Boiler repair, or get a new one?
When boilers reach a certain age they become more likely to break down, even if you've had them repaired multiple times. So, we've created this guide to help save you money & answer the all-important question - should I repair my boiler, or get a new one instead?
Boiler repair vs new boiler
Our Research
We wanted to investigate this problem that customers are experiencing to see whether having a new boiler installed was in fact cheaper than having your old one repaired. We sent out a couple of independent researchers and these were their findings.
The case
Boiler: An 11-year-old Baxi Combi Instant 80
The Problem: Water was not heating up to a high enough temperature and sometimes not heating up at all.
For our investigation, we are going to compare the price of having your old boiler repaired vs. having a new one installed.
BoilerPlan Vs. British Gas Vs. Local Plumber
Having a new boiler installed with Boiler Plan has ZERO upfront costs. Over a 7-year plan, the monthly payment is £34.95 (inc. VAT)* with an average gas saving of £20 per month depending on the size of your house and previous boiler.
This means that the REAL price of having a new boiler installed is £14.95, which includes the saving on your gas bill. You still have the option to pay in full for the boiler which would be around the £2,000 mark.
Fortunately, Boiler Plan gives free boiler warranties, so any breakdowns in the future would be covered.
British Gas
We looked at having a new boiler installed with British gas (inc. VAT) and we found that it will cost between £2,700 - £2,900 including installation fees. While the engineer was out, we had him give us a rough estimate on what it would cost to repair the boiler and the plans they had:
British Gas gives 2 options
The first option ‘boiler repair and cover’, costs £99 for the repair + £22 for HomeCare 200 and a call out charge of £110.
The second option British gas offers is a one-off boiler repair and the price is entirely dependable on how long the installation lasts;
30-minute repairs – From £79
30 minutes – 2-hour repairs – From £199
Over 2-hour repairs – From £409
(12-month guarantee included)
For our problem British Gas would charge a call-out fee of £110, the problem with the boiler was the heat exchanger was furred up, therefore, the boiler was working to half of its efficiency level and the fan was also noisy and needed a replacement.
The engineer said the repair would cost £490 and for our case, a cover plan of £14 per month.
After the repair costs of £490, we had to pay £168 over the year (£14 per month) to cover another repair. However, this is only a 1-year cover. If the boiler were to break down in 18 months, we would have to go through the whole process again.
Local plumber
We finally looked into having the boiler repaired with a local plumbing and heating engineer.
The local plumber gave the same diagnosis as the British Gas engineer. The call-out charge was £49 and he charged £370 for parts and labour totalling £419. No cover was offered for the inevitability of another breakdown happening.
The other option was to get the local plumbing firm to fit us a new boiler, even though they were cheaper than British Gas. This isn't always viable as we don't always have the money to put down on a new boiler.
Conclusion
1. The chances of a breakdown happening again are very likely which means £1,000 could easily be spent within 2 years on an old boiler.
2. It’s stated you should replace your boiler between 10-15 years, so by having a boiler repair around this age we am pre-empting the inevitable and wasting money in doing so. However, it's difficult not too when a new boiler costs around £2,000.
3. At this time not everyone has £2,000 - £2,900 on hand to spend on a new boiler.
4. Boiler Plan can get you a new boiler installed for no upfront cost, which would help your finance position and stop you wasting money fixing your old boiler, which will likely needing to be replaced in the next few years.
We found that Boiler Plan was the best option to go with.
Why Boiler Plan?
Boiler Plan has 4 different payment schemes, which means it is very flexible and easy to keep track of where your costs are going. The 4 options are;
- A 3-year plan – £68.53*
- A 5-year plan – £44.92*
- A 7-year plan – £34.95*
- A 10-year plan – £27.67*
Boiler Plan offers free cover throughout the duration of all 4 agreements and you have the added bonus of having a brand new boiler installed by a Gas Safe Registered engineer rather than having to spend money on fixing your old inefficient boiler. The £500 you would spend on fixing your boiler could pay your my first 14 months of a brand new boiler, so it really is the most cost-effective way in getting a new boiler, unless the boiler repair you need is a very small job.
Boiler Plan also offer a very competitive Annual Service Plan so your new boiler will continue to stay efficient, keeping your energy bills down.
* All prices quoted in this article are as at January 2015 and are subject to change. To get an instant quote today for a new boiler based on your individual requirements please click here.