I'm Reviewing The Situation

For £3200 ,that combi should sing.

Ravey Gravey Davy:

For £3200 ,that combi should sing.

Well, I suppose it is the full package - boiler, installation, full system flush and check, etc, etc.  It's better now, under our control, than in the bleak midwinter when it chooses to pack up, I suppose.

I sympathise - I am in the same position-20 year old system just waiting to get condemned. It always costs twice as much when it is condemned than if you replace it out of prudence (or foresight however you want to call it), but I also need the roof doing.,so a Pure Sensia is about all I will manage this year.(he says without foresight/prudence)) 

ESP2009:

Ravey Gravey Davy:

For £3200 ,that combi should sing.

Well, I suppose it is the full package - boiler, installation, full system flush and check, etc, etc.  It's better now, under our control, than in the bleak midwinter when it chooses to pack up, I suppose.

Ouch. Harsh reality has a way of impinging on our hobby doesn't it

This is one of the arguments Mrs. scene has used on me: "Well, I think the fridge freezer is packing up (it could well be ) and we'll need around a £1,000 to replace it (it's a large American style jobby that came with the house) and I'd far sooner we spent the money on something that's working than replacing an 'already really good amplifier' " and thus went west my ideas of getting an SC-LX82...

I feel for you my furry friend...

Ravey Gravey Davy:

I sympathise - I am in the same position-20 year old system just waiting to get condemned. It always costs twice as much when it is condemned than if you replace it out of prudence (or foresight however you want to call it), but I also need the roof doing.,so a Pure Sensia is about all I will manage this year.(he says without foresight/prudence)) 

Crikey!  Are you my long-last twin brother, separated at birth?!   Yes, replacement roof scenario occurred earlier this year!  Next door lost a couple of tiles (which slid off and could have done someone or something serious damage) and, to cut a long story short, it was realised the complete roof was beginning to rot (Victorian era, mind you) and it was deemed cheaper and neater if both homes were done simultaneously.  That's another £3.5k gone!  I would say to you: watch those scaffolders - they can be darned clumsy!  In the end, we paid £500 less due to damage inflicted on our property!

As for the boiler - we've been warned every year about parts becoming scarce and the efficiency slipping.  Apparently, the lowest tick-box is 60% and ours was closer to 50% efficient.  Hmmmm.  It's always worked away without bother, but when half of what you pay is going up the flue, it makes you think.  The new version is rated at 95% efficient.  Some small consolation while I think about ways to finance my speakers...

scene:

Ouch. Harsh reality has a way of impinging on our hobby doesn't it
This is one of the arguments Mrs. scene has used on me: "Well, I think the fridge freezer is packing up (it could well be ) and we'll need around a £1,000 to replace it (it's a large American style jobby that came with the house) and I'd far sooner we spent the money on something that's working than replacing an 'already really good amplifier' " and thus went west my ideas of getting an SC-LX82...
I feel for you my furry friend...

Thank you for your warm support...I shall wear it always.

I bet we all have to suffer such cruel strokes of fate in our pursuit of hi-fi heaven - it's good for the soul.

ESP2009:

I should have known everything was going too well.  My good fortune seldom holds for long.

My first better-than-budget hi-fi system (the Marantz CD63 Mk2 KI Signature and Audiolab 8000S amp) was purchased courtesy of a small 5yr bond that matured unspectacularly around the right time in the '90s.  My recent purchase of Primare equivalents came on the back of a long-standing building society account that I finally decided had a use (having crawled so very sluggishly to an acceptable-ish level).

So I reckon it was just tempting fate to try to spend the same kind of money in a considerably shorter timeframe on a pair of suitable speakers, even though funds were available.  And so it was that the Gas Man came to call and declared our 20yr-old central heating boiler in terminal decline...and we are now forking out £3200 on a new combi system.  Doh!

It looks as though I may have to reconsider my options and timescale for speaker purchase.  Even my stock of kit for eBay sale isn't going to make much of an impact on the price of a nice pair of ProAc Studio 140s!  Don't you just hate it when the harsh realities of the world intrude on your path to hi-fi nirvana?

Fear not my furry friend (in my best Don Corleone take) we have a problem saver that comes in the form of British Gas Boiler and Heating cover, Homecare 200 for £17 a month.

Now where are those Proac's!

Ravey Gravey Davy:

For £3200 ,that combi should sing.

Ravey has a point. 3.2k for a combi and flush, hmm. I wouldn't take the first quote that comes to you, the price you need to be paying is 1500 to 2000 tops. If you live in a house with say 8 rads the boiler will only cost around 600, the rest is a fitting and flush charge?

Contact British Gas or EDF, get some more quotes ESP.

shooter69:

Now where are those Proac's!

I think you missed out a z

Ravey Gravey Davy:

shooter69:

Now where are those Proac's!

I think you missed out a z

Took me a few seconds did that one!

I was quoted last week for a new Grant (the best), combi, condensing oil boiler, balanced flue, fitting, soak away dug for the drain, flushed, commissioned, etc, etc, £2600 all said and done. That's oil, a lot more expensive than gas. I would get some more quotes unless your house is huge and you need a huge boiler!! Be wary of them over-spec'ing the boiler for size of house too.

I would get some more quotes too.

I read recently that some people were paying over the odds by going through 'The Big 6' rather than using smaller independent firms so I would try them too.

Messiah:

I would get some more quotes too.

I read recently that some people were paying over the odds by going through 'The Big 6' rather than using smaller independent firms so I would try them too.

Just make sure they are Gas Safe registered. You can check credentials online.

Thanks for the advice chaps.  I am deeply touched.

If you don't know any good local plumbers - sorry heating engineers - as recommended by a friend or colleague you trust, you could try Which local for one...

And remember every pound you underspend the £3200 on should be put straight in the proac pot....