so 2 months ago in April, our 25yr old combi-boiler eventually failed (water flow pressure switch mechanism no longer works).
mom heard she was elegible for the governments free-boiler scheme on her pension so we applied, engineer assessed our 2 house joined property & DIY heating system, stating all the dodgy plumbing & radiators will require replacing and disconnected the boiler too cos there's a gas leak.
but now the prob is that moms pension for this application was registered to house #81 where the gas meter is, but the combi boiler was fitted in #79 next door heating both houses, although she owns them both and technically registered as one address.
so he couldn't start till he had proof she owns them both and they're classed as one address from the council. this mess took 2 months of no hot water or heating for the various offices to slowly clarify
the quotes veered wildly from £650 to £free only to be told last minute that the senior manager looked at this unusually major operation and decided she needs to contribute £1000! of her pension cos it requires 4 engineers over few days to rip out the entire old system and fit a complete modern new boiler, plumbing, filters, radiators & controls.
2 months just to be ripped off?
if we were selling the place or can afford the non-essential luxury of having a fancy bells-whistle modern central heating properly fitted & guaranteed peace of mind, then £1000 for approx a £3-4k install may seem a good deal over long-term investment
BUT tbh the current system works just fine for us, just needs a good flush.
we were only after a new boiler without breaking the bank, ideally free.
so I decided instead to flush & fit a new boiler myself which is cheaper, faster, more convenient.
got a flushing & treatment kit from screwfix for £13
time to flush the 25yr old, non-filtered, non-inhibited heating system with mains water first and JESUS christ! the first few buckets were just black & clogged up with big flakes of burnt rusty scales, no wonder the boiler kept malfunctioning
removed each radiator and flushed the black sludge out of them. this is such a labour intensive job running up/down the house few times, I'm dripping of sweat.
interesting to see our old childhood wallpaper hidden behind it
added the cleaning treatment and running the boiler pump over the next few days till I buy the new boiler