Boiler installation and heating engineers in Richmond

New boilers in Richmond: what we fit and why

Replacing a boiler is the largest single thing most households spend on their home without being shown a price first. We think that is the wrong way round, which is why every boiler we fit in Richmond is priced before anybody comes to the door. What follows is the reasoning we would go through with you at the survey, written out.

The housing here, and what it means for your boiler

Richmond is dominated by Victorian and Edwardian property, which brings solid walls, original chimney breasts and pipework that has been added to rather than designed. In practice flue routing is the usual constraint, because a solid wall and a conservation elevation limit where the terminal can go.

Alongside that sits a good deal of flats and apartments stock, where communal considerations, restricted flue routes and cupboards sized around a discontinued model. The two need different approaches, and a company that quotes the same boiler into both is not really looking at your house.

An unusually high proportion of period and listed property, along with mansion blocks and converted flats.

Water in Richmond is hard

Heat hard water and the dissolved calcium comes out as limescale, coating every surface the hot water touches. Inside a combi that matters more than anywhere else, because the plate heat exchanger that makes your hot water has very narrow passages.

The symptoms arrive in a predictable order: hot water swinging between scalding and lukewarm, then a kettling noise when the boiler fires, then reduced flow at the tap, then a failed heat exchanger and a bill. A scale reducer on the incoming main costs a fraction of that.

The housing in Richmond, and what it means for your heating

An unusually high proportion of period and listed property, along with mansion blocks and converted flats.

Listed building consent is the thing that catches people out. A flue terminal, an external condensate pipe or an air conditioning outdoor unit on a visible elevation may need consent, and doing it first and asking later is an expensive mistake. We will tell you at survey what is likely to need permission, and we will not install something that puts you in breach.

Mansion blocks bring their own issues: communal flues, restricted riser space and managing agents who need to approve the work in advance.

Much of Richmond, Kew and Petersham is conservation area or listed.

None of that is a reason to worry. It is a reason to have somebody look at the property before quoting, which is exactly what we do, and it is why a price from a national company reading off a script so often changes once their engineer actually arrives.