New Boiler Advice

[panholio]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum and I'm after a bit of advice - there seems to be a wealth of knowledgeable people on here.

I own a 100 year old stone terrace in Leeds which currently has a Vokera Compact 24 boiler in the kitchen that has given me a lot of issues. I had a new PCB fitted in August and now it is continually losing pressure - I'm being told it is the pressure vessel and I'm getting quoted upwards of £260 to fix it.

I'm thinking of biting the bullet and fitting a new boiler - the Vokera one is about 10-12 years old.

I have had three quotes and some differing advice - the first thing that all the plumbers have said is that my current boiler has a 15mm (I think) gas pipe feed into it - all new boilers need a 22mm feed I am told. Looking at my gas meter, which is in the cellar, there is a 22mm feed coming off it. So it must reduce somewhere. The first two quoted running a new 22mm gas pipe round my house on the outside in order to get the boiler to work correctly. I don't want this it will look awful! The third guy said he could fit as much 22mm as was practical replacing the existing smaller gas pipe (it comes from upstairs) test the pressure, and if it was sufficient it would be fine.

So my quotes:

First guy ranged from £1400 to about £1800. Cheaper boilers were 2 different Ideal, most expensive was a Worcester all 24Kw. This guy wants to run pipe work round the house and this forms about £300 of his quote. Cheap one has a 2 year guarantee, Worcester has 5.

Second guy has quoted me £1200 all in for a Pro Exclusive 30Kw, £1450 all in for an Ariston 30Kw and £1580 for a Viessmann 30Kw. First two have a 2 year guarantee, the Viessmann has a 5 year one with a 10 year warranty on the heat exchanger. He is adamant that the pipe work all needs to be bigger in order for the boiler to work properly but he wants to look above the current boiler under the floorboards in the bedroom as he thinks it must get bigger somewhere. Worst case is running pipe work round the house which he has quoted at an extra £100.

Third guy has quoted me £1700 all in for a Baxi Neta Tec boiler, 28Kw and he’ll take a view as to whether the pipe work needs upgrading by measuring it with a flow meter. He says if the flow is insufficient he will upgrade the pipe work for no extra charge (God knows how though). 5 Year Guarantee.

All quotes include a wireless room stat/ timer and a bit of neatening up of my pipe work in the kitchen.

What would you do?!

Thanks!

Mark

 

[aggis]

The gas definately wants upgrading to at least 22mm.
You'd be better having a min of 28kw combi for better hot water performance.
My choice of your listed boilers would be Worcester bosch or Viessmann.
Just a note, WB are only offering a 5yr warrenty till xmas, then it'll be 2yr.

 

[diamondgas]

:iagree: with aggis.

A 24kW boiler will give you grief unless you have poor cold water suply to your home as it stands right now! 28kW or more is a much better guarantee of supplying the hot water you need, however with that comes the possibility of undersized gas supply. Personally if your existing system is flushed and protected with a good filter you can fit most boilers. However I would go for one with 5yrs cover if the purse allows

 

[stevetheplumber]

ill be a parrot on this one ,definatly go for a 28k minimum preferably 30kw generally i only fit 24 kws for tight landlords who havent got to live there cheaper to spend more now on the boiler than later on repairs, cheap boilers have dear spares not a worcester fan my self id choose vailant every time in that price range

 

[panholio]

Thanks for the replies. Do you think this pipe work round the house business is the only option?

I'm going to lift some floorboards up tonight and see what I can find. If it is 22mm coming out of the boiler it must change soemwhere. Why woudl it be 15 in the current one?!

 

[stevetheplumber]

because it was fitted wrong the first time
round the house is often the easiest route and has the advantage of putting it all out in the open which is the safest place for gas pipes after the first week and the copper has started to dull down you wont even notice it

 

[Backpacker]

Hi Just a thought I agree with the other comments, With metal theft as It is I would go for internal gas pipe and needs to be 22mm all th way from meter to boiler hope this helps

 

[Backpacker]

Hi I agree with the other comments here but with metal thefts as they are I would go for the internal gas pipe and It needs to be 22mm from the meter to boiler, the existing could be modified to 22mm hope this is of some help.

 

[Mbear]

22mm upgrade Is defo reqd. Don't listen to the guy talking about flow meter p*sh, there's calculations for gas pipe sizing. Most if not all new combis need at least a 22mm gas feed.

Slightly off topic, I went to a repair job recently. The house was fitted with 2 x vokera mynute he 35kw, 2 x DFE fires and a range cooker. All run from a "U6" meter, starting in 22m from the meter tail for a foot, then increases to 28mm and back to 22mm at the chb's. And they wondered why they were getting ignition lockouts, lol. Stupid bar stewards

Gas pipe sizing is v important

 

[SimonJohns]

Hang on
2x 35kw on a u6!!! Forget pipe sizing. Try sizing the meter correctly

 

[Mbear]

Exactly mate, on my advice they are in the process of replacing for a u16. I couldn't believe what I was looking at