Jane

I have had boilers replaced in 2 houses a year ago and paid around 575 to 600 each for the boilers and 400 to 450 for fitting charges.

The fitting charge could be more if you were converting from the older system with a seperate tank in the loft to a Combination Boiler.

Also try and get a quote to repair the Potterton from the engineer tomorrow as well. I had one of these for a similar amount of time and still going well.

Do not ask British Gas for a price unless you want to get stitched up.

Regards

ATM

Thanks for your advice.

I was checking the meter yesterday and heard the boiler fire up - the numbers in red on the meter started to move quickly. If the boiler is firing up every 5 minutes (as it has been for some time) I presume this would explain the high usage. I have a plumber coming to give me a quote for new boiler tomorrow. Let's hope it's cheaper than the last one!

It's probably just some small part in the boiler that has gone wrong or something that needs adjusting but, unless you can find someone to fix things for a couple of hundred pounds, you may be best replacing the boiler. A new boiler will cost around £600 and it will be the cost of an afternoon's labour to fit it. You can choose your boiler on a site like screwfix.com (perhaps after talking to the engineer) and find an engineer on trustcorgi.com.

It's worth checking your bills and meter readings to be sure that the high bill isn't due to an estimated reading at some point.

I have a 25 year old Potterton Flamingo 50. Just before New Year it started firing up every 5 minutes. I phoned a heating engineer who thought it may be a faulty thermostat. I was careful over New Year and kept turning it off and contacted another company. They came to look at the boiler and said there was a fault but they didn't think it was the thermostat. They said I should replace the boiler and sent me a quote for just over £2000. I contacted another company for a quote and they did not think it was urgent that I replaced it immediately so I decided to leave it and just keep an eye on things.

It has worked OK ever since but is still firing up regularly. However I have just received a British Gas bill for £300! I now realise this is probably due to the boiler problem. Why didn't anyone warn me about this? I feel sick. I was recenlty widowed and don't need this worry and expense.