My insurance renewal came through this morning, £335 lower than last year, BONUS!
Come home from work and my boiler has broken, flooding the bathroom, ARSE!
It will take a few years of lower premiums to pay for that.
Typical
Re: Typical
Terry, the following is a serious suggestion that will not only give you some new skills to add to your arsenal but will also save you a load of cash:
Check out the following link.
A lot of folk with relevant experience and/or qualifications in other disciplines can register and it doesn't cost as much as paying someone to do it for you. In fact it's just £30 more than you saved on the insurance!
Check out the following link.
A lot of folk with relevant experience and/or qualifications in other disciplines can register and it doesn't cost as much as paying someone to do it for you. In fact it's just £30 more than you saved on the insurance!
J
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true..
"Home is where you park it", so the saying goes. That may yet come true..
Re: Typical
Ahh law of sod strikes once more 
Re: Typical
The central heating leaking here is oil fired so no certification needed. I will be doing some calling around tomorrow to get some prices for a replacement boiler. 6 pipes and 3 wires, it can't be that hard to bung in a new one. I have never tried soldering plumbing joints before but I have soldered up radiators on cars so it can't be very different. The replacement model for the one I have is £2100 + vat (ouch!). Hopefully I can find one for less than that or I may be eating bread sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next month. The only issues I can see are my current boiler has a flu in to a chimney which is apparently not an approved configuration any more and modern boilers are condensing where as the old one is not so I will have to make some new holes for a different flu arrangement and a pipe through the wall to output the run-off.
The biggest problem I think is that the boiler weighs 190kg which is just a smidgen more than I can lift and my engine hoist doesn't fit in to the house so moving it is going to be fun. plus I have to take the basin off the wall to get the boiler out of it's cupboard. Why is it that every job you have to do be it on a car or the house, requires 17 other smaller jobs to be done first :S
The biggest problem I think is that the boiler weighs 190kg which is just a smidgen more than I can lift and my engine hoist doesn't fit in to the house so moving it is going to be fun. plus I have to take the basin off the wall to get the boiler out of it's cupboard. Why is it that every job you have to do be it on a car or the house, requires 17 other smaller jobs to be done first :S
Understeer: when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.
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Grumpy Northener
- Posts: 1637
- Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:26 am
- Location: Hampshire UK
Re: Typical
The good thing about this is that the condensing boiler will be far more efficient than the old lump that you have now - I would be surprised if that the boiler fitment comes under no regulation for fitting ? surely the flue has to be set up correctly and checked by a registered engineer to make sure that it does leak any fumes / carbon monoxide into the property.
We are going through the same process currently - The 20 year old Rayburn cooker that also does our heating & hot water is inefficient and it's costing a small mortgage to keep running - We are going to install a large gas burning condensing combi in the utility loft - its at least 30% more efficient than the current system plus we don't have to heat a tank a water twice a day and don't have to starve for two hours whilst we wait for the cooker to come up to temperature. So the Rayburn has to go at the same time a new multi fuel cooker & combi boiler gets fitted - the cooker arrived yesterday and I plan to fit the boiler in next few weeks - the way around saving yourself money is to do the fitting yourself (most heating / boiler engineers are charging £60 + per hour) then get a commissioning engineer to come and inspect / make the final connection if its gas - it might cost a couple of hundred quid but in my case the heating engineer wants £5k to supply and fit the boiler which I can purchase for £1800 - with the pipework + odds it's going to be about £2.5K including the commissioning engineer and doing the easy sums that's half price
heres a link to the best priced / stocked dealer that I found http://www.onlineboilers.co.uk/ - Good luck
We are going through the same process currently - The 20 year old Rayburn cooker that also does our heating & hot water is inefficient and it's costing a small mortgage to keep running - We are going to install a large gas burning condensing combi in the utility loft - its at least 30% more efficient than the current system plus we don't have to heat a tank a water twice a day and don't have to starve for two hours whilst we wait for the cooker to come up to temperature. So the Rayburn has to go at the same time a new multi fuel cooker & combi boiler gets fitted - the cooker arrived yesterday and I plan to fit the boiler in next few weeks - the way around saving yourself money is to do the fitting yourself (most heating / boiler engineers are charging £60 + per hour) then get a commissioning engineer to come and inspect / make the final connection if its gas - it might cost a couple of hundred quid but in my case the heating engineer wants £5k to supply and fit the boiler which I can purchase for £1800 - with the pipework + odds it's going to be about £2.5K including the commissioning engineer and doing the easy sums that's half price
heres a link to the best priced / stocked dealer that I found http://www.onlineboilers.co.uk/ - Good luck1937 Jowett 8 - Project - in less pieces than the Jupiter
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
1943 Jowett Stationary Engine
1952 Jowett Jupiter - In lots of peices http://Jowett.org/
1952 Jowett Javelin - Largely original
1973 Rover P6 V8 - Original / 22,000 miles
Re: Typical
Firstly - sorry to hear that mate, a real pain, and vary unpleasant when it happens in the winter eh?
We're also oil-fired here.
You should read up the relevant parts of building regs so you're familiar with what the rules are and you know what you're in to. You can legally do the work yourself, but it has to comply with the regs. You could ignore the regs but mught then get into difficulties when you come to sell the house if you don't have a signed-off installation certificate, or if it becomes obvious that it doesn't comply then in extreme cases you can be liable for the costs of retro-rectification of the installation.
Unfortunately the BRs also cover the electrical part of the boiler installation which has to comply with part P regulations and be signed off by a competent person (registered as such, who can self-certify). At least I don't have that problem with my wood-burner.
It seems mad that you can legally carry on using an existing installation which doesn't comply, but when you replace the boiler it then has to comply - but them's the rules I'm afraid.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm up to my neck in a similar situation here while installing a replacement wood burning stove, so I feel for you!
I suspect a compromise between professional fitting and doing the work yourself will be the way to go - that's what I'm doing.
Wishing you all the best with it anyway.....
Cheers!
P.S. I'm not a professional builder or architect, so if any pros on here know better, then everything I've said above stands to be corrected except for the bit about my sympathies for Terry!
We're also oil-fired here.
Terry, that's correct in the sense that the fitter doesn't have to be CORGI registered etc., but when replacing any type of boiler you do need to comply with building regs., and that will cover the installation of the flue, possibly prohibiting you from re-use of the existing one, and also the installation of the drain-off for the condensate, which will have to go to a drain etc..TerryG wrote:The central heating leaking here is oil fired so no certification needed.
You should read up the relevant parts of building regs so you're familiar with what the rules are and you know what you're in to. You can legally do the work yourself, but it has to comply with the regs. You could ignore the regs but mught then get into difficulties when you come to sell the house if you don't have a signed-off installation certificate, or if it becomes obvious that it doesn't comply then in extreme cases you can be liable for the costs of retro-rectification of the installation.
Unfortunately the BRs also cover the electrical part of the boiler installation which has to comply with part P regulations and be signed off by a competent person (registered as such, who can self-certify). At least I don't have that problem with my wood-burner.
It seems mad that you can legally carry on using an existing installation which doesn't comply, but when you replace the boiler it then has to comply - but them's the rules I'm afraid.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm up to my neck in a similar situation here while installing a replacement wood burning stove, so I feel for you!
I suspect a compromise between professional fitting and doing the work yourself will be the way to go - that's what I'm doing.
Wishing you all the best with it anyway.....
Cheers!
P.S. I'm not a professional builder or architect, so if any pros on here know better, then everything I've said above stands to be corrected except for the bit about my sympathies for Terry!
Some people are like Slinkies - they serve no useful purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them downstairs.
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tractorman
- Posts: 1399
- Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 11:22 am
- Location: Wigton, Cumbria
Re: Typical
There again, a good oil-fired boiler engineer will be OFTEC registered - the oil equivalent to Gas Safe (CORGI as was). Like just about everything these days, the right bit of paper is essential - as I discovered when I had the multi-fuel stove fitted by a HETAS-certified "engineer". My friend, with OFTEC papers, also had to get a HETAS-certified builder to fit his multi-fuel stoves - even though he fits flue liners for oil-fired stuff!
I'm not sure if OFTEC is legally required; my friend suggests it is a bit like CORGI was - a lot of cowboys don't bother with certification and just carried on as if it was the still the 1960s! There again, HETAS certificates are needed when you sell the house - a bit like Part P etc.
Back to Terry's original post - I think I'm paying for his reduced premium! My insurance, Direct Line, went up last year because of the written-off Golf. It was £340 or less last year and a little over £350 this year. I lost two years' NCD, so was expecting this year's insurance to be the same or slightly cheaper. It was more expensive!! So I did a quick comparison (Tesco only had one quote and it was double the one from Direct Line). I got a couple of dirt cheap quotes (Swiftcover were a tad under £200) and rang Direct Line to hint that I wasn't going to renew. Result was that my cover is still with them and is £308. OK, I might have got it for less with Zurich or some other long-established firm, but I think I'll wait until I get the full NCD before trying someone else.
Annoyingly, I won't be able to claim for the latest engine "blow up" and there aren't a lot of Bluemotion engines out there. I'll have to wait a few days before the garage can drop the Golf's sump, but I don't hold out any hopes for a cheap fix!
I'm not sure if OFTEC is legally required; my friend suggests it is a bit like CORGI was - a lot of cowboys don't bother with certification and just carried on as if it was the still the 1960s! There again, HETAS certificates are needed when you sell the house - a bit like Part P etc.
Back to Terry's original post - I think I'm paying for his reduced premium! My insurance, Direct Line, went up last year because of the written-off Golf. It was £340 or less last year and a little over £350 this year. I lost two years' NCD, so was expecting this year's insurance to be the same or slightly cheaper. It was more expensive!! So I did a quick comparison (Tesco only had one quote and it was double the one from Direct Line). I got a couple of dirt cheap quotes (Swiftcover were a tad under £200) and rang Direct Line to hint that I wasn't going to renew. Result was that my cover is still with them and is £308. OK, I might have got it for less with Zurich or some other long-established firm, but I think I'll wait until I get the full NCD before trying someone else.
Annoyingly, I won't be able to claim for the latest engine "blow up" and there aren't a lot of Bluemotion engines out there. I'll have to wait a few days before the garage can drop the Golf's sump, but I don't hold out any hopes for a cheap fix!
Re: Typical
Sorry to hear about your golf, I always hate it when my daily driver goes wrong. Modern cars should be reliable and cheap to run. Hopefully it is something daft making your noise like a bent dipstick tube.
I was in Tippers earlier, they are arranging for a heating engineer to come over at 7:30 on Monday morning to give me a quote for fitting the boiler. If they only want a few hundred pounds, I will get them to do it, otherwise I will have to buy some jeans a size too large and throw my belt away
Conveniently I have a CO meter so I can check that the flu isn't leaking in to the house (with the wind in the "wrong" direction, the current one does accompanied with an un-burnt diesel smell). I'm not sure about regulations when it comes to doing work for yourself, I will have to do some reading.
I was in Tippers earlier, they are arranging for a heating engineer to come over at 7:30 on Monday morning to give me a quote for fitting the boiler. If they only want a few hundred pounds, I will get them to do it, otherwise I will have to buy some jeans a size too large and throw my belt away
Conveniently I have a CO meter so I can check that the flu isn't leaking in to the house (with the wind in the "wrong" direction, the current one does accompanied with an un-burnt diesel smell). I'm not sure about regulations when it comes to doing work for yourself, I will have to do some reading.
Understeer: when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.
Oversteer: when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower: how fast you hit the wall.
Torque: how far you take the wall with you.