Hi all
Hoping you can help me with probably not enough info...
I have a Worcester 28i Junior, which lives in the kitchen of my two-bedroom flat. The boiler was new in 2011. I've lived here since 2014 and never had it serviced but the previous owner must have done because the flat was rented out. It works just fine.
I had my gas meter moved last week (Cadent's decision, not mine), and I was talking to the guy who did it and he was saying he didn't understand why my boiler was in front of the kitchen window (it's mounted on a wall at right angles to the window, and sticks out about six inches across the window) when it would be better to have it inside the cupboard where the meter now is.
Now, I want to get my kitchen refurbished - one of the things I was waiting for was for the meter to be moved, so now I can get on with it - and I'd love the boiler to be hidden away in a cupboard, it would look so much neater. I'd assumed there must have been a reason not to put it there from the start, but apparently there's no reason why it can't be there!
He offered to come round one weekend and do it for me. So far, so good.
Then he said that I should probably get a new boiler as this one was old and would need replacing soon anyway and the labour cost for moving and replacing would be the same.
I appreciate that he was standing right next to the boiler, while you've just got me typing at you, but... is that likely to be true, that it's going to need replacing soon anyway? Or is there some other reason for him saying that (perhaps one that would benefit him but not me)? I've done a forum search and there seems to be mixed opinions on whether you can or can't move boilers without it making them more likely to break down.
Also, is this as simple as he's saying - I mean, do I need to get any sort of permission to move a boiler (building regulations or whatever?) and get certificates signed off and things, or can someone just come and do it? My flat is in a council block, but I am a leaseholder rather than a tenant. I'll need a straight flue rather than a right-angled one, but where it comes out of the wall outside it will look the same and be in the same place, it won't need a new hole or anything.
Is the answer different depending on whether I'm moving the old one or installing a new one?
And is there only one type of gas safe registration, so that I can be comfortable that since he was allowed to move my gas meter it's also OK to have him move my boiler/install a new one?
And finally... we haven't talked money yet, but what would you say the going rate would be for this? Very roughly. I'm in central London. He reckons it's a day's work. The distance it's going to be moved would be about two feet to the left and two feet backwards, and as a result it will be closer to the gas pipe and further away from the water supply/drains (if any of those things matter). Same height, presumably, since we'll be using the same flue hole.
Are there extra things that I should expect would be done as part of the work so I should make sure he does them? I'm reading things about power flushes and scale and corrosion inhibitors - are those relevant here? Are there things that would reasonably cost extra (but that it would be sensible for me to ask him to do while he's here), that I should budget for on top of whatever we agree? There is already a magnaclean filter, but God knows what that looks like inside since I've never emptied it or anything (wouldn't know where to start).
Thanks for reading!
Hoping you can help me with probably not enough info...
I have a Worcester 28i Junior, which lives in the kitchen of my two-bedroom flat. The boiler was new in 2011. I've lived here since 2014 and never had it serviced but the previous owner must have done because the flat was rented out. It works just fine.
I had my gas meter moved last week (Cadent's decision, not mine), and I was talking to the guy who did it and he was saying he didn't understand why my boiler was in front of the kitchen window (it's mounted on a wall at right angles to the window, and sticks out about six inches across the window) when it would be better to have it inside the cupboard where the meter now is.
Now, I want to get my kitchen refurbished - one of the things I was waiting for was for the meter to be moved, so now I can get on with it - and I'd love the boiler to be hidden away in a cupboard, it would look so much neater. I'd assumed there must have been a reason not to put it there from the start, but apparently there's no reason why it can't be there!
He offered to come round one weekend and do it for me. So far, so good.
Then he said that I should probably get a new boiler as this one was old and would need replacing soon anyway and the labour cost for moving and replacing would be the same.
I appreciate that he was standing right next to the boiler, while you've just got me typing at you, but... is that likely to be true, that it's going to need replacing soon anyway? Or is there some other reason for him saying that (perhaps one that would benefit him but not me)? I've done a forum search and there seems to be mixed opinions on whether you can or can't move boilers without it making them more likely to break down.
Also, is this as simple as he's saying - I mean, do I need to get any sort of permission to move a boiler (building regulations or whatever?) and get certificates signed off and things, or can someone just come and do it? My flat is in a council block, but I am a leaseholder rather than a tenant. I'll need a straight flue rather than a right-angled one, but where it comes out of the wall outside it will look the same and be in the same place, it won't need a new hole or anything.
Is the answer different depending on whether I'm moving the old one or installing a new one?
And is there only one type of gas safe registration, so that I can be comfortable that since he was allowed to move my gas meter it's also OK to have him move my boiler/install a new one?
And finally... we haven't talked money yet, but what would you say the going rate would be for this? Very roughly. I'm in central London. He reckons it's a day's work. The distance it's going to be moved would be about two feet to the left and two feet backwards, and as a result it will be closer to the gas pipe and further away from the water supply/drains (if any of those things matter). Same height, presumably, since we'll be using the same flue hole.
Are there extra things that I should expect would be done as part of the work so I should make sure he does them? I'm reading things about power flushes and scale and corrosion inhibitors - are those relevant here? Are there things that would reasonably cost extra (but that it would be sensible for me to ask him to do while he's here), that I should budget for on top of whatever we agree? There is already a magnaclean filter, but God knows what that looks like inside since I've never emptied it or anything (wouldn't know where to start).
Thanks for reading!