Central Heating - quote

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halo34

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

198 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
Just got a rather eye watering quote for installation of oil central heating in the house.

Storage heaters and a cold house means its a fresh install.

The quote roughly breaks down into;

11 radiators
Unvented hot water tank
Oil tank with a concrete base to be put in
Internal 21-26kw boiler
1300 l oil tank
Removal of storage heaters, with conversion of the old circuit to normal mains and replacement to plugs.

It excludes remedial works as we cant get under the ground floor so pipes to be run wherever we can.

I am trying to get plubmers to alternate quote without success, any views on what people would consider reasonable for that little lot?




CorradoTDI

1,432 posts

170 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
Take it there is no gas main in the vicinity??

I'm on oil but not sure i'd have it installed now with so many other options out there...

triple5

751 posts

144 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
Don’t know if this will help but my Son has just had:

Fresh install, oil based, no previous central heating, vented system.
Utility spec Worcester Bosch, extensive pipework runs required due to location.
Oil tank and base not required, approx 9 rads, new copper tank.
Separate upstairs/downstairs zones.
Solid floors downstairs, traditional upstairs, all wall chasing done by ourselves, everything else completed and supplied by the Plumber.
Came in at about £6800.

halo34

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

198 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
triple5 said:
Don’t know if this will help but my Son has just had:

Fresh install, oil based, no previous central heating, vented system.
Utility spec Worcester Bosch, extensive pipework runs required due to location.
Oil tank and base not required, approx 9 rads, new copper tank.
Separate upstairs/downstairs zones.
Solid floors downstairs, traditional upstairs, all wall chasing done by ourselves, everything else completed and supplied by the Plumber.
Came in at about £6800.
No gas near us unfortunately :-( Oil or Bio-Mass is where it's at, otherwise I would go gas in a heart beat!

We are coming in around 11.5k including VAT !!

I suspect they are quoting high as they don't want the work or have enough they can put a high bid in and won't be bothered if it doesn't happen.

Andrew[MG]

3,322 posts

197 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
Can't you do the time consuming pipe chase work yourself and leave them free to just install the kit when they get there?

Bluebarge

4,519 posts

177 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
halo34 said:
triple5 said:
Don’t know if this will help but my Son has just had:

Fresh install, oil based, no previous central heating, vented system.
Utility spec Worcester Bosch, extensive pipework runs required due to location.
Oil tank and base not required, approx 9 rads, new copper tank.
Separate upstairs/downstairs zones.
Solid floors downstairs, traditional upstairs, all wall chasing done by ourselves, everything else completed and supplied by the Plumber.
Came in at about £6800.
No gas near us unfortunately :-( Oil or Bio-Mass is where it's at, otherwise I would go gas in a heart beat!

We are coming in around 11.5k including VAT !!

I suspect they are quoting high as they don't want the work or have enough they can put a high bid in and won't be bothered if it doesn't happen.
Plumber doesn't get the VAT, so your quote is actually £9200.

The other quote you're comparing it with excludes the tank and base, has 2 fewer rads, excludes the electrical work you require and disposal of the old storage heaters and significant works are being done by the customer.

So a difference of £2400 is not that surprising.

TBH, whilst I have no direct experience of the works you having done, "about £10k" was the thought that entered my head when you asked for comparisons.

Edited by Bluebarge on Monday 17th November 14:18

jason61c

5,978 posts

173 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
We're just going down the biomass route.

A: its very green
B: You get more or less double your money back
C: See above smile

halo34

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

198 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
Fair points bluebarge, its maybe more I don't want to spend the money :-D

I can't do any of the work myself as frankly I wouldn't trust any of my work!!

I did think about Bio-Mass but the plumber said it would get much more expensive....maybe I should think again!

jason61c

5,978 posts

173 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
halo34 said:
Fair points bluebarge, its maybe more I don't want to spend the money :-D

I can't do any of the work myself as frankly I wouldn't trust any of my work!!

I did think about Bio-Mass but the plumber said it would get much more expensive....maybe I should think again!
The question for your plumber is has he done any biomass stuff? MCS registered?

You'll be foolish to not explore it..... There's a few on here now who are going down that route.

halo34

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

198 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
Not sure - he said he had a company he works with for that kind of thing.

Definitely going to ask though, he said boiler was more pricey. But I assume time we take out the oil tank and associated works it might not be much more.

Obviously I need to check out the funding etc

Edited by halo34 on Monday 17th November 15:50

FlipFlopGriff

7,144 posts

246 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
I've got Biomass (installed 12 months ago) and will start getting RHI payments in Jan, already had £2k.
Yes its more expensive (paid over £20k for the boiler and thermal mass dalek thing (hot water tank)) but what we get back over 7 years covers the cost of the boiler and more than 7 years of fuel. The tails for the heating were put in and water connected to the existing pipework and I did all pipework and rads for the heating - not as difficult as you think. House is 350 years old (G on the EPC), 220 sq metres and boiler is 21kw. Also not on gas and did look at gas/oil and air source but the overall package for biomass best suited us. Bit of a pain filling the hopper but worth it and we now have heating which we didn't have previously. Using average 3 bags a day in the winter and one a week during the summer (for the hot water). Use the woodburner to top up when we are there all day or just want to be really toastie. It sits in a room at the back of the property approx. 2m x 2m, and we can get 100 pellet bags in down the front of the boiler.
FFG

jason61c

5,978 posts

173 months

Monday 17th November 2014
quotequote all
I'm in a similar position to FFG, who made me decide to pursue the idea.

Old house, 200ish sq M.

I'm doing the radiators myself and house plumbing.

I'm having a 35kw biomass with 730ltr hopper, 3 zone control, integral water store with hot water coil in for mains pressure hot water

Biomass install is going to be about £12k
7 Iron radiators cost £1.8k
7 Stelrad softline radiators £500
expansion vessel, pumps, pipe, adapters, valves etc etc come to about £1k.

So about £15.5-16k all in. I guess I'm saving about £2k on labour.

It'll net me 4k per year index linked for 7 years. That's with a 5 year guarantee.

halo34

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

198 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
Thanks guys, just waiting for the plumber to call me to talk through options.

They have another company they bring in to quote for that side of things. I am hoping its fairly straightforward to amend the quote to include bio-mass.

I just need to read through the process and how you get onto the scheme etc.

FlipFlopGriff

7,144 posts

246 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
This should help as a guide:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/87121/...
Have a read through this recent thread also:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
There are some hoops to jump through but they are easy as long as you know what they are.
FFG

Edited by FlipFlopGriff on Tuesday 18th November 12:33

halo34

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

198 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
Thanks FFG...lunchtime reading for me!

Just off the phone to a company fairly local to us (as local as the Highlands can get anyway).

He has given me the number of the green deal assessor and actually works with the plumber who quoted the oil system anyway.

Happy to come and see the house to give us some design ideas.

Next hurdle is convincing the wife its a good idea - get the assessment done etc.

Estimated £2k PA return based on current consumption, so ROI looks like 8 yrs (ish).


Andrew[MG]

3,322 posts

197 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
halo34 said:
Thanks guys, just waiting for the plumber to call me to talk through options.

They have another company they bring in to quote for that side of things. I am hoping its fairly straightforward to amend the quote to include bio-mass.

I just need to read through the process and how you get onto the scheme etc.
Stick your postcode in here and see who else is local and qualified to install biomass http://www.hetas.co.uk/find-installer/

FlipFlopGriff

7,144 posts

246 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
The installer has to be MCS approved as does the equipment installed. Here's the approved installers (make sure you click biomass as they need to be MCE approved for biomass not MCS for PV for example) although some cover multiple technologies:
http://www.microgenerationcertification.org/consum...
FFG

halo34

Original Poster:

2,428 posts

198 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
They are MCS registered and good to go :-)

Plumber is ignoring me however !!

There is one other company near me, but have a poor reputation so struggling a little.

Grandad Gaz

5,089 posts

245 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
I've heard somewhere that as more people go for biomass then the cost of the pellets, or whatever they use, will rise.

Supply and demand and all that.

does that sound right, or is that internet bullst?

FlipFlopGriff

7,144 posts

246 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
Grandad Gaz said:
I've heard somewhere that as more people go for biomass then the cost of the pellets, or whatever they use, will rise.

Supply and demand and all that.

does that sound right, or is that internet bullst?
My usage has been about 7 tonnes in the last 12 months so hardly think that will impact. Its the commercial users who get through it. I guess they'll plant more trees to compensate.
Paying between £240-250 a tone at the minute and it seems to have been there or there abouts the same (rising with inflation) for nearly 10 years.
Bloke down the pub keeps telling me the TVR is unreliable but he has never owned one, doesn't know anyone who has/does and knows nothing about the cars so probably the same blokes talking about pellets. Maybe we should get a syndicate and buy stock options just in case.
FFG


Edited by FlipFlopGriff on Tuesday 18th November 15:39