Hi all,
Some of you may remember a few weeks ago I had some fun with a diy plumbing attempt which ended in my boiler failing to light
and given it has wanted replacing for a good while it wasn't worth getting the piezo unit fixed/replaced.
Well since then I've only managed to get one quote so far for a new boiler and wondered if those that know would sanity check it for me. I know I ought to get some more quotes but I'm away on holiday the week after next and the better half is keen to have someone ready to get cracking upon my return as it's starting to get chillier in the mornings. The price is roughly what I was expecting but a couple people have thought it sounds quite high so I dunno
Our current boiler is a Baxi Bermuda inset boiler/gas fire which is in the living room.
The plumber did ask what brand of boiler I'd like to which my only reply was I haven't a clue - he suggested Baxi citing their having a 7 year parts and labour warranty. We've been happy enough it the current Baxi but trying to find reviews online, well you get half saying brand x is the best thing since sliced bread and the other half saying brand x kicked their dog
The next question was combi or conventional which is something I'd been mulling. He's suggested a Baxi 630 Combi boiler with Baxi's Sense smart control - I have a query with him to check whether the control always needs to talk to their servers or if it has a fallback manual mode for if our internet is ever not behaving - I don't want to be cold because the broadband is on the blink.
Plus side of conventional = if the boiler goes wrong, like right now, then a backup immersion heater is rather handy. Then again we've only had problems twice in ten years with a boiler that was old when we moved in.
A combi on the other hand means when we have guests round we can all shower back to back one after the other without somone getting the tail end of the tank. The plumber reckoned with just the two of us and one bathroom a combi would be best as we wouldn't be drawing enough to tax the boiler and we wouldn't be heating a whole tank and not using it all. Which all makes sense I think. One thing I hadn't realised is that a combi would mean not just getting rid of the little top-up header tank in the loft but also the big cold water tank which would be nice to get a bit more space up there as it's right by the hatch.
Regarding our shower it's a Salamander 1.5 Bar pump that's next to the hot water tank which feeds up into the loft across a couple meters and drops down to feed a mixer tap to shower head. Mr Plumber reckoned that we'd be able to dispense with the pump and run off mains pressure with a combi boiler - is that right?
The plan was to get a replacement wall mounted boiler in the downstairs loo but the plumber reckoned the airing cupboard would be a better place as all the pipework pretty much meets there. A bit of shame to lose the storage space but if it makes it a bunch easier I guess it makes sense.
Anywho, long wall of text later, the given quote is just over £4000 for:
- Disconnect old back boiler , cap gas and leave out of commission.
- Strip out tanks and airing cupboard and any unneeded pipework.
- In airing cupboard fit a Baxi 630 Combi boiler with 7 year manufacturers parts and labour warranty on the boiler.
- Fit an external weather compensation sensor to further increase efficiency.
- Fit a Baxi I sense smart control , internet enabled , etc more details if required.
- Run new gas supply up from meter cupboard to new boiler location , run new discharge and condense pipework.
- Supply and fit new magnetic system filter.
- Supply and fit new magnetic water conditioner.
- Supply and fit new rads as discussed (4x ) with new try and lockshield valves.
- Chemically flush system , refill with inhibitor and leave working.
- Test commission and balance system.
- Register with gas safe and warranty with Baxi.
Whilst it's a chunk of money I'm sure I've heard that a like for like simple boiler replacement is about £1.5-2k so didn't think it seems absurdly high.
The four radiators are the downstairs ones which are all looking a little sad and rusty. They are single rads one of ~0.8m, one ~1m and two somewhere between 1.2m and 1.3m. I think he said they weren't quite standard size but hopefully not too much pipework wiggling will be needed as the groundfloor is solid concrete.
I'm currently waiting to hear back as the bathroom rad upstairs got missed of the quote, hoping to replace with a towel rail and the incoming and drain stopcocks are seized and weeping respectively so probably want replacing.
If anyone can other any advice or thoughts on the above it would be most appreciated.