| Author |
Message |
Tk
Joined 17-05-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, 17 November, 2005 - 01:55 pm: | |
Hi - can anyone recommend a good plumber as i need to replace my boiler which has now offically had it. |
Jo108
Joined 03-03-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, 17 November, 2005 - 04:05 pm: | |
wouldn't wholeheartedly recommend the guy who replaced my boiler recently. However, in Time Out a couple of weeks ago they had a list of recommended i.e. tried and tested service providers. There's a plumber in there who covers S.E. London described as "corgi registered boiler repairman sorts out leaky, knackered boilers"
I don't think we're allowed to put trader contact details in the forum (already been told off by webmaster this week, so don't want to commit any further naughtiness!) but if you give your email address I'll email you the tel. no. |
Sherwood
Joined 30-03-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, 17 November, 2005 - 04:20 pm: | |
I think the plumber must be Corgi registered.
I can recommend my one, but it is difficult to get him off the golf course! |
Julianm
Joined 05-08-2004
| | Posted on Friday, 18 November, 2005 - 06:51 am: | |
Having recently sold a flat, the provenance of building works, gas and electrical installations and their approval became an issue. So I would definitely recommend a CORGI registered company. We recently had a gas fire installed by such a bod and afterwards CORGI sent us an official certificate stating that the said work was carried out by an approved organisation etc. You keep the certificate for when you sell your house (I don't live in the 'hood anymore so cannot make a local recommendation). |
Tk
Joined 17-05-2005
| | Posted on Monday, 21 November, 2005 - 11:05 am: | |
Thanks for all your recommendations, its much appreciated. im on tariq.khan@lexisnexis.com |
Tk
Joined 17-05-2005
| | Posted on Monday, 21 November, 2005 - 03:22 pm: | |
if jo108 could get in touch in particular i would be really grateful (tried finding the timeout but its not on sale anymore!!!) |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, 02 August, 2006 - 07:54 am: | |
Does anyone know how much it should cost to replace a combi boiler? Not necessary to mention any particular company, but I have just had a quote for £5500 for a Worcester Bosch 440 Highflow for some works to resite my boiler 3 feet from its current position, minor moving of lights and additional pipework ( 1m max). Approx 3 days work tops.I know the cost of the actual boiler is £1500 so this seems to be £4000 for 3 days work plus VAT,inc power flushing etc. I can't see how this can be justified under any circumstances. Surely installing whole central heating systems cant be that much these days. I know the boiler itself is top of the range but this is ridiculous. Anyone elses ball park figures appreciated. |
Deanos
Joined 01-12-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, 02 August, 2006 - 08:55 am: | |
see www.warmandwise.org.uk, they are a local authority initiative and they'll give you a massive £50 off the cost of the work! The people that they sent to ours gave a very good and thorough quote and because they are local authority, all of the work that they do is up to the lastest energy effinciancy standards. A straight swap is setting us back less than £2K, loads cheaper than British Gas. |
Sherwood
Joined 30-03-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, 02 August, 2006 - 09:05 am: | |
Roz,
That sounds far too high.
Try another plumber. |
Abi
Joined 09-09-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, 02 August, 2006 - 09:24 am: | |
Roz, three years ago I had a combi boiler fitted to replace an ancient one. It was for a 2 bed flat, the cost was £1250 (boiler and labour) and the work was carried out in one day by a local heating engineer, whom I wouldn't hesitate to recommend.
Leave a forwarding address or number and I will let you have his details. |
Bosco
Joined 16-07-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, 02 August, 2006 - 09:34 am: | |
Roz, we had a combi boiler fitted about a year or two ago and it involved resiting the boiler from the kitchen to a cupbaord upstairs, filling in the hole in the wall left by the old boiler, some pipework and flushing the system. From recollection the total cost for materials and labour was approx £2,000. I would wholeheartedly recommend the guy we used as we had used him in the past to service the old boiler.
He's based off Woolstone Road and I would be happy to e-mail you his number if you post an e-mail address. |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, 03 August, 2006 - 07:41 am: | |
Thanks, everyone, these are the level of costs which I was anticipating. I got the breakdown from my contractor and they are really just taking the proverbial as they are clearly not able to justify their costs. They were a recommended installer by the manufacturer ie had the training, but seemingly these people see this as a licence to print money. No doubt someone somewhere is paying them these sorts of prices without asking questions. I am looking now at alternatives as suggested here. Thanks for all the recommendations. Bosco, I'll post an email address shortly. Cheers |
Bosco
Joined 16-07-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, 03 August, 2006 - 10:42 am: | |
Roz - I have e-mailed the details to the Webmaster so he/she should hopefully forward them to you shortly. |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, 03 August, 2006 - 09:14 pm: | |
Thanks for this , Bosco, and also Les. Believe it or not, the same companies have been recommended to me by two other people already, so they must be good! |
Les
Joined 28-01-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, 03 August, 2006 - 10:21 pm: | |
Roz,
That's good to hear, I'm always nervous about recommending just in case this time they turn out to be completely rubbish! Glad to hear others have good experiences too. Good luck.
Les |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Friday, 04 August, 2006 - 07:12 am: | |
Cheers, Les.
I also wanted to ask whether anyone has experience of installing solar panels as part of their heating and hot water system for heating water. I do not believe many systems are geared up to use solar power to run heating systems .
I am concerned as I am sure we all are about escalating energy prices and being so reliant on other countries to supply us with gas supplies, considering what happened in Russia recently.
For us this would mean switching from a combi to a cylinder and tank arrangement which would be much more expensive to do, as well as putting the panel system on the roof ( cost price for panels alone around £2000). I am not sure whether this is entirely justified for us in cost terms if not for heating which is the major expense, and given that if we switch to a more energy efficient condensing combi we are probably looking at instant savings anyway.
I'd love to go down the renewable energy line but despite government policy for this on new housebuilding, it really does seem a luxury lifestyle item for ordinary home owners. I was wondering however whether it would be worth forming some kind of 'club' locally to obtain large scale discounts on this sort of thing. |
Bt
Joined 27-07-2003
| | Posted on Friday, 04 August, 2006 - 07:44 am: | |
I had a Combi boiler replaced a couple of years ago and paid £1500. My old boiler broke down on Boxing day. I called a place fron Yellow pages ( not always the best idea I know, but I was desperate). The guys came round the same day to see what was wanted and gave me a quote. They came back the next day to do the job which took them about 2 1/2 hours. The guy who was doing the outside bit at the top of a ladder in the pouring rain was like a drowned rat when he had finished. I think they earned their money that day and I was warm and able to do the washing up again!! The boiler itself was far more economical than the old one, which I had already had repaired about 18 months previously at a cost of about £400, so I think £1500 - £2000 seems about right for a new one. |
Deanos
Joined 01-12-2005
| | Posted on Friday, 04 August, 2006 - 09:13 am: | |
Roz, I think that warm and wise advise about this too. |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Friday, 04 August, 2006 - 01:47 pm: | |
Thanks, Deanos,I am contacting them today. |
Jalapeno
Joined 13-10-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, 30 November, 2006 - 08:11 pm: | |
Hi everyone,
I need to replace my boiler system and want to get a combi-boiler fitted. I have been quoted approx £2400 - £2700 today. It is a 2 bed flat. Is this a fair price? (includes stripping out cold water tank and hot water tank). Can anyone who recommended people above please email me the contact details at: john_langham@hotmail.com. Many thanks! |
Domc
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Friday, 01 December, 2006 - 07:33 am: | |
is similar to what i paid 2 years ago for what sounds similar system. Remember they will get a decent amount of scrap money from your tank. |
Roz
Joined 17-03-2005
| | Posted on Friday, 01 December, 2006 - 07:56 am: | |
This seems a fair price for a combi judging by quotes we received, unfortunately a combi probably won't suffice for our house now so we are looking at £7k for a pressurised system with water storage. Make sure its a condensing system in compliance with legislation as there are still some people out there supplying the non condensing kind and not letting on! |
Kingkong
Joined 22-10-2006
| | Posted on Friday, 01 December, 2006 - 01:25 pm: | |
I paid £1,200 to have my boiler replaced with a combi about 2 and a half years ago. the boiler is a good quality worcester bosch one and the work was done in a day.
However, I think regulations have changed now and that you'll have to get a condensing boiler which will cost you more. |
Baggydave
Joined 19-05-2004
| | Posted on Friday, 01 December, 2006 - 04:56 pm: | |
Combis are not so reliable as the standard ones, eg pipes furr up - but £1.2k is a good deal. Yes you have to use condensing ones, and they are still having problems. It all went wrong when we moved away from cast iron to aluminium heat exchangers. Also a very uncompetitive market as many plumbers 'tell' you what boiler to have rather than give you a choice (can you believe it, BD actually carried out professional research into this market!).
So, go down to one of your wonderful plumbers merchants in Syd or FH, discuss with the what boiler you want and then pay a gas fitter separately to fit it. Quids in! |
Andrewr
Joined 24-05-2006
| | Posted on Monday, 04 December, 2006 - 01:13 pm: | |
To put costs in perspective:
Wickes will sell you a condensing combi boiler for £735 - http://www.wickes.co.uk/icat/bboilers - it shouldn't take a competent fitter more than 3 days to fit it in place of an existing boiler(if that), and additional materials shouldn't be more than, say £300. |
Jalapeno
Joined 13-10-2005
| | Posted on Monday, 04 December, 2006 - 01:34 pm: | |
Andrew,
Thanks for this. But how much would a competent fitter and helper charge for 3 days of their time? |
Lola
Joined 24-11-2006
| | Posted on Monday, 04 December, 2006 - 04:01 pm: | |
A connected but different request. I have a leaky bath/shower. Between dodgy sealants around the bath and a rubbish shower screen, water is getting through and coming down the light fitting in my dining room! Does anyone have any suggestions on what can be done? |
Webmaster
Joined 01-01-2003
| | Posted on Monday, 04 December, 2006 - 04:17 pm: | |
Lola, apologies but this thread is already straying off-topic. Suggest to everyone that further queries would be better placed in www.plumbingforum.com
Thanks. |
Jamie
Joined 31-10-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, 07 December, 2006 - 10:23 am: | |
Replace the shower screen and put new sealant round the bath! Silicone sealant you can get from B&Q and do yourself for about a tenner (just pull off the old stuff and squeeze on). I'd do this fairly quickly as if it's coming through the light fitting you'll either start tripping your power out or set your house alight. |
