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There’s no doubt that winter is the worst possible time for your boiler to break down. When the weather has taken a turn for the worse and temperatures are plunging, you want your home to be as warm and cosy as possible.
What’s more, if it does break down then you could be faced with a lengthy delay while you try to choose a new boiler and, more importantly, find an available heating engineer to fit it. This is the time of year when they are busiest with installations and boiler repairs, so chances are you could be without heating and hot water for a while.
With the BOXT boiler installation service, however, the company can offer a next day installation service. Music to the ears of anyone with a boiler that has finally given up during a cold snap. To find out how easy the BOXT installation service is to use, I put it to the test to upgrade my old boiler with a newer model.
Why I wanted to upgrade my boiler
Although I have had my boiler serviced annually to ensure it’s in good working order, it’s now 14 years old and as each year passes the chance of problems developing is becoming more likely.
I’ve always been really pleased with my Worcester Bosch Greenstar CDi combi boiler, so I was keen to replace my boiler with something similar. I live in a three-bedroom, 1930s semi with one bathroom. I installed the boiler when I originally renovated the house 14 years ago and have had the same one ever since.
I’ve also upgraded the glazing throughout the house and replaced several radiators, although there are still a few more on the list to be updated as they have definitely seen better days now and don’t always heat up particularly well.
Our boiler is located in a cupboard in our kitchen and I had no plans to move it to a different location, so this install would be a straight swap from old boiler to new.
Getting started with the booking
I found the process of selecting my new boiler surprisingly straightforward. The BOXT website is easy to navigate and there are advice guides to talk you through how the process works.
I went straight to the boilers section to book my installation and had to answer a series of questions about my home and what heating setup I currently have. There’s nothing overly complicated to answer, and you’ll just need to provide responses to these sorts of questions:
- The type of fuel you use to heat your home (gas, LPG, oil)
- What type of boiler you have
- How you would describe your current boiler (old and inefficient, not working, doesn’t fit with your plans)
- Whether it’s wall mounted or floor standing
- How old the boiler is
- How long you see yourself living in your current home
- Whether you want the boiler in a different place
- What sort of house you live in
- How many bedrooms it has
- How many baths and showers you have (or plan to have)
- How many radiators you have
- Whether you have a water meter
- Where the flue comes out, the shape of the flue and how far your boiler is from an outside wall
- How far the flue is from the ground and how close it is to another property
- Whether the flue is under a carport and 30cm or more from a door or window
If you do struggle with any of the questions, there is an FAQ section on the website or alternatively you can call the helpline for advice.
Once you have answered the questions online, you enter your postcode and you’re then presented with a list of suitable boilers based on your answers.
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Choosing my new boiler
I was given a list of around 20 different boilers from a range of leading brands, including Worcester Bosch, Vaillant, Baxi and Navien. Each option clearly details the key product listings, such as dimensions, heating output, hot water flow rate, warranty and how many radiators it can power. This allows you to further compare the different products to ensure you are selecting the one that best suits your home and your needs.
It also shows the fixed price installation cost option, as well as the monthly cost option and any discounts that are currently available. It’s worth noting that these change throughout the year. When I originally booked mine there was a free Hive mini thermostat offer, and currently there is a Black Friday boiler sale with a discount of £125 on all boilers.
Again, if at this point you feel you would benefit from speaking to an advisor to help you choose the best type of boiler for your home, you can contact BOXT to go through your options in more detail. As I’ve been really happy with my current Worcester Bosch boiler I was keen to replace it with something similar, eventually opting for the Worcester Bosch Greenstar 4000 30kw, which is the upgraded model to the one I already have in my home.
It showed a fixed price cost for the boiler and installation of £2,395. Having looked online for this specific boiler, the cost of the boiler alone to me as a consumer averaged around the £1,400 mark, but then I would have to also arrange for a heating engineer to come and fit it for me.
According to Checkatrade, installation costs alone can often average between £1,000 and £2,000, so the total price for the boiler and installation offered by BOXT seemed competitive. There were some cheaper and more expensive options available on the BOXT website, but I know this boiler brand and the model was suitable for our heating requirements. It also had the capacity for a few more radiators to be added to our heating system in the future if we needed it, and was offered with a 10-year warranty for peace of mind.
Having selected the boiler, I was then taken to the next stage where I could choose things like the heating controls. A programmable thermostat is included in the price, but you can upgrade to smart thermostats like Hive for an added cost.
I also had minor additional costs added to the quote for a plume management kit (£70) and a Shock Arrestor Boiler Protection Pack (£40), which were automatically added because of the answers I had provided to some of the questions. These were a requirement for the installation, rather than an option
You can also add optional extras such as a Magna Cleanse Flush (£199), which helps to clean out your system and prolong the lifespan of your boiler, and an in-line scale reducer (£65), which was recommended to me because I live in a hard water area. There is no obligation to add any of these other extras to your installation, so you can limit your costs if budget is your key priority.
You’re then taken to a final checkout screen where everything in your order is clearly itemised with the associated costs breakdown and a final total for the boiler cost. You can pay the total amount upfront, or there are also options for finance and monthly payment plans.
Booking the BOXT installation
Once you’re happy with your order, you go through to the calendar screen to book your installation date. Providing you place your order, provide any requested photographs and answer any questions that the in-house technical team may have before 3pm (see below for more on this part of the process), BOXT can offer a next-day installation.
The next day option was showing for me, but it’s worth noting that at really busy times of the year there might be a small additional charge for this due to increased demand. According to BOXT, this can range from £5 up to £150, but they say that between the months of April to August you wouldn’t expect to see a surcharge of any amount.
Saturday installations can also carry an additional charge, however, this again varies depending on the volume of installations already booked for that specific weekend and would generally range from £50-£100.
I’ve gone through the initial booking process on a couple of occasions after I originally booked mine, to check how availability differed if I was to make a completely new booking. I have been pleasantly surprised by how soon I could book an installation on all occasions, with the price ranges quoted above being accurate. I did this throughout the month of November, so at a time when you would expect the service to be particularly busy, too.
One thing you might also spot, however, is that some days actually show a discount for installation. So if your boiler hasn’t broken down and you aren’t in a rush to have your new one fitted, you could opt for installation at a slightly later date (the following week perhaps) and get the benefit of a price reduction. BOXT says that these discounts can be up to £150 if customers are in a position to hold off for their date of installation.
Having chosen the date, I got details of the arrival time of the engineer and who it would be, and then proceeded to payment.
Pre-installation
I quickly received confirmation of my booking, what I had ordered and when the installation was booked for. The email also advised me to download the BOXT app so that I could manage my booking, as well as upload the necessary photos of my current boiler and its location, which would be reviewed by the in-house engineers before installation.
BOXT explains that this is so its team can review your photos against your boiler order, “to make sure you have selected the perfect boiler for your home and avoid any surprises on your installation day.”
You’ll need to allow yourself a little bit of time to take the photos and upload them, especially if you are trying to meet the 3pm cut-off time for a next-day install.
Just like the website, the app is really easy to use and offered clear instructions on what photos were needed and, more importantly, what needed to be included in the image.
The required images included things like the current boiler location, the pipework above and below the boiler, the existing thermostat, the flue exit, the area around the flue and the gas meter. Uploading them was quick and easy, and once each section was ticked I received a notification that I would be contacted if there were any additional queries on my photos, but otherwise the installation was set to go ahead as scheduled.
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Installation day
The engineer was confirmed to arrive between 7am and 10am and I was also told in advance that the boiler would be arriving by courier, and given a delivery window for that too.
My engineer arrived before 8am, which meant he was also here to accept delivery of the boiler and check everything. After showing the engineer where the boiler was, he did a quick check of the gas meter location and the thermostat before talking me through the process. He let me know that the gas and water would be turned off for a couple of hours, so I made sure to fill up the kettle and cook my porridge on the hob before he started!
He also explained it would take a few hours to remove the boiler and then fit the new one along with the new thermostat, so I had a clear idea of what would be involved. After that, I got on with my work in the other room and left him to it.
There were no problems with the install and everything was neatly fitted in place. Any mess was cleaned up and the kitchen didn’t look any different to how it had done first thing in the morning.
Once everything was up and running, the engineer talked me through the boiler controls and showed me how to check the pressure in the system. He also fitted the Hive thermostat and set it up so I could operate the boiler from the thermostat, as well as the app.
The whole installation process was very efficient, professional and was completed without any issues.
BOXT boiler installation aftercare
After the boiler was fitted, paperwork such as the warranty, gas safety certificate and workmanship guarantee was uploaded to the app where I can view it. It also shows that the Building Regulations sign off will arrive via mail, six weeks after the installation (for free), or it gives you the option to download a copy from the Gas Safe website for a fee.
There’s a copy of the final invoice in the app and a digital version of the boiler manual should you need to quickly find out some info. There’s even a help section, with info such as Worcester Bosch boiler error codes and common heating questions so you can try and fix any simple issues yourself, should they arise.
Within the app you can also book a boiler service, report any boiler problems or book a boiler repair.
Should you use the BOXT boiler installation service?
Arranging to have work done to your home can often take longer than you might want, especially if you’re stuck without heating and hot water due to a boiler breakdown. A shortage of tradespeople means getting something done in an emergency isn’t always possible either. What’s more, if you’ve moved house and don’t yet have any contacts in the local area, then searching for a local heating engineer, checking out reviews and getting quotes for a new boiler can take a while.
With their quick, easy-to-use service and next-day installation offer, BOXT take away a great deal of that hassle for you. The company has an extensive range of products to choose from (more than you would be likely to get from your local heating engineer) and the entire process, from choosing the boiler to booking the installation and then having it fitted, went so smoothly that I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the service to friends and family. Communication was clear throughout the process, the engineer arrived on time and left everything in a clean and tidy state, plus the aftercare has been spot on too.
From looking at the reviews on the likes of Trustpilot, it would seem the majority of BOXT customers have had a similar experience. BOXT has an ‘excellent’ rating, with an average score of 4.8/5 and more than 50,000 reviews.
Although I didn’t need to have my boiler replaced in an emergency, I can see how the BOXT service would make that situation a great deal less stressful too.
What I will say as one final point, however, is that my boiler replacement was relatively straightforward. I was replacing my boiler with a similar model, I wasn’t moving my boiler to a new location and there were no issues with my heating system. It means I can’t comment on how the service would be for a more complicated install, but I have no reason to doubt it would be any less of a success than mine was.
About this review and our reviewer
Beth Murton is the Editor of Homebuilding & Renovating. She has renovated two homes and in her current home she previously replaced the boiler and upgraded the heating system using a local heating engineer.
Products and services for this review were supplied at no cost, but we have not been paid to write this review. This is review of the BOXT service and installation, not of the boiler itself.
View the original article and our Inspiration here
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