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The average lifespan of a boiler sits in the region of 10-15 years. This applies to combi, system and heat-only boilers running on LPG or gas.
The actual life expectancy of your boiler is going to depend on:
There are plenty of ways to protect your boiler, meaning it should last 10 years, 15 years, or longer (which we’ll explain below).
Whilst most manufacturers suggest a 10-15 year lifespan for their boilers, they can last much longer. We’ve removed boilers from properties that have been running for 20-30 years.
The question is, how old is too old? Our opinion? The “useful lifespan” of a boiler is under 15-years…
An aging boiler probably isn’t giving you the value for money you think it is, for two reasons:
As you can see from this bar chart, old boilers aren’t efficient which means they cost a lot more to run than new ones.
(Source)
An Ideal boiler that’s 20-30 years old is likely to be E or F rated. For the average semi-detached property, upgrading to a new A-rated Ideal boiler is likely to correlate to savings of £200-£230 per year.
Without digging into repair costs, it’s easy to see how upgrading to a new A-rated boiler could be worthwhile. Even if you have a much newer boiler (D-rated running at 78-82% efficiency) you could be saving £180 per year.
And, if we take a look at the prices for a new Ideal boiler, it’s likely the savings will cover the cost of the installation within 1-2 years.
To read more on installation prices, check out this guide covering boiler replacement costs.
Like cars, as boilers age, they become unreliable and the repair bills quickly stack up.
Common parts that fail and the cost to repair them are listed below:
If you’re unfortunate enough to need one of these repairs on a newer boiler (sub 10 years), there’s a good chance it’s covered under warranty. The manufacturer will pay for any repairs!
If your boiler is out of warranty? You’ll be footing the bill.
And it makes little sense to be sinking £250-£500 on repairs into a boiler that’s unreliable, let alone costing you £180-£230 extra per year to run!
Put simply. When combining lack of efficiency alongside repair costs, the useful lifespan of a boiler is typically 15-years or less.
We fit units from the most boiler reliable brands, many of which come with a 7-10 year warranty.
Use our clickable boiler quote tool to get a fixed price on a new Ideal boiler, and compare that to the repair and running costs of your current boiler.
Some of the most popular boilers in the UK come with a sub-par 2-year warranty.
Whilst your boiler could easily last 10, 15, 20 or more years, there’s a chance that components need repairing and replacing during that time.
If your boiler is out of warranty when a repair is needed, you’ll be paying for it. And as we’ve mentioned above, a single repair (such as a PCB) could cost over £500.
The warranty on Ideal boilers - especially when considering their competitive pricing - sits up there with the best in the industry.
Here are a couple of warranty examples from their current combi range:
Put simply, Ideal Boilers will last at least 7-12 years, or, Ideal will foot the bill for repairs.
You can get a boiler quote here for a unit with a 7+ year warranty and compare those prices directly against Worcester Bosch, Vaillant and Viessmann.
Whether your Ideal boiler is 15-years old or you’ve just had a brand new one fitted, there are plenty of ways to extend its lifespan.
Limescale builds up in all parts of a heating system, including the boiler. It occurs thanks to minerals in water and is much more of a problem in “hard water” areas.
This map from Bristan shows where hard water is most prevalent in the UK.
We’d suggest fitting a limescale filter on all systems, regardless of where you live. However, if you live in a hard water area, this becomes a lot more important…
Limescale creates two problems, it:
Naturally, sticking to pipework or boiler components means the flow of water isn’t optimal. This means your boiler needs to work harder (reducing its lifespan in the process) than it should.
Alongside this, where the limescale settles hot spots can occur. It’s common for limescale to stick to the heat exchanger, causing a hot spot and over time, it cracks. This is going to result in you needing a new heat exchanger (at a cost of £400-£500).
To improve efficiency and the lifespan of your Ideal boiler? Fit a limescale filter.
All water in your system has to pass through this filter and as it does, the filter catches limescale before it becomes problematic.
Heating sludge is a killer of heating systems.
If you've ever seen a heating system drained, the water will generally be brown or black. That's a combination of rust, magnetite and limescale which has broken off from radiators, pipework and boiler components over time.
This can block boiler components (such as the pump) to a point they won't work, or they're overworked. Naturally this reduces the efficiency and lifespan of your boiler.
In many cases, heating sludge will cause radiators to be cold at the bottom, but hot at the top (the sludge settles at the bottom).
There are two things you can do here…
As a prevention technique, fit a magnetic system filter.
It will catch heating sludge as it passes through the filter. When fitting, it's worth dosing the system with an inhibitor. And remember to ask your Gas Safe engineer to empty your filter as part of your annual service.
If you're already having problems with heating sludge, before your installer fits a magnetic filter, get them to chemically flush the system of all heating sludge.
Whether it’s Ideal, Vaillant or Worcester Bosch, most boiler manufacturers stipulate you need an annual service in order for your warranty to be valid.
And that’s not a bad thing. During a service your Gas Safe engineer can empty both your limescale and magnetic filters (both of which are protecting your boiler).
They’ll also be able to test and visually check your boiler, catching problems before they become an issue.
A perfect example here would be a leaking pump. If a pump leaks, it’s likely to be leaking water onto other components, causing electrical faults over time; they’re not going to be cheap to fix!
Modern Ideal boilers (Logic, Logic+, Vogue etc) are easy to service, meaning the cost of servicing is relatively low in comparison to many manufacturers.
We’ve already mentioned how heating sludge can slowly kill a heating system and reduce the lifespan of your boiler.
Alongside fitting a magnetic system filter, it’s worth having a chemical flush every 5 years. The filter won’t catch all heating sludge so even with a filter it will slowly build up over time.
All of our boiler installations come complete with a magnetic system filter.
Get a quote on an Ideal boiler here and compare prices directly to the likes of Worcester Bosch, Vaillant and Viessmann.
Try our free quote tool. You'll have your personalised quote in under a minute.
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