central heating advice sought

[devonwoody]

I have often wondered why there is sometimes three or four BG vans outside a property down here when they are doing a job. At nearly 4k I can now see why.

 

[beech1948]

I was told that the condensate was created by the burning of gas to generate heat and then by some condensation of the waste fumes. The condensate is acidic and moderately strong. The condensate pipe is cheap and frequently allowed to drain into a rainwater downpipe if one is near.

Using a local one man band plumber does not sound too terrible to me it;s just the need to call prior customers, get references etc etc. I found my ancient mum's plumber this way, by recommendation and he turned out to be excellent.

Al

 

[beech1948]

I was told that the condensate was created by the burning of gas to generate heat and then by some condensation of the waste fumes. The condensate is acidic and moderately strong. The condensate pipe is cheap and frequently allowed to drain into a rainwater downpipe if one is near.

Using a local one man band plumber does not sound too terrible to me it;s just the need to call prior customers, get references etc etc. I found my ancient mum's plumber this way, by recommendation and he turned out to be excellent.

Al

 

[Digit]

If you decide to DIY John be prepared for a lot of swotting. My boiler, for example, came with an installation pack which included the info that the flue connection was sutable for installations according to BS ***** and BS*****. Two and a half hours of Googling produced the info that that was 'horizontal or vertical!'
Why the hell the manufactures couldn't have stated that I don't know. I came to the conclusion that BS stood for Bull dung!
In case you are not aware of it John modern remote controls are available as 'wireless' connections, which save a lot of cabling etc.

Roy.

 

[Dibs-h]

It took me about 4 hours to fit our new boiler. By fit, I mean the mechanical fixing, i.e.

- turn off the gas, water, & drain the existing system,
- take of the old one (nearly died taking it down as it was cast iron)
- place template on the wall and fit brackets to the wall
- hang boiler
- fit blue (about 1m horizontal and then straight out the wall)

Then my tame gas chap came round and altered the flow\return\gas\water pipes to fit and commissioned it. He was there for no more than 3 hrs. In hindsight, I probably could have plumbed up the flow\return\water pipes up myself and left the gas for him (or even done it and had him check\supervise).

Dibs

 

[Digit]

I did everything bar the gas pipes, the worst was as you say, the boiler installation.
Wall mounted combi, 'one man lift' the installation package stated.
Who was this man?
I was fortunate that I had a site that was close to hot and cold connection points and drain for over heating and condensate pipes, unfortunately there was a kitchen worktop in the way!
Lifting it onto the brackets at arms length is not a one man job!

Roy.

 

[devonwoody]

A local plumbing firm have quoted £1600+vat and vertical flue supplied with Worcester boiler + 200 for a power flush and chemicals. So that makes BG a candidate for that TV program where they rip of pensioners I should think.

 

[Digit]

Sounds better, the Worcester range of boilers have a pretty good rep locally.

Roy.

 

[tsb]

BG are one of the biggest rip off companies out there in my opinion. Also power flushing is one big money making con in the plumbing world. I don't know anyone who does the job right. Just use some Sentinel X400 (follow the instructions) then use Sentinel X100 and a system filter when you change the boiler.
Also check which Worchester boiler they will fit. I'd be very surprised if it's not a Greenstar 24kw one ( the cheapest). When you're looking at a combi boiler, the important info you need to know is how much hot water it heats up in a minute @ 35 degree C rise. A 24kw boiler will heat approx 9l a minute. Mine is a 40kw boiler which heats approx 16l. If you like a bath the 24kw boiler will take forever (especially in winter) to fill up.

 

[Digit]

Yep, that is the downside of combis, but if I have read DW correctly he will be retaining an indirect DHW cylinder.

Roy.

 

[tsb]

Sorry, I only read the last page of the thread

 

[devonwoody]

attached quote (portion of Letter)

What do you think?

Could I find a lower quote if I look further?

Boiler is coming out of the kitchen and fitting in the airing cupboard where there is a hot water tank already installed.
Gas needs to be got to the cupboard and a drain for condensates can get to the bath outlet pipe for a connection without too much trouble. And flue through ceiling and loft.

 

[Digit]

You might DW, but it sounds reasonable, depending on boiler model of course as I received no quote on my computer.

Roy.

 

[devonwoody]

sorry that quote somehow did not get attached.

 

[Harbo]

I had a new Condensing boiler (but not a combi) fitted just over a year ago - our Plumber got us a £300 Gov. Grant towards it.
Worth checking if they are still around?
Previous one had to be more than 10yrs old and not condensing?

Rod

 

[devonwoody]

Thanks Rod, I will investigate, but Ozzie has cut down on his handouts me thinks.

 

[Digit]

LAST WEEK, David Cameron and Nick Clegg were lamenting that house-building is at its lowest level since the 1920s, just when we desperately need millions of new homes (not least to accommodate the 250,000 immigrants flooding into Britain each year, as a result of policies they both support). Neither mentioned, though, that one major obstacle to any improvement in the figures is their own Government’s building regulations, already being phased in. These decree that, by 2016, all new homes must be “zero carbon” in terms of energy-use and emissions. According to official estimates in the Code for Sustainable Homes, this will increase the cost of building a house by up to £37,793.

In rural areas, where there is already a serious housing crisis, this will be made still worse by the Government’s wish by 2013 to abolish the “Fuel Factor”, a relaxation of the rules for new homes in places without access to the natural gas grid. New houses built in outlying areas will no longer be allowed to install oil or gas cylinder-fired heating but will have to rely on wood pellet boilers or “heat pumps”. A paper submitted to the Government by Calor points out that a polluting wood-fired boiler costs £11,000, while “air-source heat pumps” (£15,000) and “ground-source pumps” (£18,000) have both been shown to be seriously inefficient.

How does this effect, if at all, replacement LPG boilers? Anyone know?

Roy.

 

[dickm]

Agree that this Govt doesn't seem to know its a*** from its elbow when it comes to anything vaguely technical like insulation(!), but Calor are being a bit disingenuous in claiming that "wood boilers costing £11000" are "polluting". A properly designed wood boiler for that price should be no more "polluting" than any other type, taken overall.