New boiler or keep old?

[Harbrimar]

Hi everyone, this is my first post. I am considering changing our gas boiler for efficiency purposes at this time. We live in a bungalow in Grayshott, NE Hampshire and our current boiler is a Glow-worm Ultimate 70FF. We think it is in excess of 15 years old and it is working fine although the hole for the pilot flame clogs up from time to time. We have a hot water cylinder at mains pressure (Tribune Premier TP180B). Ideally we would like to keep it as the shower pressure is lovely. A boiler supplying hot water on demand would probably not work very well as the hot water pipe run from boiler to bathroom would be about 15 metres. The central heating seems to be vented as there is a small header tank in the loft. I believe the pump has the circuit to run on after the boiler switches off as it does do this. Ideally a new boiler would be a straight swap with the old as it is on an outside wall in the utility room and quite close to the gas supply in the garage. Our quandary is, shall we keep the old boiler and wait until it packs up completely or go for a new boiler. If a new boiler, any recommendations?

 

[Mike Jackson]

Keep the old one. The energy savings aren't enough to make it worthwhile changing a boiler that is working fine. If you've got the money put it one side for the day when you need to swap it. It makes more sense to improve the insulation of the property and keep your current boiler.

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

I agree with Mike.
In addition. When you do eventually get a new boiler get at least 3 quotes from GSR boiler installers and ask for their best opinion on what to do.
(local based businesses may serve you better than some of the big names).
They may suggest very different (better) heating hot water ideas than what you have in mind.
Things have changed a lot since your boiler was installed!

 

[Reg Man]

Your boiler has a seasonal efficiency rating of probably 75%. All modern boilers are 90%+. So effectively you could make a saving of 15 to 20% on your gas consumption assuming you have up to date controls on the system. Having said that the older boilers tend to have longer life and tend to be more reliable. The other thing to consider, is that your boiler is probably near the end being 15 years old, so do you wait till it lets you down or would it be more convenient to get it replaced before hand?

 

[Harbrimar]

Thank you to all for giving your advice. Clearly know one knows how long my current boiler will last and by delaying I am probably just putting off the inevitable. Whether I spend now or in 2 or 3 years time probably wont make much difference unless everything is going to get a lot cheaper which I doubt. Perhaps it is better to get it replaced in the summer months than in the winter when most of these things seem to break down. Assuming that I will go ahead with a replacement, any suggestions re boiler makes, type? Ideally, I would like to keep my pressurised cylinder but am open to other suggestions. For example Mrs Tara Plumbi suggested there might be some better and more modern ideas re heating the hot water. Not sure whether she has solar thermal in mind.

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

I wasn't thinking of anything as modern that!
I'm not a heating engineer so can't really tell you anything useful!

I can tell you that if you are totally prescriptive about what you do and don't want - where you want the boiler, etc... then the engineers who visit and can actually see might not give you alternative suggestions.
They think you know what you want.
But if you invite them to give their best advice you may get a number of options that you never thought of and that will be only obvious to the Heating Engineers when they can see your property.
Get 3 quotes, local installers, word of mouth recommendations, long standing businesses...