Boiler Scrappage

[Andy Cap]

Thanks for that. ;-)

Andy C

[Roger Mills]

Not necessarily!

I currently spend about £1100 p.a. on gas for CH and HW. My 18-year-old room-sealed powered-flue boiler, which is rated at 68% efficiency, is still going strong and hardly ever needs servicing.[1]

If I were to replace it with a 90% boiler - I should, in theory - use 22/90 less gas - which would save me about £270 p.a.

But by the time I have amortised a £2k boiler over 6 years (if it lasts that long!) *and* paid for the non-optional annual servicing which most condensing boilers require, I would be considerably *worse* off - even with the £400 subsidy!

[1] I recently had it moved to a different location, and the plumber who moved it (the same one that supplied and fitted it when new) serviced it at the same time - after an interval of at least 10 years - and said that it was really a waste of time since there was virtually nothing to do!]

[Andy Cap]

Just received this from Southern Electric under the heading,

'Great savings from Southern Electric'

Potential cost of a boiler breakdown = £370: call out charge over £50, two hours of labour £120, and replacing a new pump up to £200. These costs are based on our standard service charges and potential costs for parts and labour.

Based on paying £16.50 per month over a 52 week period. Prices correct as of 1 December 2009.

It's one reason why a very basic boiler, even if it costs £90/annum extra to fuel, has a certain appeal !

Andy C

[geoff]

In message , Roger Mills writes

You're a very very bad boy ...

you're not meant to do that

(as if I give a toss)

[Roger Mills]

What am I not supposed to do - service it after 10 years, or move it?

I assume you mean the latter in that, technically, a non-compliant boiler was being (re-)installed. Well the plumber who did it thought that it was within the rules - although I had my dube. It was actually only moved horizontally by about 2 feet, but that probably doesn't make any difference.

It was rather amusing because, as it happened, the BCO came to inspect some structural work which was going on while the plumber had the boiler in bits while moving it. We didn't draw his attention to what we were doing - and he appeared not to notice. He didn't comment, anyway!

[PeterC]

My last girl-friend had a new boiler fitted and the plumber called in a corgi to set it up. The corgi specialised in Vailant, so I asked him about mine and servicing. He said that there was so little to do that, if it was lightly used [1], just the basics that I could do myself [2] were needed and it required no more.

[1] 5 months off per year, apart from turning on to run the pump once a month; also no use of HW. [2] condensate drain and some air in the expansion vessel.

[geoff]

In message , Roger Mills writes

Talk about moving it on a public forum ...

[Colin Wilson]

That's actually the easiest figure to work out - the number of MPs with a second home !

[dennis]

"Colin Wilson" wrote in message news: [e-mail]...

It would be a subsidy for the buy to let landlords.