Cars, washing machines, computers, boilers – it doesn’t matter how well they are maintained, there’s always a point at which they will either stop working altogether or just become troublesome money drains as you try to keep on top of things.
If you’ve got a 20-year-old boiler, it’s highly likely that it will need to be replaced.
Why replace an old boiler?
In general, standard boilers last between 10 and 15 years in a usable state with minimum maintenance, although sometimes they might last 20 years. Beyond that, though, it’s certainly worth upgrading. Here are four good reasons.
1. Efficiency will suffer
Although the concept of the boiler has been around for centuries, the industry is forever making improvements to the way they work.
In recent times, as people grow more energy conscious for both environmental and economic reasons, there has been a push to make boilers more efficient. A boiler that’s 20 or more years old certainly won’t have the latest efficiency innovations – and might not even be a condenser type.
2. Availability of spare parts
When a manufacturer stops making a certain model of boiler, they might carry on making spare parts for a few years, but eventually they’ll stop that as the number of boilers becomes too low to make it worth their while. If your boiler fails at this point, it might become impossible to repair.
3. Safety first
Safety should always be the primary concern for boilers, As with anything mechanical, the longer it is operational, the more likely it is to cause damage or harm.
If you’re having it regularly checked by a gas safe engineer, any serious issues should be discovered before they become dangerous, but the older the unit, the more likely it is that it will fail between checkups.
4. Wear and tear
While there are plenty of components that can be fixed or replaced in a boiler, there are also many that form the fabric of it, like the metres of pipework that run through it or the main body that holds it all together.
This does last a long time but it will eventually wear out, and by that point it’s cheaper to replace the whole boiler than to effectively reinstall an old one by replacing it.
Replacing your boiler is easy
The good news is that it’s really easy to have a boiler replaced. In many cases it can be done in a few hours if everything is in place, and straight away you’ll have a new, efficient boiler with modern controls.
That all means you can start saving serious money on bills straight away – and you might even be eligible for an SEAI Heating Grant to save even more. You’ll also have the peace of mind of knowing that your boiler is safe, and that if anything does go wrong with it, your engineer will easily be able to find spare parts to fix it.
If you’re still not convinced, have a read of our 10 reasons to get a new boiler, before getting in touch.
Published: 14 February 2022
