I'm just looking for the roughest of ideas from anyone who's had their rads replaced recently or carries out such work - how much would it cost to replace 7 rads around the house (just the labour/sundries cost - I'm estimating the actual units to be about £30 each as most of them are mini 1m wide doubles)?
Too many bits have snapped off over the years (like bleed screws or totally rounded rate adjusters) so it would be lovely to replace them all and put thermostatic controls on each one. Just want an idea of whether or not it's a "maybe" or a "no!" price range!!
Say 20 quid a rad for a decent make TRV and replacement lockshield (preferably drainable type). When I did mine, it took me about 30 minutes to do each radiator, including applying insulated foil behind (which has really reduced the wall temperature of the uninsulated brick behind).
Then you'll also need time for emptying and refilling the system and inhibitor. With time at around 200 per day, this is about half a day's work, maybe slightly more, giving around 300 quid for parts and labour (excluding the radiators and bleed valves themselves). It also doesn't include balancing, but then most plumbers couldn't give a toss about that anyway, as it is too time consuming and they'll just tell you that the TRVs are effectively self balancing, which they are to a minor extent. It is, perhaps, a better task for the householder to do of a quiet evening.
This estimate assumes that the replacement radiators are a simple drop in replacement with identical bracket and pipework positions. I'd add at least another 100 quid for labour if any pipework modifications are needed or new brackets installed, depending on the complexity of the changes.
Have just installed complete combi system from Grahams with 8 Rads and towel rail including all pipework in 10mm speedfit. no trv.s. total cost including commisioning and installation by corgi engineer of boiler only was £1300.00
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