Boiler change - sanity check

[Sheepshanks]

Thinking of having old(ish) Worcester Bosch 28CDi combi replaced and local guy has quoted Worcester Bosch 28i Greenstar at exactly £2000 installed, inc VAT.

I was expecting (hoping ) it would be more like £1500, especially as it would appear to be a very straightforward swop from one WB combi to another.

Is there more to a job like this than is obvious?

[Sheepshanks]

andySC said:

It is a straightforward task but often there are other jobs that need doing that lift the price quoted...these can include ,

1. Cleansing/flushing central heating pipework, adding inhibitor.
2. Running condensate pipework.
3. Room thermostat may be required.
4. Thermostatic radiator valves may be required.

All the pipework and rads are being replaced anyway, so the issue is whether to keep the existing boiler or get it all done at the same time, or hang on and get some more life out of the old boiler.

Good point about the 'stat - the quote includes a WB RF controller and I hadn't realised quite how much that costs.

andySC said:

The boiler you have been quoted for appears to be a 28i Junior ? These are a great appliance but lack a hot water thermostat ( it's fixed at 55c)

I think it must be the Junior. Is fixed water temp a problem that a user who previously had WB 28CDi notice?

ETA: Looks like they changed that middle of last year and it does have variable hot water now.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Thursday 18th September 23:07

[Sheepshanks]

megaphone said:

Is there anything wrong with the current boiler? If not why change it.

Well, that's the dilemma really.

Boiler is approx 12 yrs old, and people talk of modern combi's being good for 10yrs. It has just had the diverter and hot water heat exchanger replaced on service contract.

As the rest of the system is being changed I thought might as well get the boiler done at the same time. But the cost is a bit higher that I had in my head. I'm also thinking that if combi's don't last long it might be as well to stretch it out as long as possible.

[Sheepshanks]

softtop said:

How long are you planning on living there? £2,000 buys a lot of service support.

It's my daughter's house, and short of a significant lottery win, she's likely to be there for a long time.

[Sheepshanks]

Just to close this out - decided to bite the bullet and get both the whole CH system replaced and the boiler too.

Installer said it would take 2 of them 3-4 days but in fact completed the whole job in two days. Turned out the house was mainly a single pipe system in some kind of steel pipe (apparently common around the time the property was built due to copper shortage). Pipe was pin-holing in various places so explains the pressure drops we were seeing. This probably means the existing boiler would have been fine to continue for a while. We can drop the maint contact on the old boiler though, so that will save £180/yr.

Had a Worcester magnet filter thing installed and this bumps the new boiler guarantee up to 8yrs. Also went for WB's new Wave controller - not much dearer than the RF digistat was going to be. Seems pretty cool.

Having decided to go for the boiler change too, the thing I found very irritating is WB do 4 boilers of about the same rating and price. With hindsight I wish I'd just gone for the 29CDi Classic rather than the 28i Junior but by the time I'd figured this out it would have held the job up as it's not a size commonly stocked locally (I checked).

I don't have the final invoice yet so it will be interesting to see if reflects the fact that the job was a bit more straightforward than allowed for.