Boiler installation in Maidstone

For most homes in Maidstone a new boiler means one gas boiler replacing another, and if the new one goes where the old one was it is usually a one day job. What moves the price and the time is the house: where the flue can go, whether the boiler is moving, what state the existing system is in and whether the type of boiler is changing. That is why the quote comes after somebody has looked rather than over the phone.

Maidstone's housing, and what it means for a new boiler

The Maidstone borough is a mix of old and new. A quarter of its homes have been built since 2000 (26%) and 17% go back before 1919, going by the Valuation Office Agency. Those ends of the range ask different questions of a replacement.

• In the older terraces near the centre the boiler is often in a kitchen cupboard with the flue close to a boundary or a neighbour's window, and a new boiler's flue rules may not allow the old position. That is found at the survey, not on the day.
• In the 1960s to 1990s houses on the estates around the town, a regular boiler with a tank in the loft is common, and the choice is between replacing like for like and converting to a system or combi boiler.
• In the newer houses the first combi is often reaching the age where a replacement is worth weighing against a repair, and the existing flue and condensate routes usually make it a straightforward swap.

Out in the villages a different question comes first. 15% of homes across the borough are off the gas grid, according to the government's figures, and for those we fit oil boilers under our OFTEC certification and LPG boilers under our Gas Safe registration.

What the installation involves

The old boiler comes off, the system is cleaned before the new one goes on, with a full power flush where it is badly silted, a magnetic filter is fitted, and the new boiler is piped up, commissioned and set up to the house. Fitting a new boiler to a dirty system is the most common reason a good installation underperforms, because sludge from old steel radiators is drawn straight into the new heat exchanger. Because we are Gas Safe registered, we notify the work ourselves and the Building Regulations compliance certificate follows to you.

What a new boiler has to meet

Fitting a gas boiler is building work, and Approved Document L sets the floor. The boiler has to be at least 92% efficient on its ErP rating with time and temperature controls, and a combi going into an existing home needs one extra energy saving measure as well, from flue gas heat recovery, weather compensation, load compensation or a smart thermostat with automation and optimisation.

The same guidance asks for the boiler to be sized from the home's heat loss rather than copied from the output printed on the old one. New windows, loft insulation and an extension all change the answer, and an oversized boiler cycles on and off, which costs efficiency and wear. A new edition of Approved Document L takes effect on 24 March 2027, so the 2021 edition applies to a boiler fitted today.

Combi, system or regular in a Maidstone house

One bathroom and nowhere obvious for a cylinder usually points to a combi. Two bathrooms in use at the same time point towards a system boiler and a cylinder, and the incoming mains settles it either way, because a combi only ever delivers what arrives at the stop tap. That flow is measured at the survey. The combi against system comparison goes through it in more detail, and if you are wondering whether yours needs replacing at all, repair or replace covers how that decision should be made.

Maidstone's water is hard, which matters most to a combi's plate heat exchanger and to a cylinder's coil. On a hard water supply some form of scale protection on the hot water side is worth including in the installation rather than adding later, and the hard water guide explains which options are worth paying for.

Choosing should be a conversation

A recent customer wrote in a Google review, “Very happy with the boiler installation. Calum was professional and completed the job efficiently. Everything was left clean and tidy.” A quote should leave you knowing what is being fitted, why that boiler and that position, what controls come with it and what the house needs that the old installation did not have.

What you are left with

Our own work carries a 12-month workmanship guarantee. This is on top of your legal rights, which it does not affect. The boiler itself is covered by its manufacturer's warranty, whose terms depend on the make and usually on registering it and having it serviced every year, and you should have the commissioning record filled in at handover.

CTL Plumbing & Heating fits new boilers across Maidstone and its villages from Bearsted, with free home visits and free quotes across Kent. For a quote on your house, get in touch and we will come and look.