Ok, here's the situation:
I bought a house which has a boiler which is older than I am (I'm 27). It works, albeit expensively. It has some quirks such as not being able to have the heating on without the hot water, and that it's a microbore system so the rads are not thermostatically controlled, but as I say, it works.
My concern is that when it does develop a fault, it's very likely that it'll be too old to get parts, and so I have done some saving to combat this issue.
So I have a couple of questions.
1. Should I get the boiler replaced now, even though it still works, to a more efficient and serviceable one, before the winter starts, or leave it until it packs in (which will undoubtedly be in the middle of the Scottish winter)
2. Leave the microbore piping where it is, and just get it stepped up to 15 or 22 where it meets the rad so I can have thermostatic valves, or should I get the pipes replaced as well (which would obviously involve a great amount of upheaval and cost).
I'm not asking for a ballpark figure, but I will have £3600 for the complete replacement. My property is a terraced 5 bed 3 floor Victorian house, so it needs a good heat. It has 10 rads of varying sizes.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I bought a house which has a boiler which is older than I am (I'm 27). It works, albeit expensively. It has some quirks such as not being able to have the heating on without the hot water, and that it's a microbore system so the rads are not thermostatically controlled, but as I say, it works.
My concern is that when it does develop a fault, it's very likely that it'll be too old to get parts, and so I have done some saving to combat this issue.
So I have a couple of questions.
1. Should I get the boiler replaced now, even though it still works, to a more efficient and serviceable one, before the winter starts, or leave it until it packs in (which will undoubtedly be in the middle of the Scottish winter)
2. Leave the microbore piping where it is, and just get it stepped up to 15 or 22 where it meets the rad so I can have thermostatic valves, or should I get the pipes replaced as well (which would obviously involve a great amount of upheaval and cost).
I'm not asking for a ballpark figure, but I will have £3600 for the complete replacement. My property is a terraced 5 bed 3 floor Victorian house, so it needs a good heat. It has 10 rads of varying sizes.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.