You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
We moved into a house in the summer and it has the original Baxi Solo 2 60 PF Boiler which we reckon must by 18 years old approx. It is working still but a bit noisy and has started making a few strange noises. We always thought we needed to replace it, but were going to wait until next summer but wondering if its going to be better to do it sooner. We have no plans to move in the next 15 years so hopefully going to benefit from the efficiency savings.
Doe anybody have any idea of potential savings in a new boiler, probably looking a Worcester boiler and keeping the existing hot water tank etc rather than a combi one. Are we likely to see say a 10% reduction in bills, or is it a case of it heating up quicker, quieter rather than any huge savings.
Any thoughts would be most welcome. House in only 18 years old so fairly well insulated etc.
When I costed up replacing our old Ideal Super Mexico (in Brown and Orange colour scheme...so must have been 20-30yrs old) it would have taken pretty much 10yrs to break even...and by then the new boiler would be on it's last legs.
We stuck with what we had and never had an issue in 5yrs with it. Annual bill was only ~£900 (Gas & Elec) for a 3 bed semi though.
[url= http://www.homeheatingguide.co.uk/efficiency-tables.php?model=016515 ]Seasonal efficiency of 68%[/url]
So say a new one is 90%, you might save 20% on your gas bill, say £200 a year?
A new boiler plus install costs might be £2-3k, so 10-15 year pay back?
Our boiler is 30+ years old, but rated at 70% efficiency and our gas bill is only £500 ish a year, so not worth upgrading at all.
Never new about that website^^^ up there.
Just checking the stats on the boiler I had fitted yesterday.... 91.2% for a valliant Ecotec!
That is a great way to look at it!
Mine is a D 78% efficiency so not worth doing for 8-12% efficiency gain.
I had a Baxi recently in a 6 month Insurance rental, was a holiday home as well so well maintained, not sure of it's age but looked 10+, was also very noisy especially in the night when it was going thru some cycle or other.
It's been confounded by some additional insulation work, but approx 30% off our bills since the new boiler 5 years ago.
Hasn't paid for itself yet though...
I replaced a tired but working traditional boiler with a combi a couple of years ago. During installation they chemically flushed the system, but now the new boiler has gone wrong - apparently due to build up of sludge in the system again.
From what I have been told since, new boilers are a lot more sensitive to this than older models.
So I'm not saying you'll have the same problem, but just bear in mind that new kit + a 10 year warranty doesn't automatically mean you won't have to spend out on it. One or two incidents can very quickly wipe out any savings, when call out alone is £80.
(Original installer has disappeared off the face of the earth and manufacturer don't want to know, as you'd expect).
From what I have been told since, new boilers are a lot more sensitive to this than older models.
Partly how they get their heigh efficiency, they have very fine grid heat exchangers which block very easily with sludge, limescale or rust particles, hence the need for all the filters. Older styles are just a cast iron kettle and you can have a ball bearing pass round the whole system (mine used to have a solder blob which took a few days to do an entire circuit, you could hear it rattling its way around the system).
We replaced an ageing (20yr old) Wicked boiler last winter, due to constant bills as it wore bits out. I don't expect any payback, just hoping for a reliable boiler.
Until almost 2 years ago I didn't have central heating so can't comment on the savings of a new boiler. However when it was installed I fitted a Google nest thermostat and over the 1st 12 months my gas bill pretty much halfed, if not more. Can't remove exact figure but I was paying over £40pm at the start of the contract and currently pay just over £20
Shock horror in a chemical flush not cleaning the system.
Possibly the most oversold aspect in heating. Mainly because it is either not needed or when it is done it is not done correctly.
Similar here, 15 year old potterton boiler. The payback on a new one was longer than its life expectancy, and we stopped the insurance when we realised the only stuff that can really go wrong is the thermostat, or the boiler rusting through. Anything else would have been deemed a major repair and written the boiler off anyway due to not conforming to current regs.
Our boiler service guy, who is a friend so not out to get us, said we are far better off keeping our old boiler. Life expectancy of our old boiler should outweigh any fuel savings. We'll change it if something big goes wrong. I'd much rather keep old stuff running in general, bikes, cars, etc
Note of caution on the boiler efficiency, this is just for the boiler, not the pipework, radiators, hot water aspect, timers, programmers etc, so any saving may not reflect the sales talk;) a bit like cars, if you can drive steady at 56 mph you'll be fine! I have a 17yr+ boiler and waiting for it to die, but it's solid and simple, my bills are high, but old stone built place with loads of heat loss, just can't afford to improve it!
Sounds like you have a more modern place, so if you can may be worth doing, review controls as well.
so any saving may not reflect the sales talk;)
Indeed - as does oversizing the things (which *everyone* seems to do) as they do not get into full on condensing / efficient mode for long enough.
Our bill has dropped - maybe 10-15% from last year, but I think most of it is down to better time clock (7 day and multiple daily sections) and external sensing combined with 'learning' boiler. It is great at kicking in on cold mornings, and more importantly not coming on on mild ones...much more than the old one that relied on old mechanical thermostat and return water temps.
We also have hotter showers....
During installation they chemically flushed the system, but now the new boiler has gone wrong - apparently due to build up of sludge in the system again.
I put a filter in my system to try and clean it up, all it did was endlessly block with sludge and stop any water circulating, so I just removed it. System runs fine without it.
Generally the easiest savings you can make with your heating system is how you use it.
You don't need tech gadgets to do so either, even a simple room stat and discipline can save you 10% of your fuel bill.
That website is excellent. Our current boiler is rated at 78%. At our last service the BG guy said it was unlikely to be worth upgrading - it's only 10 years old.