In a place we rent out the gas boiler for the hot water/heating is playing up and has been for a while, it is pretty old, latest quote for repairs is £500+ eek, engineer says we’d be better off now getting a new replacement gloworm modern boiler including power flush and magna clean (whatever that is) for £1800 inc. the vat. Haven’t had to do anything like this for years, is this about the right cost? Was going to call a couple of other places tomorrow for comparison but any tips/experience/advice etc appreciated. cheers

I paid 2000 for a Baxi with a 10 year warranty in Jan.

Had 3 plumbers round today to quote on a very similar job, 3 bed, 1 bathroom, straight swap for existing combi boiler. Only one quote in so far, £1995 for a Worcester combi.
Exactly what I didn’t need when I’d already committed to buying a new bike!

Sounds about the right ballpark then, thanks

Also sounds about right from our recent experience.

I paid £2000 for a Worcester Bosch all fitted etc so you’re on the money.

Worth getting quotes from other locals though.

Yep 2k a couple if years ago for a Worcester boiler fitted.

I’ve paid a little less, but do some prep and making good myself, and use the same gas engineer for maintenance and certs. You’re certainly in the right ballpark. Baxi currently have 7 year guarantee so I might lean to them.

It’s certainly worth checking if your tenants are on benefits at the minute, the grants available might get it installed for free, or close to free.

A 7 or 10 year warranty is contingent on an annual service so might not work out as such a bargain. Services cost a lot and don’t do much. A new boiler will be efficient (big deal if you rent the place out) but are very susceptible to the bits of crap floating about in the system which have been dislodged by the power flush.

£1800 for a Bosch fitted a few years ago in a 3 bed semi. Government were doing a insentive scheme at the time so we got £400 back too.

The ancient glow worms seem to run forever. The modern combis am to pack up pretty regularly. Often the pressure on the system has dropped or something which just needs messing about with some taps on the bottom of the boiler, but as a landlord that will generate work and phone calls for you.

A few years ago we had a full CH system put in a 2 bedroom terrace, from scratch, including all pipe work, radiators, boiler etc for £3600.
A few less yeas ago (4-5?) we had a top of the range Worcester Bosch put in, relocated from the kitchen to the garage with one new radiator and another one moved for £2500

Thanks all, lady who lives there is a single mother and I think in receipt of some kind of benefits so maybe able to get help via this:
http://www.boilergrants.org.uk/free-boilers.html
Be very handy if it is the case. Will check out

That sounds like a good/fair price tbh.
I’d also want a magnetic filter on the return leg for peace of mind after the flush. About another £80/100
British gas wanted £900 just for the flush on ours…hahaha.

£2.5k sounds about right from quotes we’ve had.

Be wary with the grants. Our local council grant scheme (warmupbristol.co.uk) came up with a £4.1k quote, £3k for us to pay. Essentially the supplier they foist on you marks up their prices, a bit like garage insurance quotes. A great idea from the council, scuppered by a greedy supplier.

What should a power flush cost? I asked for a quote and told £765 for flush, also asked for TRVs which would be £675 but if I do both then take £225 off. This is for a system with 15 rads.

Power flushes are a waste of money. You can do it yourself with a hospipe off the tap if you like.
TRVs are cheap an an easy DIY job.
I reckon those prices are a rip off TBH.

I did think a bit much and wouldn’t do it for that. Not really into DIY for this sort of thing but will get some other quotes at some point – some upstairs rads don’t really heat up very well so think sludge is the problem.

The modern combis am to pack up pretty regularly.

That’s because to get the efficiency they have aluminium mesh heat exchangers with lots of small holes which easily block with limescale, gunk or solder balls.

Older boilers just had a large cast iron vessel (like a large saucepan) and the bottom could just fill with crud and it didn’t really matter (you hear kettling when it gets really bad), but it would still run for years and years and years….

I’m not sure a power flush is a waste of money. I recently had my boiler replaced and he left his machine flushing the system for a few hours whilst he got on with sorting the rest of the boiler out. For me to have messed about to make such a thorough job of it would have taken an age, and a lot of hassle. I’m not sure I would pay ~£700 for the privilege of having one done though, ours was included in the cost of the boiler replacement which was £2600 for a Worcester bosch 42cdi.

What should a power flush cost? I asked for a quote and told £765 for flush, also asked for TRVs which would be £675 but if I do both then take £225 off. This is for a system with 15 rads.

15 new radiators and TRVs would come in at a similar price if not cheaper!

I paid £500 for a gloworm 30c boiler from a Plumbing wholesaler, £600 to fit (he could keep the large copper immersion tank) and £1000 for all radiators and fitting.

That was 5yrs ago though.

also asked for TRVs which would be £675

They cost about £10 each:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/15mm-angled-trv-with-lockshield-white-chrome/31811

recently paid £2500 for new combi boiler and fitting, new flue pipework and access holes, 5 TRVs and making good (plaster work due to new flue) – 2.5 days work.
In London if that makes a difference, though I’m not sure it does.

In the 3 months we’ve had it I’ve had to re-pressurize the system 3 times.

“In the 3 months we’ve had it I’ve had to re-pressurize the system 3 time”

well get your plumber back – you have a leak.

I thought about 3k was average – 10k if you do it through BG…

Jesus I’d never had a boiler swap before. Saw an ad ‘BG special promotion 50% off’ so booked a quote.

The chap who came- I stayed polite as he seemed like a nice middle-aged bloke but I couldn’t stop laughing after he’d gone. told me I’d need new pipes the lot.

5yrs on I bled abit of air out of a rad and its almost clear/slightly milky probably from the inhibitor inthere.

15 new radiators and TRVs would come in at a similar price if not cheaper!

It did feel a lot – was expecting about around £500 really but figured I have no idea! Guess he thought I was clueless to…?! He’s just replaced a loo siphon, said it would be £80 and thought not unreasonable but maybe it was, not had the bill yet so hoping he sticks to his quote.

I had a thread on here a while back wondering about the cost – maybe they’re all expensive here?! At least my problem was fixed this time….

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/plumber-costs

Loo siphon is £5 – £10 from memory..that’s quite an hourly rate given it’s about 15 mins to change it even for an amateur.

Guess he charged an hour, I did guess the syphon would more than that but I’m wrong – he put in one that I can change the diaphram on myself next time without taking the cistern off the wall.

that’s quite an hourly rate given it’s about 15 mins to change it even for an amateur.

Assuming the bolts that hold cistern to pan aren’t rusted to fewk…

It did take him about 15 mins – I didn’t watch what he was doing with the loo.

A bit annoying as he lives about 100 metres away so would be nice to have a reliable chap close by.

Depends where you live, there’s a firm near us (Cleckheaton, West Yorks) that advertises a fully fitted Worcester-Bosch for £1295.

The chap who came- I stayed polite as he seemed like a nice middle-aged bloke but I couldn’t stop laughing after he’d gone. told me I’d need new pipes the lot

Did you seriously expect anything else from BG? They’re well known as being a massive rip off for new boilers.

Had a quote for £1800 a year or so ago for a vailant combo boiler and various other jobs.

well get your plumber back – you have a leak.

there’s a couple of rads that leak… they’re old
plus the heatings been on for 3 months as we’ve got a little baby

Heating being on for 3 months makes no odd. Your leakig rads are why the thing needs topping up. Nowt to do with time the systems on for or the fact its a combi or the phase of the moon.

At least you know where your leaks are and its not stuck in concrete.