Condensing boiler - brand, size, price?

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eamonn123456

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Need a boiler for a 2200 sq ft house, to be sited externally.

What size do I need? Someone said 100 BTU ?

Can anyone recommend a good reliable and very efficient make please?

Also, what price (trade) should I expect my plumber to have to pay for it?

and roughly how much to install (being sited just outside where the current internal boiler is) ?

Finally, any sense in trying to buy in the North?

Many thanks.
 
Well, assuming your original boiler was sized correctly exchange like for like, if it needs to be calculated, your installer will do this from the ammount and size of the radiators already installed in your house.

Assuming as your talking about external boilers, you mean OIL boilers, I tend to always install Firebird, have had little trouble with them, and most of the branded boilers here tend to use Riello RDB burners these days so reliabiltiy is pretty standard across the board. (also look at Gerkros/Warmflow/Grant)

Price will all depend on make - model - type
Your boiler as external will come in a cabinpack affair, but depending on what is being replaced it could be 'boiler only' or 'system' or 'combi'
and output will alos effect the price (higher the output, bigger the boiler, higher the price)

So price for installation will also slightly vary, depending on your system, what if any pipework needs altering, how convienient it is to run your condensate drain (you may need a soakaway if there is no drain close by)
so get yourself a few quotes, but make sure your installer has included
a) flushing your entire system when fitting the new boiler
b) that he includes inhibitors in his cost, sime don't bother and you will suffer it later!
c) that he is going to as much as possible re-balance your entire system to a 20deg temperature differentail as this will increase the effeciency of your shiny new condensing boiler (ie, it allows it to condense more often, standard systems are designed on a 10deg diff.)

I don't see any significant savings in buying in the north (although I may be wrong) as your plumber will have trade discounts in place with his local suppliers, and with the exception of Warmflow the other 3 boilers are manufactured in southern Ireland, and buying in the north you may not get the same warranty or service (again an assumption)

Sorry for not giving you excat prices, but hopefully have armed you with some of the information to get out there and make an informed decision, remember also, if your plumber is not Oftec qualified, get him (in his costings) to include a PROPER commissioning of the appliance, as if its not done your warranty maybe voided, in the past year I have lost count of the ammount of condensing boilers I have been called to that have sooted-up in the week after installation for this reason.

One last thing to be aware of, condensing boilers do plume, ie. a colum of steam (water vapor) exiting the flue, so make sure your boiler siting is in a position where this will not bother you, or a neigbouring property, it's like having your own litle steamtrain at times! (although this makes it efficient) and many a customer and/or nieghbour has got a shock where they have been started up and not realised this.
 
Really great answer - thanks very much!

I think the current boiler is undersized as there have been 2 extensions since.

HAvng said that, I will be getting DG and insulation.

Plenty to think about, thanks again.
 
Would have to second what DGOBS has said and would like to echo the need for a system clean before any new installation. Only last week I had to buy a new flushing machine (over €1000 :eek:, had one from UK for £450) I would not dream of adding a new boiler without flushing first. So when you get quotes besure and tell them exactly what you want. Of course it should be done as standard but it ain't.
 
You get what you pay for, this may sound nooty, there are good boilers and there are very good boilers, the advice of shop around is definatly a good one, as for getting it in the North, it may be cheaper but service and warrenty may be a problem check it out before you do this and get the warrenty in writing.

Have you thought about biomass,

Wood pellet boiler is a little expensive to buy, but cheaper to run no emissions and there are grants available. go to the SEI website.

There are also now pallet log boilers available, or pellet boilers only. We have seen many a system working and they are good. As I said the innitial cost may look expensive but there are people out there that are with a € 1200.-- fill of pellets are now 24 months using the system and still have pellets left.

Also if you do go for a boiler (oil, gas or biomass) make sure that you get it commissioned by a commissioning engineer, otherwise you may have a system that is un economical and high on emmissions (oil), and with condensing boiler as previously said sooting is the trouble, it may cost extra but is well worth the investment.

Do not oversize your boiler either as that will increase your running cost. There is a calculation for this and really a good boiler manufacturer/trade place will be able to calculate and tell you. Ask more than one and ask the Kw's as BTU's are often calculated wrongly not intentional but formulas are done wrong. If you ask several trade places manufacturers you should get the same or very simmular Kw's
 
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KW to BTU ( kw x 3412 = BTU)

As for biomasss & wood pellet burners, from experiences had and heard
I would tread with caution! Know a few too many who have converted back!
 
DGOBS said:
KW to BTU ( kw x 3412 = BTU)

As for biomasss & wood pellet burners, from experiences had and heard
I would tread with caution! Know a few too many who have converted back!
Click to expand...

My experience with biomass & wood pellet is excellent but it has to be researched well. Buy from a well know make, ask loads of questions to the person you want to buy from. If the answers are good and the person seems to know what they are on about.

A good way is look up the web site of the boiler you are interested in, get some ready answered questions of the web site so you know the answer, then ask. In the past there were a lot of people that had no clue about biomass but where selling it anyway unfortunatly a lot of people got stung. Most people that sell a product should be trained by the manufacturer on the product. There are a lot of biomass pellet boilers out there that give absolutely no problem at all as the people, put there home work in. Do not always believe the first person that wants to sell you a system.

It is very easy nowadays to know about products, ask yourself what do you want the boiler to do, what kind of boiler do you want, indoor outdoor, wood chips, logs or pellets or combined. You want a hot water supply or do you want solar aswell. The possibilities are endless, and there are lots of boilers that are excellent.

Do not forget, no emmissions, cheaper fuel, near silent system (not all of them but most) supplies of fuel are finally good, there are no longer shortages and the quality of most are excellent.

Disadvantage, small one you will have to empty the ash tray one a fourtnight or once a week. The boiler will need servicing once yearly (but so does any other boiler really)

All in all if I had foresight I would have put in a biomass boiler in my house, and would not have been sorry. As with carbon tax coming soon I would have no emmissions and no tax.

However anyone should have there carbon emmissions checked, once yearly with there boiler service as most boilers here in Ireland are not commissioned they are running in efficient with high carbon output. So get it checked the next time you get your boiler serviced or installed. get an engineer although a little more expensive to get the service done (about € 180.-- to € 240.-- ex Vat @ 13.5%) but your whole system gets checked and you will get a print out of you boiler emmissions and effeciency.
 
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