wants something for nothing, 3 quotes should be enough, 4 max, other than that it's time wasting, I dont bother going to people who have allready had 4 quotes and purchased their own boiler, as it normally coincides with other personality disorders and means they are going to be a right pain from start to finish and then have to be chased to get paid.