new boiler costs

[brooks]

I have to replace a boiler in a guesthouse with 7 rooms upstairs and 5 downstairs. The current wall mounted boiler, a Potterton, has done the job well but is now quite old and I will replace it with a similar one. The plumber who checked it recently (and unfortunately is not available to replace it) said it would cost about £1300 to do the job. Can anyone advise me if this is accurate and what I should expect to pay?


Many thanks

 

[pierrot]

is the system fully pumped and are there all the neccesary controls as in roomstat and trv,s.
if so probably.

 

[brooks]

Excuse my ignorance here. I believe it is a fully pumped system and the rads have the controls which I believe are trv's - right? So the price is about right. That gives me something to work on. Thanks.

 

[croydoncorgi]

IMHO, you won't get much of a boiler fitted for that total spend.
Assuming it's a 'conventional' system, with a hot water cylinder, you need heat for AT LEAST 16 rads (12 rooms + public areas, etc.) and LOTS of hot water (OBVIOUSLY the guests will all want baths / showers at the same time).

I would expect the requirement to be 40 or more Kwatts. That is NOT a cheap boiler. If you 'get by' with a cheap boiler, chances are it will disappoint and not last long.

 

[ACOperson]

I don't know about Dorset prices, but in London a CORGI bloke would charge over £2300 for the job.

This is assuming that the job is done right

By right I mean:

- condensing boiler, at least 30KW or more if powering that many radiators AND large enough hot water storage for a property of that size. Thats £1000 or more itself.

- Bringing the system up to part L (TRV's, possibly cylinder, zoning if neccessary etc)

- New Pump (almost always needed when replacing heating only boilers) - £65.00

- Powerflush on 12-18 radiators (12 bedrooms, public rooms and bathrooms, 2 bottles of cleaning fluid, 2 bottles inhibitor): A big job in itself, I'd charge £350-£450 for this alone.

Thats best part of £1500 BEFORE you are charged for labour, which in London would be around 'a bag of sand' (grand).

 

[Agile]

If you are a summer only holiday business then a single boiler is fine.

On the other hand if you are an all year round business then I would be inclined to use two cheaper boilers to give you some redundancy. Probably using two combis with one feeding the kitchen and one feeding a ( single ) bathroom.

In this case the guests would still have heating and hot water if either boiler failed.

Our ( London ) prices would be about £2000 inclusive.

Which area are you in? Bournemouth is in Dorset now but used to be in Hants!

Tony Glazier

Tony

 

[corgiman]

wow 1800 plus vat for a 40kw part p and l compliant boiler tony bloody good price

 

[Agile]

Thats based on TWO Ravenheats or Biasis at £900 to buy and £1100 to instal.

That gives diversity when the cost of most 40 kW boilers is about £1400 upwards.

Tony

 

[corgiman]

so thats 900 for both boilers?

and 1100 inc vat for fitting

wow still good price

 

[ACOperson]

Tony, that is just silly money. £1100 for labour to convert from a system with one or more cylinders to two combi's AND powerflushing. You must be very desperate for work at the minute! Thats about 3-4 days work!

 

[meldrew's_mate]

Tony, that is just silly money. £1100 for labour to convert from a system with one or more cylinders to two combi's AND powerflushing. You must be very desperate for work at the minute! Thats about 3-4 days work!

Ravenheat or Biasi ....yuk
Though you'll certainly be increasing the odds of future repair work with these nuggets.

 

[corgiman]

and cue tony with as long as you powerflush they will never ever breakdown

lmao

 

[Agile]

ACO said"""£1100 for labour to convert from a system with one or more cylinders to two combi's AND powerflushing"""

Thats NOT to convert from a storage cylinder system. The cylinders would stay but the combi DHW could be used to feed the kitchen if the pipework routing is not too difficult. Still 3-4 days work though.

As to the cost thats at the top end of the usual prices in London. East European prices are £150 for a boiler instal with a mains pressure flush.

Tony

 

[corgiman]

dont get what you mean agile?

are you agreeing with aco that its silly money or what? as you said it would be still 3 to 4 days work??

 

[ACOperson]

£1100 to do a partial system conversion (3-4 days work including powerflushing) is NOT at the top end of London prices Tony.

I work in London, and a large-ish company (any with advert over 1/2 page in yellow pages) here would charge around £2500 for labour & powerflush for a job which took 3-4 days, whilst most sole traders/small partnerships would charge at least £1700.

Even doing what you are suggesting would mean routing new DHW pipes to some rooms, and you would also probably have to route a new, larger gas supply to make the jump from one system boiler to 2 combi's. Then powerflusing a ****load of rads, there is plenty to keep you busy for 4 days there methinks.

I know that in NW London there is a large Polish contingent who are ready to work for nothing, but someone who runs a guest house should know better than to use Polish builders to do gas work. You, Tony, should also not try to compete with the Poles prices in this way as the industry will never win by doing this, all we've got to do is improve the image of British based heating engineers by doing good work.