Quoted £1200 for boiler repair?

[ooid]

Our boiler (nearly 10 years old) does not keep the hot water. The heaters (radiators) work perfectly fine, but hot water is not working properly. The boiler engineer gave me these two quotes;

OPTION 1

- Replace The pump
- Replace The diverter valve
- To clean plate the heat exchanger
- To power flush the system

COST £1183 + vat

OPTION 2

To supply and fit new Ideal Logic max 30 kw combination boiler

With new flue
With RF thermostat
With magnaclean
With scale reducer
With chemical flush to the system
To be connected to existing rads and mains hot water
To benchmark
This appliance comes with a 7 year warranty

COST £2930 + vat

I've had asked a few other local plumbers too for the repair quote and waiting their numbers but I think both options are too expensive?!

[PurpleTurtle]

Why replace a boiler that is still heating your hot water for heating!? It is not "broken".

I’m not a plumber but am a very competent DIYer. They last time I had this problem it was the synchron motor on the diverter valve had gone, a really common fault. The valve is stuck in one position, hence you are getting hot radiators but it can't move to divert hot water to that side of the system.

Here is how you fix it: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KT6mq1440zM

Cost: 19 quid for a new motor at Screwfix https://www.screwfix.com/p/drayton-synchronous-mot...

The YouTube clip also shows how you can manually move the motor and lock the valve open as a way of proving the fault.

Perhaps try that first to see if it solves your issue, then you know for sure this is the cause.

At very worst it is 20 quid wasted. As one of the reviewers on the Screwfix page says, "I'm 83 and this job took me 15 minutes"

I very much suspect your "boiler engineer" is having you over and considering where to go on his summer holidays.

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Tuesday 16th April 10:40

[subsea99]

Seems a bit high to me,I had a new one fitted with 10 year warranty 6 months ago for £1000.
£800 fitting and £200 labour

Last year had a full system install in my rental for £3k

I would say your plumber is taking the piss

[Ilovejapcrap]

Really need to know spec of boiler to say of a good price

[thebraketester]

So radiators work fine but you need a power flush..... riiiiight.

[T-195]

Similar problem on ours once.

The diverter valve. Not too hard to do yourself and fairly cheap.

[B'stard Child]

T-195 said:

Similar problem on ours once.

The diverter valve. Not too hard to do yourself and fairly cheap.

Same for me - diverter valve had stuck after a summer of just water heating no rads - the motor didn't have the power to turn it so popped a fuse trying

Replaced valve and motor then found the fuse blown so kept the motor unit as a spare

[princeperch]

Sounds like he's having you over. I know of a guy in east London that would charge nearly half that for a boiler install and flush even though it sounds like that isn't what you need.

[pmanson]

Seems expensive.

I've just had a quote as follows:

Remove old boiler, cylinder and tanks in loft
Install Worcester bosch 30cdi classic system boiler* in position discussed (moving it to the opposing wall in the garae)
Install Worcester bosch Greenstore 210ltr unvented hot water cylinder (in the garage instead of the airing cupboard)
Install Bosch easy control smart heating
Install Worcester greenstar system filter
Reconfigure pipework to suit
Chemically flush system
Labour

£4,122 inc VAT

[nitrodave]

Sounds like he's trying to rip you off. Why on earth would you need a power flush?

Get a second opinion, but do not look on checkatrade. I've had nothing but bad experiences from there.

Get on your local facebook group and ask for a personal recommendation for a decent plumper or boiler engineer

[anonymous-user]

My 10 year old potterton had a fault last year. I took out a warranty directly with them for £30 a month, including the fix (heat exchanger, then cct board when the clown got water in it !)
Dropped to £15 a month at renewal.
Sounded pretty good to me..

[surveyor]

Seems like a ridiculous quote.

I would have thought highly likely to be the valve, which even allowing for plumbers prices should be no more than £250 fitted. A pump is not usually expensive should it need it.

As for flush and plate clean... Why if it heats the radiators well?

[Du1point8]

Had a plumber quote me for £4300 for a combi boiler and said it was the only way to fix the boiler.

The only issue with the boiler is that every 3 months it needed to be re-pressurised.

So instead I canned the plumber and got a new one and told him I wanted a device to add water when the system dropped below a certain pressure from the cold water feed:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/honeywell-pressure-redu...
(think it was the above)

so the feed is now left open and only lets water in when the pressure drops below 1 bar.

Job done and cost me £150

[marcjml]

Filling loop should be disconnected when not in use to prevent back flow contamination.

[T-195]

Our last 3 Combis have had a built in filler loop.

[dirkgently]

Du1point8 said:

Had a plumber quote me for £4300 for a combi boiler and said it was the only way to fix the boiler.

The only issue with the boiler is that every 3 months it needed to be re-pressurised.

So instead I canned the plumber and got a new one and told him I wanted a device to add water when the system dropped below a certain pressure from the cold water feed:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/honeywell-pressure-redu...
(think it was the above)

so the feed is now left open and only lets water in when the pressure drops below 1 bar.

Job done and cost me £150

So you haven't fixed the problem and have broken the water bylaws

[Du1point8]

dirkgently said:

Du1point8 said:

Had a plumber quote me for £4300 for a combi boiler and said it was the only way to fix the boiler.

The only issue with the boiler is that every 3 months it needed to be re-pressurised.

So instead I canned the plumber and got a new one and told him I wanted a device to add water when the system dropped below a certain pressure from the cold water feed:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/honeywell-pressure-redu...
(think it was the above)

so the feed is now left open and only lets water in when the pressure drops below 1 bar.

Job done and cost me £150

So you haven't fixed the problem and have broken the water bylaws

How so, the boiler has a cold water feed that is turned on or off to re-pressurise the system, all I have done is left it open with a pressure system to allow water in when the pressure drops.

So all filling loops are illegal?

[dhutch]

thebraketester said:

So radiators work fine but you need a power flush..... riiiiight.

This is my gut feeling, im no plumber but if the heating is fine why do you need a pump and powerflush.

Unless the rads are literally running on sludge, which is in turn blocking the head-exchanger and shagging the diverter valve?

Mini combi boiler lesson, the way the work is the gas heats the radiator water (main heat exchanger) which is pumped by the pump, which then either heats the rads (which is working for you). Or the diverter valve swaps the output of the main heat exchanger to the plate heat exchanger when you open the hot tap, which then warms up the hot water.
This is why you get a delay on the hotwater when the boiler is cold whilte everything fires up, but quicker hot water if the heating is on. And if you have a long shower, the rads go cold.


Daniel

[Sheepshanks]

ooid said:

Our boiler (nearly 10 years old) does not keep the hot water. The heaters (radiators) work perfectly fine, but hot water is not working properly.

Have you got a combi boiler now?

If not, what did you mean by "does not keep the hot water"?

[B'stard Child]

Sheepshanks said:

ooid said:

Our boiler (nearly 10 years old) does not keep the hot water. The heaters (radiators) work perfectly fine, but hot water is not working properly.

Have you got a combi boiler now?

If not, what did you mean by "does not keep the hot water"?

I assumed typo and either "does not keep the water hot" or "does not heat the hot water"