Kate Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 We have a (relatively) smallish, old holiday home in Normandy ...have had it for about 14 years now. The hearing has been provided by a truly ancient (and huge) beast of an oil fired boiler. We are not there often in the winter but we leave it on frost guard to keep everything ticking over. We have it serviced every year and don't use much oil. This year, for the first time since we started to give it some TLC (not sure it got much before we bought the house) it wasn't working when we weren't over in January. It was fixed ((about €200 ) and we asked for a quote to replace it. It has just come in at almost €5000...which seems like a lot to me. Wondering what to do if the big beasty is really on the way out. Would appreciate advice on whether the quote is way out (have already seen a feed on the type recommended) and whether anyone has replaced with electric and the relative costs of installation and running. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickP Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 We replaced our Oil boiler about 5 years ago; and the price then was 5000 Euro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted March 26, 2016 Share Posted March 26, 2016 Deciding how good or bad the estimate is depends on so many factors. Type of heating - under floor/radiator/mixed/other - Floor area, hot water to how many baths and showers and volume to be heated being the key ones.I "had" to replace our boiler (choice between expensive repair with precious little guarantee versus new boiler with at least some guarantee) and it cost nearly twice your quote. This was for a mixed system covering underfloor of 120m sq. Plus radiators for a further 50m sq plus hot water. So to me a 5k€ replacement cost would not seem excessive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kate Posted March 27, 2016 Author Share Posted March 27, 2016 Thank you both so much...it is really helpful to know that it is in the right ballpark ....will just have to see if we can afford it!Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hereford Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 You say you have a "smallish" house. I would switch to electric heating. You could probably do the whole house with thermostatic radiators for 5000 euros.We have electric rads and they have a frost setting. We had electric heating put in when renovating as when the house was just a holiday home we were most unhappy at the idea of a boiler being on all the time we were away. Can't tell you a running cost comparison as we have never had anything else. However if one rad goes wrong it can be replaced if need be and there is no servicing required. Also is oil not still rather expensive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyh4 Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 Oil is still a very low price - at least compared with 2 years ago. It is certainly much cheaper than electricity.A couple of years ago friends left their electric heaters on frost-stat setting while away for the winter. Unfortunately for them it was a hard winter and they came back in late spring to a €1000+ electricity bill for the six months that the house was unoccupied. We in the mean time had spent about the same keeping our much larger inhabited property very comfortably warm for the whole winter using oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted March 27, 2016 Share Posted March 27, 2016 Stupid friends!With hindsight, shows a complete lack of foresight [:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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