The new boilers are built for efficiency not reliability.
So if you are that lucky person to have a 10yr old Vokera. Save yourself a whole lot of money and KEEP it!
The older boilers were built to last the water sections are built of brass components not like these new ones that are all plastic inside!
Did you ever wonder how the boiler prices hardly go up…………….its because they use cheaper products to build them ………the new water sections are built with a very hard plastic material which is a load cheaper than brass and will never last as long.
The old brass water sections you could strip down and replace just a rubber diaphragm that cost a few quid. On a new boiler you have to change the entire section this could cost you a £100-00.
A good example of this is the pump. The old pump head fits on to a cast ion body if the pump fails you can take just the head off and fit a new head only £85-00 oh what fun on a new boiler as the pump has a plastic body that gets brittle with the heat, you try and swop the head only. When you fill the boiler back up you notice a small drip , try and tighten it up and the thread crumbles , you can’t just buy the plastic body , oh no , you have to buy the entire pump assembly for £160-00.
The boiler companies hold the price of the boiler down knowing that once it is fitted you won’t change it in a hurry! They make their money then by charging for spares. The fans are a good example and old boiler fan will cost about £100-00 but a new fan that is well over £200-00. Same for the diverter vale, on the old boilers you can strip it down fit a new o-ring, on the new ones it’s a full new carriage!
What about main heat exchanges!
Whoever thought it would be a good idea to let condensate run back though the main heat exchange and back though the boiler to an outlet! Some donkey… that is who!
This condensate contains hydrogen and carbon mixed with water to form a lovely acid!
I have seen so many condensing boilers where this condensate has leaked into parts it shouldn’t have and has rusted the boiler away, these boilers will not last ten years.
If that wasn’t bad enough let’s face the flues back to the boiler so that rain water can run in and drip onto the Very expensive fan and main control board, Yes I have had this The flues have to have a fall of only at about 3 degrees, back to the boiler but some installers are a bit keen, so rain water gets in and shorts out the fan and takes out the main control board!
Talking of main control boards on the Old Vokera flowmatic you can solder in new parts for a few pounds on these new boards they are that complicated you have to buy a whole new board very expensive.
To make the boilers so efficient they have so much electronics , just like the new cars, the boilers monitor the flow and return temperature, and cut out if they are out of there parameters , the old boiler did not carte ,it just heats water up!!
Old boilers don’t have a condensate to worry about , on a new boiler if your condeate freezes then the boiler shuts down, it shuts down because the condensate water, that is a mild acid ,is sitting inside the main burner and a sensor has picked it up and shut the boiler down, the old boiler just carries on!
Think of all the money you going to save by not getting a new boiler.
To fit a new boiler will be +/- £1800-00 , so the new boiler will save you+/- 15% on you gas bill, the average gas bill is £1200-00.
So that will save you about £180-00 a year , so 10 years to pay it off assuming nothing goes wrong !! Fat chance of that.
What about CO and saving the environment?
Nobody has ever given me a figure that tells how much CO was produced when manufacturing the boiler or transporting it across the world to get it to your front door versus keep the old boiler !
So save money , save the environment and keep the old reliable boiler as long as you can.
Or until they can come up with a better idea than burning fossil fuels , I have read a few articles that fuel cells are being developed , still in the testing stages in Germany sounds exciting as they will produce heat and electricity!