General Chat

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looking Lilx

My 25 year old gas boiler has packed up and the part is no longer available. this means a new boiler. I have had three quotes, £2,800, £3,200 and £4,500. The high price is because the old gas boiler is 'illegally sited' and needs to be moved to another room, which will involve building work and electrics. When I questioned this 'illegal siting' it appears that there is not enough clearance round the outside vent - it is short by 11 centimetres, because a porch has been added on at right angles to the vent. Question - what is the regulation clearance required? And why can they not just make the existing hole bigger by 11 centimetres in a sideways move, and block up the illegal bit? I would be grateful if anyone knows the minimum legal clearance for a vent, so that I can argue with some of these people! OC

O.C who gave you the quotes, local guys or the bigger boys like British Gas Lilx

blimey........ i had a whole central heating system fitted, inc boiler for £1500... was it british gas by any chance???? Jane

Hi OC if you go to w w w diynot ( . ) com there are experts on there that give free advice. Good luck !! Kris

O C Wouldn't the local council be able to give you factual information on rules &regs? (They would. presumably, be empowered to enforce landlords to comply with current legislation??) Jay

Hubby wants to know where you live cos he says it sounds pretty dear. He has just moved a boiler from a kitchen to the upstairs airing cupboard, and fitted a vertical flue through the roof, including special flue tile, removal of old hot water tank, all new pipework, taking out old boiler, bricking up flue hole, plastering inside and retiling damaged area in kitchen, icluding electrics, all for the princley sum of £2,750 and has made his normal profit margins. So in his opinion, the prices you have had are very high. He wants to know if there is an opening window on the porch. Jeanette x

Janet That's a good idea, why didn't I think of that???!! Dearest quote is of course, good old British Gas - they do offer £100 back for the old boiler, pmsl. The cheapest is a little local guy and the mid priced one is a county-wide, but not country-wide one. Will try the Council tomorrow. (Wonder how the previous owner got PP to put up the porch - and they did, I have a copy of it. Assume the regs have changed since then) OC

Yes, there is an opening, small window in the porch, right next to where the new boiler will have to go, so they need to vent the flue through the porch roof. I only have a ceiling light in the porch, so this will need new electrics - and presumably miles of copper pipe. Where the existing vent is, is next to a large opening window in the kitchen, which has always been there. On the other side of the vent, the illegal side, is my front door, into the porch. I just have this uneasy feeling that, little old lady on her own with no man about, is being slightly ripped off! Incidentally, one little man who came to try to mend it, said nothing about illegal siting, but could not get the part for me. I asked him if he thought it was illegal, and he said, well, yes, I suppose it is. He was CORGI registered too. I will go out and measure the 300m in the dark! OC

Hubby is now asking what is the make of your current boiler and what is the part that's broken? I'm assuming these questions are going to lead him to some conclusion! lol

Yes, there is an opening, small window in the porch, right next to where the new boiler will have to go, so they need to vent the flue through the porch roof. I only have a ceiling light in the porch, so this will need new electrics - and presumably miles of copper pipe. Where the existing vent is, is next to a large opening window in the kitchen, which has always been there. On the other side of the vent, the illegal side, is my front door, into the porch. I just have this uneasy feeling that, little old lady on her own with no man about, is being slightly ripped off! Incidentally, one little man who came to try to mend it, said nothing about illegal siting, but could not get the part for me. I asked him if he thought it was illegal, and he said, well, yes, I suppose it is. He was CORGI registered too. I will go out and measure the 300m in the dark! OC

Jeanette It is a Servowarm Elite 30, and it is the gas valve ignition button which is broken - at least, the man said he cannot find out what is wrong with the boiler until he can light it, which makes sense I suppose. This was not the original problem, he thinks the gas valve has packed up because the boiler has not been fired up since march - at which point it fired up but nothing happened - the pump is working ok. OC

Hubby thinks your little man is probably right in that you can't get parts, but he will make enquiries and find out for sure tomorrow if you would like him to.

Jeanette That would be lovely of him, if he doesn't mind? Thankyou so much. Just measured the gap - well short of 300mm, and not enough room to go that much sideways. Ho hum. OC

No worries OC. I've made a note of it so he remembers!