Another boiler question

[Croco]

My old Glowworm from 1977 only just scraped through last winter, and reluctantly, I am gonna bite the bullet and splash out on a new boiler. I live in a pre war semi detatched house in Liverpool with 9" solid walls. I have a primatic cylinder which I would like to keep as I have recently fitted a new bathroom round the cylinder. Considering my old inefficient boiler is still going at 29 years, are modern boilers as long lasting or are there so many parts in them that they have a greater chance of breakdown? What options do I have ? How much do I have to cough up ?

The Croc

[Doctor Drivel]

The top of the range models are v good: Viessmann, Eco-Hometec, Atmos, Etag, etc. The next range down is The Worcester-Bosch, Vaillant level. The Glow Worm condensing boiler is a rebadged Vaillant. You have to buy a condensing boiler by law (exception apply, but I doubt you qualify, and condensers are much cheaper to run. Get rid of the primatic, as they don't go well with many modern boilers. Or if your mains are up to get a highflow combi and get rid of the tanks and cylinder too, giving more space. It may be worth replacing the cold mains pipe back to the road with a larger bore to get the combi. Once done, the mains is always there, and a selling point for a house - great water flow and pressure.

[John Rumm]

The primatic will complicate matters somewhat. How difficult would it be to swap for an indirect cylinder? Alternatively, have you got a decent mains flow rate? If so you could consider a combi, leaving the primatic in place (but disconnected and unused) until next time you redo the bathroom.

There is also no denying that any modern boiler will be vastly more complicated than some of the old ones, so in a sense, yes there is more to go wrong. However it is that complexity that gives them the vastly better performance and efficiency.

If you buy a good quality one, and look after it, then it ought to last reasonably well - hard to say if it will do 30 years since many of the current models available in this country have not been round long enough. Note however a modern boiler is unlikely to withstand the sort of abuse that some of the older lumps will tolerate (like only getting a service every 15 years whether they need it or not!)

I would guess anything from £1500 to £3000 depending on what you go for.

[Doctor Drivel]

Take a reciprocating saw to it if it is tiled in.

They are not vastly more complicated. Some fixed burner rate boilers are quite simple.

Viessmann condensers have been around for decades in Germany. Same with Atmos in Holland, Both will last 30 years.

[Croco]