This is my first post - so helloooo to everyone! Have found the forum really useful so far, and no doubt it will be invaluable over the next few months! 
OK, here goes. We're in the process of buying a repossessed property, due to exchange next week.
The house is fitted with an HRM Wallstar 12/14 boiler, which HRM tell me was manufactured between the years of 1991 and 2001. It's a standard boiler, not condensing. HRM also say it has a sedbuk efficiency of 82%.
Now, the property has been unoccupied for about a year, and from what the neighbours say, even when it was occupied, the boiler wasn't in use. I suspect this is more down to them being unable to afford to buy oil (tank empty) and instead burning wood on the open fire. So, chances are boiler hasn't been struck up for well over a year. The system has been drained by the repossession agent. There is record of a boiler service in 2007. The boiler is somewhere between 8 and 18 years old.
We don't really know a great deal about these Wallstar boilers, and appreciate that every case is different. However, on the whole are they generally reliable? Are parts still available? What would be the most expensive part to replace, and roughly what would this cost? What would be an average lifespan for one of these boilers? We're wondering whether we should cut our losses and have a new boiler fitted from the outset, or whether to get this one back up and running and see how it goes. If we had it replaced, would it be a good move to replace with a newer condensing Wallstar (are they expensive?) or would we be better off looking at a Worcester Bosch combi for example? If we went for a sedbuk A boiler (90%+ efficiency?) - are we really going to see a cost saving? If the radiators and pipework are as old as the boiler (I can see a couple of rads have been replaced) - should we be looking at getting these flushed / replaced or will it not really matter? How much roughly should I expect to pay to get the existing heating system refilled, tested and serviced, assuming there are no faults / parts to replace?
Any opinions would be greatfully received - apologies for all the questions...just want to be armed with the right info when we look at quotes for getting the new boiler up and running / replacing it with new.
Many thanks in advance!
Leccyblue.
OK, here goes. We're in the process of buying a repossessed property, due to exchange next week.
The house is fitted with an HRM Wallstar 12/14 boiler, which HRM tell me was manufactured between the years of 1991 and 2001. It's a standard boiler, not condensing. HRM also say it has a sedbuk efficiency of 82%.
Now, the property has been unoccupied for about a year, and from what the neighbours say, even when it was occupied, the boiler wasn't in use. I suspect this is more down to them being unable to afford to buy oil (tank empty) and instead burning wood on the open fire. So, chances are boiler hasn't been struck up for well over a year. The system has been drained by the repossession agent. There is record of a boiler service in 2007. The boiler is somewhere between 8 and 18 years old.
We don't really know a great deal about these Wallstar boilers, and appreciate that every case is different. However, on the whole are they generally reliable? Are parts still available? What would be the most expensive part to replace, and roughly what would this cost? What would be an average lifespan for one of these boilers? We're wondering whether we should cut our losses and have a new boiler fitted from the outset, or whether to get this one back up and running and see how it goes. If we had it replaced, would it be a good move to replace with a newer condensing Wallstar (are they expensive?) or would we be better off looking at a Worcester Bosch combi for example? If we went for a sedbuk A boiler (90%+ efficiency?) - are we really going to see a cost saving? If the radiators and pipework are as old as the boiler (I can see a couple of rads have been replaced) - should we be looking at getting these flushed / replaced or will it not really matter? How much roughly should I expect to pay to get the existing heating system refilled, tested and serviced, assuming there are no faults / parts to replace?
Any opinions would be greatfully received - apologies for all the questions...just want to be armed with the right info when we look at quotes for getting the new boiler up and running / replacing it with new.
Many thanks in advance!
Leccyblue.
