jrhartley Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 I was wondering if anyone could shed any light on why boilers in France are so much more expensive than in the rest of Europe. I think we are all aware of the price differences between the UK and France for these appliances - what I find confusing is that if you look at, say, a CHAPPEE boiler (a division of BAXI) - in Belgium the boiler is EUR2550+VAT:http://www.baxi.be/fr/pdf/tarif/Tar_LUNADUO.pdfWhereas the exact same model in France retails at EUR3500+VAT. That's some impressive market segmentation. Why would this be?Of course, to an extent its academic, as the chances of finding a plumber who'll fit a boiler you have bought yourself are pretty low...Anyone have any thoughts on the merits of trying to install a UK boiler - my initial feelings are that it would NOT be a good idea (in terms of how it would go down if you tried to sell your house in France - clearly less attractive to have non-French systems installed) and also in terms of finding an engineer who would service it / repair it / find spares for it, if it conked out in mid-february. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Trollope Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 If we are talking mains gas, then it is because a boiler supplied in the UK ain't approved for use in France, so they can (and do) charge what they want...You have answered your own question re spares & service!You only install a boiler once, so a serviced boiler that lasts 20 years (because it has been serviced) will cost you 50E/yr extra. Save 1000E on a boiler that lasts 5 years and the maths ain't so good...Or summat like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrhartley Posted November 23, 2004 Author Share Posted November 23, 2004 Thanks. Sorry - should have said - LPG, not mains gas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LinNLin Posted November 23, 2004 Share Posted November 23, 2004 My husband installed an English Bosch Worcester LPG boiler in our house when we were building it 8 years ago but we have always admitted that it wasn't the cleverest thing we have done. He isn't a plumber and hadn't done anything as ambitious before. In fact the place where he worked had a book running on whether the system would pass the stringient tests or not! It did take two goes to get it passed and we were very lucky to find a sympathetic maintenance company to do the annual service. Luckily (cross fingers, eyes, legs....) the boiler has been trouble free and it did save us money but we wouldn't do it again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Nott<P>Many Thanks<P><P>Charlie Nott<P><P><a target=_blank href="http:www.giteshols.com">www.giteshols.com<A><P> Posted November 25, 2004 Share Posted November 25, 2004 I have found the cheapest by far for buying all plumbing and electrical items, including boilers, is BricoDepot. They are part of the Kingfisher group. They are similar to B&Q Depot/Warehouse stores.Just please ensure that your installation is thoroughly checked before you turn anything on and don't take any chances.We have an oil-fired system that we run in tandem with a Villager wood burner that has a back boiler. This is a fantastic combination as we have access to plenty of wood to burn and cuts our fuel bills down by 60%!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fmn Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 We have an enormous beast of a woodburning boiler with the ominous name of 'fire'. The chauffiste we had over said it would have to come out and has given us a devis for 9,000 euros to replace it with an oil boiler and tank. We're not totally convinced it does have to come out as we worked with a similar animal in Devon. It eats half a tree at a time. All the radiators etc are in place and we can't help feeling that there must be a cheaper way. If we do have to get rid of it, one possiblilty is to use the hideous over-sized fireplace in the kitchen for an insert with a back boiler. Any one any ideas where we could find one of these. All the inserts locally are without back boilers. Will Brico Depot do them? Any comments gratefully received.Fran Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlie Nott<P>Many Thanks<P><P>Charlie Nott<P><P><a target=_blank href="http:www.giteshols.com">www.giteshols.com<A><P> Posted November 26, 2004 Share Posted November 26, 2004 Deville definitely do a number of ranges with back boilers. We bought our back boiler stove from Villager UK via the local french agent. We chose it as it gave us the correct kilowatts and was aesthetically pleasing. We run it in tandem with our oil fired boiler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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