Boiler Installation Process

November 19th, 2008 by admin | Filed under Boilers, British Gas, eCommerce Associates.

When it comes to the boiler installation process there is one key piece of advice: be aware of cowboys bearing cheap quotes.

Boiler installation is a job which requires training and certification. Of course, the law and building regulations state that you have to be ‘competent’ and so a god DIY-er could do the job, but as so often is the case with the law, it’s down to interpretation. But blow down half your house, or half your street, and you’ll have some explaining to do in court.

Gas, like electricity, is dangerous and so is best left to the people who know what they are doing.

So if a quote appears too cheap, then be a little suspicious about the person making that quote. Make sure you are using a qualified engineer who is fully trained to handle the job. For example, choosing a CORGI-registered engineer is your best bet.

And bear in mind that your quote should not just be provided on the back of an envelope. A quote should be accompanied by a survey of your property to ensure that the right boiler is being installed. There are a large number of boiler and central heating systems, so there is no one-size fits all. At this stage, you need the advice of an installer you can trust.

So, plumbers and general heating engineers will happily tell you they can fit a boiler, but the difficulty lies in the gas supply. Making sure you have the right diameter of gas supply pipe is the first key consideration, but then connecting the gas to the boiler is the next. Simply, don’t take chances with gas. Get the experts in.

It is worth noting that British Gas employs a highly trained and experienced boiler installation team, who, nationwide, are installing boilers that have been designed and supplied by British Gas over their many years of operation. And by only installing their own boilers, with their own workforce, British Gas has built up an enviable reputation for quality and reliable work.

As to what the boiler installation process involves, it all depends on what type of property you occupy and what type of system you have installed. Now, well over one million new boilers are installed into U.K houses every year and most of these are replacement boilers for existing systems.

A standard combination boiler (a boiler that provides instantaneous hot water without the use of a storage tank), in a flat should not take more than a day to install and have operational.

Installing a more complicated condenser boiler (the most efficient boiler available on the market today) in a large five-bedroomed house, might end up taking several days to install.

The installer has a number of factors to consider when fitting a new boiler and it is not, mostly, a question of ripping out the old boiler and fitting a new one.

For example, when fitting a new boiler nowadays, it is recommended that if not already fitted, a larger diameter supply pipe is needed to maintain an acceptable level of gas pressure. Now, running a new, larger pipe between the meter and the boiler, is no small job and can cause havoc with interrupted supply and ruined decorations in a house. This could add days to the job of fitting a boiler.

Also, another consideration is that new boilers, when being fitted into an existing system, demand that the central heating system be power flushed (which effectively cleans the system from sludge and corrosive deposits). If not, then boiler manufacturers claims could be forfeit. This might add another day to the job.

And then there’s the wiring. Using the existing wiring is nowadays just not an option and the heating engineer will not usually be qualified to tackle the job. Therefore, an electrician will have to be employed to complete the wiring and may even suggest that much of the overall wiring system is improved to bring it up to modern standards. This alone could add more days to the job.

Right, fitting a new boiler can take anywhere from one day, to a large number of days, depending on the size of the job.

As to cost, the average price of boiler installation is roughly £1,000, although it can do done for nearer £800 (but this is installing a basic unit into a basic system) and can reach up to plus £1,500 and indeed upwards, depending on its capacity and control complexity, and its host system.

But, if you get quoted much below £1,000, ask a few searching questions, as you can’t risk your safety for the want of doing the job properly.

For more information on boiler replacement and boiler replacement cover visit http://www.britishgasboilers.co.uk/