New combi boiler recommendation

[speedfreak]

I have a very competent friend who will install a new boiler for me but can any of you very knowlegable people recommend one?

I have a first floor two bedroom flat with a shower running off the hot water.

Also, can you still get boilers that are not condensing. I understand they are a little harder to fit.

Pardon my ignorance.

 

[timmy74]

I have a very competent friend who will install a new boiler for me but can any of you very knowlegable people recommend one?

I have a first floor two bedroom flat with a shower running off the hot water.

Also, can you still get boilers that are not condensing. I understand they are a little harder to fit.

Pardon my ignorance.

if your friend is competent to do the job then why doesnt he know a decent boiler to fit

 

[gas4you]

Condensing boilers are no harder to fit, only an extra plastic pipe for the drain.

If you only have the shower then a 24Kw should suffice, but I always recommend a 30Kw for better hot water performance.

I recommend (wait for the retorts ) a Vaillant Ecotec Plus 831.

I too am confused why your 'competent' friend cannot recommend a make for you and also explain that condensing boilers being harder to fit is a myth

 

[speedfreak]

Good point. He hasn't fitted a new bolier in a while so suggested I look around myself and see what I could afford. I don't think he's ever fitted a condensing boiler. I'd pay the extra grand to have it installed but he's more than competent and as I've just bought the flat (stiched up with the boiler) I could do without the expense.

The problem with the condensing bolier is that the current boiler is nowhere near the drain. Would have to rip all the kitchen units out to run the pipe round. Needs must I suppose!

 

[gas4you]

Are all your wastes internal, or could you run the condensate waste outside in 1.25" waste to a stack pipe or another waste?

You can also get condensate pumps to pump it 'up and over' to a drain.

Not wanting to keep on about your friend, but if it is a while since he has fitted a boiler, is his boiler ACS ticket still valid? Just being corgi does not mean he can automatically fit boilers and this boiler will have to be notified to corgi upon completion of the installation!

He will also need the energy efficiency qualification to fit a condensing boiler

 

[ChrisR]

Is your "competent friend" Corgi registered? If not, don't be a fool. You'd both be breaking the law and common sense.

 

[speedfreak]

Yes he is Corgi registered. I'm not a complete fool. He's busy with "other things" after being laid off so doesn't fit boilers for a living at the moment. Didn't know about the energy efficiency requirement so perhaps best not to go down this route.

Guess I'd better go and take some pictures of my motorbike so I can put it on ebay to finance this!

Another problem I have is that all the central heating people round here are total cowboys. When I moved in and first started having problems one guy quoted me £2,500 for a new install because the existing bolier was so old!

By any chance do you guys know of a good installer in the Thurrock, Essex area?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[gas4you]

Do you have a combi already? If so I would expect you to pay around £1600-£1800 + VAT for a straight replacement.

For £2500 I'd drive down to Thurrock to do it

 

[Agile]

It seems that your friend may have forgotten to inform you that you must have a condensing boiler now to conform to the building regulations.

I am still concerned about your friend's status! You now say that he has been laid off. Even if he was a registered operative with his last employer that does not make him CORGi registered. He has to apply to become registered and pay about £600.

If he does not have a CORGI photocard in his own name then dont get yourself into trouble.

Tony

 

[timmy74]

Do you have a combi already? If so I would expect you to pay around £1600-£1800 + VAT for a straight replacement.

For £2500 I'd drive down to Thurrock to do it

im living in the wrong part of the country 1600-1800 for a combi swap...

 

[Paul Barker]

Yes you must fit a condensing boiler and have it fitted by someone who can notify the job so that you get a blue certificate stating it has been registered with local authority building control. Then the sale of the flat will goe smoothly.

This involves bringing the rest of the installation up to modern energy efficiency standards of insulation and control. A competent installer with city and guilds 6084 will advise on inspecting your situation, but if you and your m8 are doing this work expect to spend another day on that side and cost in £10 per rad and possibly £50 for controls and £1.50 a meter for lagging in areas outside the heated zones.

Fitting the condensing boilers does take quite a bit longer, often and entails quite a bit more expense if a pump or a soakaway are involved. And don't fit a condensate discharge pipe that is a nats foreskin too narrow or corgi will strike off your installer it is so important to them (ARGI memebers will get the joke).

Hand on heart I don't believe there are any serious faults with most makes of condensing boilers on the market today. If I had any one of them in my own home I could keep them going for a resonable length of time.

I don't believe in the "we only fit this" brigade.If you look at older boilers like I do, you find that time is a great leveler. There are many surporises out there, but certain makes with top reputation by installers who fit nothinbg else are living on past reputation today, other makes who people don't seem to tout are still going strong 20 years on. One make which regularly takes a beating (and I don't install them myself) are actually quite easy to fix and inexpensive in parts so economic to repair for many years. I do have one of these types in a flat which I fitted in 1997 and all I have had to do is fit one diaphragm up to now. The boiler cost me 1/2 what the favourite makes would have cost. But because the nag em in for a fast buck mnerchants can't get their head round the very few simple failure modes they go round saying such and such boilers are c.rap. Not saying there haven't been some bad boilers over the years. The state of the market today is pretty good.

That said my favourite is Buderus.

 

[unluckykentucky]

if now condensing boilers are compulsory why are non condensing boilers on sale.

 

[gas4you]

You can occasionaly qualify for a exemption certificate if your property gains enough points after a survey has been done. Can't see the point myself, never had a property where a condensing boiler can't be fitted. I won't even offer a survey to attain a certificate.

 

[Agile]

That question is often asked by those who have had a non condensing boiler fitted by an unqualified installer.

The simple answer is that the manufacturers will sell anything that the market will buy!

It is still legal to fit non condensing in shops, offices and workshops and in about 1% of homes which meet the exemption requirements. These are mostly flats with balconie entrances where the condensing dishcharge cannot cross the walkway and a very few houses with back boilers.

Tony

 

[ChrisR]

Well said Paul.
Some people seem to have religious convictions in favour of particular boilers.
Worcester Bosch Cdi is an example, but it has some very expensive parts, same Italian parts as many of its competitors but harder to fit, and leak-prone. I opened the lower flap on one the other day, turned my back and both plastic hinges broke. I find plenty with the flaps hanging on the wires, but had assumed that someone had been clumsy!