To replace older combi boiler?

[Paul Giverin]

Thanks to everyone who replied. On reflection, I think it is probably best to keep my old boiler going until it actually needs replacing.

Cheers,

Paul

[tim...]

I've just checked and I've got a Baxi in my cupboard.

It's just coming up to 9 years old, never given me a problem (and I think that girly who owned it before me never once had it serviced)

I wouldn't even consider changing it at 10 years old

tim

[Ash Burton]

Sensible decision.

[John Rumm]

You can still buy and install non condensers now. There is a "points based" checklist you can use to assess if you can opt for a non condensing boiler.

[John Rumm]

You could argue that some of the early condensers were just that - an additional heat exchanger glued onto the end of a conventional boiler.

ISTR my former neighbours BIASI is built like that. (and to be fair to what was a cheap and nasty boiler, installed by a pissed f****it of an installer, its still going strong 10 years later)

[tabbypurr]

There are other ways too to capture wasted heat from old boilers. The problem is lack of approval, the boilers aren't approved to work with them.

NT

[Fredxx]

What he might be alluding to is that spares are perhaps becoming difficult to obtain. My experience is that eBay is great for buying obsolete parts for old boilers!

[Johnny B Good]

I note that it's also a wall mounted unit. Presumably it's not using the classic cast iron lump of a heat exchanger/burner assembly normally found in the older floor standing models such as the Ideal Mexico Super CF.100 we've had running in our basement for about the last 35 years or so and still going strong.

Before you posted that link, I was going to venture my opinion that it might have another 25 years of useful life left. Now that I know that it's lightweight enough to be wall mounted, I'm not so sure.

Unless someone else has good reason to say otherwise, it may yet have another 10 years or more of useful life left in it in which case, I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to replace it with a modern condensing boiler which may require the rads to be upgraded to cope with the lower flow and return temperatures required to make the most of the improved efficiency of a condensing boiler.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I don't give a stuff about 'Gas Safe' in my own house. And I defy any inspector etc to tell it wasn't installed by a pro. Except those who only know such things by a bit of paper.

[Roger Hayter]

Fortunately, it is not actually illegal to use a boiler in non-condensing (75deg return temp) mode if you need to, to actually heat the house in cold weather.

[John Rumm]

The rads thing is probably less worth worrying about than many expect. They are normally sized so that they can keep the house warm even on the coldest winter days, so for the vast bulk of the heating season they are oversized anyway.

[charles]

my boiler, which is wall hung, was installed (my me) in 1988. It needed a new over-temperature sensor about 5 years ago, but just keeps going. It doesn't have acat iron lump, but a stainless steel heat exchanger.

[Harry Bloomfield]

John Rumm brought next idea :

Our system was originally sized up for single glazing, draughty doors and little or no insulation. With all of these losses fixed, it had far too much heat input capacity. I was able to drastically downsize the boiler's capacity - I suspect the same will apply to many older systems.

[John Rumm]

Yup, its one of those ironic things that a modern that can modulate its output right down to match the reduced load would work fine, but an old fixed output one will end up cycling like mad trying to match the new lower load.

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

When I checked my non-condensing one it was only 10% less efficient than the Carlos Fandango premium condensing boiler by the same manufacturer.

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

This statement gets my vote. :)

[www.GymRatZ.co.uk]

Boilers don't need "servicing" they only need attention when they stop working. Not having some half-wit poking and twiddling stuff that doesn't need either action is the the best way to ensure boiler longevity.

[Andrew]

My Baxi Bermuda used flue blocks, typical of the 70's. This meant the bedroom wall above the fire/backboiler got really hot and kept the room warm in all but the coldest weather. Even the original installer had fitted a radiator that was much smaller than the other bedroom.

[Andrew]

Hear, hear.

If the gas rate at the boiler maintains 20 mBar and there are no leaks then that's it. Checking flue gases for correct combustion is the only tricky part of modern boilers.

[Andrew]

They don't generally carry spares, unless they are generic. Installers like to push specific brands because they get rewards from the manufacturers, just like IFAs used to 'recommend' the funds that paid them the highest up-front and trail commissions.