How Much Does A Central Heating Installation Cost?

Property renovation of any kind isn’t just disruptive, it’s expensive too. In this detailed guide we’ll cover everything you need to know before choosing a central heating installer including:

• In Summary: How much should a central heating installation cost?
• The different types of heating installations and example prices
• Factors that affect the exact installation cost 
• How long does it take to fit a new central heating system?

In Summary: Central Heating Installation Cost

Not got time to read our full guide? You can bookmark this page and read it later. For now, here’s a summary of this article…

The cost of a central heating installation will vary a great deal depending on the type of work you need to get done. Here are few price estimates (based on a 3-bedroom property with average heating and hot water demand): 

• Boiler only: £2,250-£3,000
• New boiler and radiators: £5,000-£6,000
• Full heating system: £7,000-£8,500

There are plenty of factors that can increase the cost of a basic central heating installation, and these include the likes of:

• Boiler type, size and warranty: +£200-300
• Radiator quantity and size: +£300-£1,200
• Radiator valves (type and quantity): +£200-£500
• Type of heating controls required: +£125
• Pipework requirements: +£500-£2,000

We’ve detailed everything mentioned in the summary below. Prefer to get a quote now? Jump over to our boiler cost calculator form here, where you can get a fixed price on screen within 2-minutes.

Types of Heating Installations and Their Cost

No boiler or central heating system is the same. What that means is the price can fluctuate from property to property, and the price difference can be in the thousands. 

There are 3 main types of heating installation, including: 

• Boiler only: a like for like boiler swap
• New boiler and radiators: a like for like boiler swap, as well as new radiators
• Full system: A ground up central heating installation including a new boiler, radiators, radiator valves, heating controls and pipework.

We’ve explained these installations in further detail below, as well as the price range you should expect for each type of job.

Boiler Only: £2,250-£3,000

If you’re simply looking for a new boiler that’s a like for like swap, prices could be in the range of £2,250-£3,000. This cost estimate would be for a new combi boiler in a 2-3 bedroomed property that has reasonable hot water demand and only one shower. 

Bigger properties with more radiators and showers are likely to need a boiler with a bigger output which adds to the overall cost. Or, they may be using a system or conventional boiler setup which uses a combination of water storage tanks. If these need upgrading alongside the boiler, this can add anywhere from £500-£1,500 to your overall central installation price. 

We’ve written a guide specifically relating to new boiler installations here. Or, if you want to get a quick price on-screen, you can use our clickable boiler installation cost calculator here which takes less than 2-minutes to complete. 

New Boiler & New Radiators: £5,000-£6,000

The next step up from a basic like for like combi boiler swap, is a job where the homeowner also requires new radiators and radiator valves.

Again, taking the example of a 3-bedroom house, we’d expect this property to have around 9 average sized radiators. Taking an average cost of £300 per radiator installation (materials and labour), we’d expect the cost of radiator installation for a 3-bed to be approximately £2,700. 

Combining the price of both the boiler and radiator work, you’d expect a central heating system to cost in the region of £5,000-£6,000 in this scenario.

Full Heating System: £7,000-£8,500

A ground up central heating installation requires a lot more work than simply bolting radiators and a boiler onto existing pipework and reusing existing radiators valves, filters and heating controls.

A Gas Safe engineer would have to plan where pipework will go, drill holes through walls and route all the necessary pipework. Ultimately this means a lot of extra money spent on materials, not to mention days in labour. 

This type of installation is suitable for those completely renovating a property, or those that have a back boiler fitted and are looking to convert to a combi, system or conventional boiler. 

Due to this being labour intensive and requiring a lot more materials than simply renewing a system, the costs are high. The cost of a central heating system in this scenario, assuming a 3-bedroom semi-detached property, is likely to be in the range of £7,000-£8,500. 

There are a lot of factors that can affect the exact cost to fit a new central heating system, hence these prices not being exact. We’ve covered a few of the most important factors that affect the cost below.

Factors That Affect The Overall Installation Cost

Whilst we’ve listed some price estimates above, each property and / or homeowner requirement will be different. There are dozens of additional factors to take into account when coming to an exact cost of a new boiler or heating installation. 

We’ve detailed the 5 most important factors to consider that may change the cost of a central heating system below, including: 

• Boiler: The warranty, size and type of boiler will affect the overall installation cost
• Radiator quantity and size: The more radiators you have and the bigger they are, the higher the price
• Radiator valves: The type of valve and quantity 
• Type of heating controls: The difference in price between a basic thermostat and smart thermostat (if applicable) will add on a chunk to your installation price
• Pipework requirements: The bigger and more complex pipework is to fit, the higher the price for materials and labour.

Boiler Warranty, Size & Type

The exact boiler you choose is going to have a bearing on the overall cost of your central heating installation. Prices vary depending on:

• Brand
• Warranty
• Size
• Type

We only fit boilers from leading brands. Whilst there are slightly cheaper alternatives, their low warranty means homeowners are covered for as little as 2-years. Boiler brands we fit come with extensive warranty of 10-years or more. 

Models and brands we recommend include the likes of:

• Alpha E-Tec
• Ideal Logic Plus
• Viessmann Vitodens
• Worcester Bosch Life

Alongside the size, brand and warranty on offer, the size and type of boiler you require will affect the price. For example a low output combi boiler (suitable for small 1-2 bedroom properties) will be a lot cheaper than a high output system boiler (suitable for 5+ bedroom properties).

You can read more about leading brands that supply the most reliable boilers here. Or, if you’d prefer to simply get a fixed price on-screen, jump over to our new boiler cost calculator.

Quantity of Radiators

It goes without saying the bigger your radiators are, the more expensive they’ll be. Most suppliers list their radiators as: 

• Single / P1: A single panel radiator and the cheapest in this list
• P+: A 2 panel radiator but only 1 set of convection fins
• Double / K2: A 2 panel radiator that has 2 sets of convection fins

Assuming like for like radiator sizes (e.g. 600mm x 1200mm), a single will be the cheapest, a P+ is mid-range and a double is the most expensive. And likewise, the single is the thinnest, with the double being the thickest.

A boiler engineer will be able to spec the heat requirement for your property and suggest radiator sizes for each room. However, depending on your room and where each radiator will go, you can choose which radiator size is most suitable.

For instance, if a double is planned for a hallway that is tight, it might be worth considering a longer and taller P+ or a single. 

Looking at the most basic radiators, expect to pay £60-£100 per rad, plus the cost of pipework, radiator valves and labour to fit it. This quickly adds up to around £300 per radiator, so a couple of extra radiators compared to the average 3-bedroom property mentioned above could mean £600-900 added onto your new central heating system cost.

Radiator Valves (Type & Quantity)

If you’re planning to upgrade your radiator valves, type and quantity is again going to play a big part in the overall cost of your central heating system. 

A pack including a Thermostatic Radiator Valve (TRV) and a lockshield valve for one radiator is likely to cost £15-20 for a budget option; nearing £200 if you have 9-10 radiators. 

However, a popular upgrade these days are smart TRVs, which are much more accurate, offer the ability to control and schedule heating and ultimately, make your heating system much more efficient. 

Smart radiator valves certainly aren’t cheap; more than double the price of a manual TRV. Expect to pay a minimum of £50 per valve, so you’ll be looking at an overall cost of around £500 for a 3-bedroom property with 9-10 radiators, rather than the approximate cost of £200 using traditional TRVs. 

Leading brands in the Smart TRV space include the likes of Tado, Hive, Drayton and Honeywell. Whilst there are valves in the £50 per unit range, they can be as expensive as £90 per unit for the most expensive valves.

Type of Heating Controls

If you have a heating thermostat or zone valves (where applicable) already that you plan to re-use, that’s going to be a huge cost saving. 

The most common item to replace when upgrading a central heating system is the thermostat. And typically, most consumers these days head for a smart thermostat. 

Top smart thermostat brands include Hive, Nest (made by Google), Tado, Drayton and Honeywell. For a smart thermostat from any of these leading brands you should expect to budget somewhere in the region of £200. 

Most heating fitters will include a basic thermostat in your installation price. Realistically, these are usually something like the Drayton RTS1 or a Honeywell 1 Channel Wired which only cost around £25 from a merchant such as Screwfix. 

In summary, expect a smart thermostat to add somewhere in the region of £150-£200 to your overall central heating system fitting cost.

Property Size & Pipework Requirements

Copper pipe and fittings are expensive to buy and even more expensive to fit. It can involve running dozens of metres of copper pipe, 100s of soldered fittings, drilling small core holes to run pipe from room to room and more. 

It’s likely you're looking at one of the following scenarios: 

• Use existing pipework
• Limited pipework needs to be replaced / upgraded
• Full pipework rip out and install

The difference between the 3 different scenarios mentioned above is substantial. The first scenario will likely mean no additional cost. Crossing into scenario 2 and 3 could see your overall installation cost skyrocket by £500-£2,000. 

How Long Does It Take To Fit a New Heating System?

Fitting a central heating system isn’t a small job. It can also be disruptive, so if possible you’ll want to plan it for a time where you’re not in the property.

Just as costs vary from property to property, the time taken to fit a central heating system will vary a great deal too. 

A simple combi boiler swap could be done in as little as a day. You can see details on the time it takes to fit a boiler here. An upgrade like this to include new radiators is likely to take a further couple of days. 

However, if you’re looking for a full central heating system (pipework, radiators, boiler and water storage tank / cylinder where applicable), you could be looking at anywhere up to 10 days in an average property.