new central heating system; what to look for
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wittetulp
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new central heating system; what to look for

by wittetulp » Sun Aug 31, 2008 4:09 pm

Hi

My 4 bedroomed (but fairly compact) house is heated by an old "Ideal Standard" boiler, with a seperate cylinder for hot water. The systems and radiators are old and apparantly very old fashioned with a one way flow system.

I want to upgrade to a more energy efficient system and have had 3 contractors in for a quote and advice.

They all gave the same advice with regards to the boiler and adviced on a Worcester-Bosch 30 (??) combisystem, delivering heating and hot water from the same system.

The majority view (2 against 1) was that a combiboiler would not workproperly on the one way system, and that pipework needed adapting/ changing as well as the radiators.

British Gas would do the job (boiler, totally new pipework mainly under floorboards on first floor and 9 new radiators of varying sizes) for about £6000 whilst a slightly smaller contractor would do it for about £5000, possible using some of the existing pipework, (but adding one to change the one way system into whatever it needs to be)

Questions; what do I need to ask for in the way of references/ warrantees/certificates or anything else to ensure that the company we use is up to the job and will cover any problems if anything goes wrong. How long warrantee should we expect on "the work" (assuming radiators and boiler have their own warrantee)

Do these prices seem reasonable, or would it be useful to obtain further quotes?

any further advice?

Steve the gas
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by Steve the gas » Mon Sep 01, 2008 5:48 am

Hi,
You really do need a 2 pipe system but 5-6k WTF?
I'd shop around a little more. The best boiler for you then really depends on your hot water demands.

Hth

wittetulp
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Joined: Sun Aug 31, 2008 4:07 pm

by wittetulp » Mon Sep 01, 2008 8:31 am

hot water requirements will be modest with only one bathroom, wife likes the idea of british gas because "if anything goes wrong we'll be properly covered"; its the attraction and security of the "big name".

having looked around; how do worcester bosch and vaillant compare?

we will follow your advice and get some more quotes

htg engineer
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by htg engineer » Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:33 pm

If anything goes wrong with the boiler you'll be covered anyway, the boiler manufacturer warranty.

BG are majorly over priced, yes big name - prices to match. And service/quality no better than other companies.

htg

4 posts   •   Page 1 of 1