boilder broken. ... brrrrr.....

boiler crapped out.  the plumber says it's a gas valve (orginally thought it was the boilder pump... £50).  the kicker is that the gas valve is something like £300 for just the part!!!

i know there are variables that i'm not mentioning like how old the boilder is and what make it is etc... is that an out of this world price or reasonable???

I am not sure if that is a high price, I am just bummed that we need a whole new central heating system.  The bill will be around £5000. 

Hmm, I know it's high, but it seems right to me.  We had loads of boiler problems till we got a new one last year.

meggles - We put in a boiler last year.  You can probably buy the part you need over the Internet for cheaper.  That's what we did.  We found out what to buy (and our choices) from the boiler guy & then we ordered it ourselves and then paid him to install it.  It ended up being a little bit cheaper than if we'd had him do it all.  I'm thinking our boiler itself cost about £700, then with installation (also involving electrical work, taking out the immersion heater, etc) - it all came to just under £1500.  But the first quote we got (for everything) was £2000!  So it can pay to shop around.  Some friends of ours here have a policy that they always get three quotes for whatever home repair it is.

I wonder why the quote we have is so high.  I will have my DH get another one.

great suggestions.  we have hot water and so the wait is doable.  i'm tempted to sign up for a heating cover with npower or british gas or something.  pay a month or two and then claim for them to fix.  too cheeky?

after all this is done i will def be looking into a boiler/heating cover.  the boiler is about 15-20 years old and it will go eventually.  £7-12/month for cover seems like a good deal.

if the boiler cover doens't pan out- i like the idea of ordering the part online.  carolyn- do you have the online store link?

does home insurance cover anything to do with heating/water/etc?

oh the jobs of home ownership!  my two older sisters are arriving on saturday.  hello space heaters!

I wonder why the quote we have is so high.  I will have my DH get another one.

There can be variance considering the size & type of the boiler you need.  Also, how big is your house?  How many rooms are there to heat?  How many radiators? Things like that figure into the price.  We got a Worcester/Bosch, which is one of the best rated brands, but we only needed what's called a Junior size whatever this kind of boiler is -- it's a combi-boiler which all that means to me (really!) is that they took out our immersion heater and now everything is done by the boiler alone.

the boiler is about 15-20 years old and it will go eventually.  

That was our situation too -- ours just needed a part, but we didn't have any heat or hot water!  (It was last August.)  But we had money left from our buying the house, so we just decided to go ahead & replace the whole thing while we were in a position to do so & before the winter came.

if the boiler cover doens't pan out- i like the idea of ordering the part online.  carolyn- do you have the online store link?  

I am pretty sure that we just ordered the boiler directly from the manufacturer:

http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/

But I'd have to ask Steve to be certain -- I'm pretty sure that's what we did though.

£300 for just the valve sounds rather high, but there are a lot of variables to consider.   

If it's a generic solenoid-operated valve which is fitted in the gas line as a separate device, then I would exect to be able to obtain a replacement for much less than than that (try £30 instead of £300).    If the boiler design is such that the valve is an integral part of the burner assembly, then it will need to be the specific valve for that unit, and the price will go up accordingly, especially if it's an older, out-of-production model for which spares are now being made in only small quantities.     Unfortunately, the manufacturers of these model-specific spares pretty much have customers over a barrel, since they are the only source of the component. 

As for the cost of installing a complete new heating system, it's very hard to say whether £5000 is excessive or not without knowing what's involved.  Obviously the boiler size, number and size of radiators, length of plumbing runs, etc. have an effect, but the labor costs are a huge chunk of the total, and can vary drastically depending upon the building -- Whether stone/brick or frame, single- or two-story, the overall layout, ease of access to attics, and so on.

well we got a second opinion yesterday.  the boiler's 27 years old and to replace the gas valve will be £300 + labour.  to replace the boiler will be £600 + labour.  i feel like the boiler doesn't owe us anything and we shoudl just replace teh whole lot.  otherwise, knowing my luck with this house, next year the boiler pump will fail, and then the duct work, and then something else. 

at least a new boiler comes with a 2 year warrenty. 

the only bad bit of news is that my boyfriend's mate is going to fit the boiler and he can only do it on 11-Mar.  Brr.... hello fan heaters!

Brr.... hello fan heaters! 

Brrrr indeed!  Not sure where in England you are, but it's COLD here in Yorkshire!  I'm so glad we were able to have ours put in during the summer when we didn't need it so much.  It was a pain boiling up water for the washing up -- and we have an electric shower, but it was warm enough then not to worry about heating the house too.

We don't have a radiator in our loft (where the computer is!) and I have a hard time staying up here for long (even with the fan heater on) -- and I really should be working here (at the computer) more than I am but it's just too cold!

luckily we have an immersion heater that we can use for water so hot shower and semi-hot taps.  if i didn't have hot water i'd have moved into the office in no time.  my sisters are arriving this weekend so we'll see what they think of this english cold!  i'm wary of keeping space heaters on when i'm not in the house.  is this a rational fear?  i was thinking of putting two on timers so that they come on at 7am.  is this dangerous in the least?

i'm wary of keeping space heaters on when i'm not in the house.  is this a rational fear?  i was thinking of putting two on timers so that they come on at 7am.  is this dangerous in the least? 

I can't help you there.  We just turn the one on in the loft as/when we need it.  This one does have some sort of thermostatic feature, where it cuts off when it gets up to temperature.  But we always turn it off when we're not using the room.

Leave on or not?   It's sometimes a difficult question, and also dependent upon the type of heater.    A radiant heater of the type which has a bar covered by just a wire grill is probably best not left running unattended, as something falling on to the bar would soon start a fire.   Convector heaters (panel, radiator, tubular, baseboard etc.) are a different story, so long as they are secure, not likely to fall, etc. 

Timers are ideal for getting a little warmth for first thing in the morning.   Just remember not to hang clothes or such over a heater which will turn on next morning.  (I know it sounds obvious, but it's easily done.)     Get decent plug-in timers for heaters though, not the cheapo three for £5.95 types from the bargain basement.  Heaters pull a lot of current, and some of the cheaper timers aren't really up to the task.

Off-topic:  Isn't it funnny how we can read what we expect to see and not what's actually there?    I've only just noticed that the topic line for this thread says boilder.