Will a condesnsing boiler last 8 years?

[Doctor Drivel]

Nope.

[Doctor Drivel]

It will not last as long as the stainless, but more efficient in use as it conducts more heat for its size.

[Guy King]

The message from "RedOnRed" contains these words:

They seem to.

[Peter Parry]

The boiler equivalent of Triggers Broom?

[Andrew Mawson]

conventional boiler will last very many years with just (probably) a thermocouple or so - my Potterton Diplomat CF150 was installed by me

22 years ago and that is all it has ever needed. Hence cost of ownership is low. When I took over my launderettes they were each heated by dual Potterton CF250's that were 35 years old at the time and still functioning - I only changed them to gain more space.Almost any modern boiler will have electronics in it that is unlikely to last 8 years, and at that time is is quite probable that spares will be like hens teeth and made of unobtainium necessitating a boiler change, so where is the saving ? If the total energy costs (including the making of the replacement boilers) is taken into account I doubt there is actually much overall benefit to a condensing boiler even though the gas costs will be lower.

AWEM

[RedOnRed]

More to the point, who would want a boiler to run for 40-50 years? Would anyone now want to be running a boiler fitted in 1956?

[Doctor Drivel]

A conventional boiler is now a condensing boiler. A top quality condensing boiler will last 40 to 50 years if service properly.

You made that up. Good quality products will last decades, including pcbs. You have been told this. If you think you know all the answers why ask questions here?

Top quality makers carry spares for decades. Even Johnson & Starley who do forced air, carry parts from units made in the 1960s.

[Doctor Drivel]

There is big difference to those boilers and the state-of-the-art today. The efficiencies of today's boilers are way, way up.

The point was that some pillock is insisting that all modern boilers will only last 5 years or so, which it total crap. Many makers even guarantee them 5 years.

[Doctor Drivel]

Not the silicon coated ones.

[RedOnRed]

...and what's seemingly modern today (as in 1956) will also be a technical dinosaur in 50 years time.

I'm in IT. I suppose my PC could work for 50 years but what would the point be in this fast moving world?

[Doctor Drivel]

A modern condensing boiler is pushing the limits to what can be extracted from the available gas energy. It can go some more, but not that much. A

1956 boiler was hopelessly large and inefficient to what is available today.

See above.

[Ed Sirett]

I've not read what others have posted so I'm probably reinventing the wheel here.

1) My own condensing boiler is now a significant part of the way to 8 years old. So are a few others I have installed. none are looking to much worse for wear. 2) The life expectancy of the boiler will depend of several factors. a) How it's used (not too little). b) How well it's serviced (not too much nor too little). c) How well it was made to begin with. d) How well the system it is part of works (so the good boiler is not blamed for system faults). e) How well it works for the user so they don't want to get rid of it.

Whilst it is true that some of the traditional cast iron boilers were nigh on indestructible, IF they were correctly installed and IF they were never abused.... They were also inefficient and within a dozen years will have wasted their entire installed cost.

Boilers are replaced for a variety of reasons. The low end non-condensing combis were the only ones that got replaced after a few years. High spares costs (often associated with low initial cost boilers) are significant. Poor system performance leading to general dissatisfaction is a big factor, it is harder to get someone to pay to repair a boiler they 'hate'.

The £100 a year is an achievable saving on a typical house when considering the worst case to the best case upgrade.

Since condensing boilers are intended to handle the corrosive flue gases there is no reason why these boilers should rot away. I suspect the likely reasons for the current generation of boilers to fail maybe things like.

1) Difficulty getting spares after say 20 years. 2) The technology is made obselete by something else (? CHP, ? fuel cells?, affordable and practical renewables?)

[Ed Sirett]

Just because a boiler has electronics does not of necessity make it unreliable.

There are stacks of Vaillant VCWs out there all over 12 years old. True they occasionally go down due to PCB faults, but those boards are still available from the manufacturer and from the reconditioners.

There are stacks of Profiles, and Netaheats they are not dropping like flies.

The PCB sometimes gets blamed for troubles elsewhere. Apparently raden gets a significant minority of 'broken' boards in full working order sent to him for repair.

OTHO there are also a lot of Suprimas um yes..

[Guy King]

The message from Ed Sirett contains these words:

My old house had a Vaillant something-or-other. The seriously crude power supply was just a dropper from the mains through a resistor to a smoothing cap. IIRC there wasn't even a zener to clamp the voltage. I repaired it a few times then got fed up and built a proper supply for it. Never had any more trouble with it.

Five years later I wonder if the landlord's found it.

[Jason]

The savings may be quoted as £100pa *now*, but what if that equated to £500pa in ten years time? Even with a linear sliding scale, that initial £800 is likely to be recovered much sooner than 8 years (assuming reliability, naturally). Natural gas is a limited resource, and is likely to increase in cost as demand continues to outstrip supply.

-- JJ

[Doctor Drivel]

Excessive cycling can curtial a boilers life, espceiall the fan motor and all other controls including any external pump. I have seen many fitted to thermal stores which have two anti-cycle stats and always has full flow through them, just last and last. The boiler is operating at ideal conditions with one long efficvient burn. One of the reasons for installing a thermal store/heat bank.

[Mark]

I can't imagine how such a PSU (the original) would ever work at all. You say there are no diodes in it?

Mark.

[Guy King]

The message from Mark contains these words:

No, sorry, it had a diode in series with a dropper resistor and fed a smoothing capacitor. There was a load resistor but no zener to clamp the voltage. It was an utterly crap design. At least, that's what I remember. I certainly had to repair it several times - it didn't like the food mixer being used in the kitchen which was on the same rather long circuit.

[Matt]

Except they aren't silicon coated in any shape or form. (and you were doing so well up to this posting)

[Doctor Drivel]

Lord Hall,

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