Heat only, conventional, open vented
Regular boiler installationin Milton Keynes
Some houses should keep the loft tanks and the vented cylinder. Some are better off without them. Here is how to tell which yours is before anyone quotes you for either.
- Keeps the loft tanks and cylinder
- Gentlest option for old pipework
- Gas Safe registered installers only
No obligation
Get a heat only quote
Quote requests open soon.
This site is still being set up and is not taking requests yet, so there is nothing to fill in and none of your details are collected. Please check back shortly.
Start here
What a regular boiler is
A regular boiler heats the radiators and the coil inside a hot water cylinder. Everything else sits outside the boiler.
The pump is usually on the wall nearby rather than inside the casing, and the expansion is handled by a small feed and expansion tank in the loft rather than a vessel in the boiler. Above that sits a larger cold water cistern, which feeds the cylinder and often the bathroom taps as well. That whole arrangement is what people mean by an open vented system.
Because the loft cistern keeps the system topped up by gravity, the heating circuit runs at very low pressure. There is no filling loop to touch and no pressure gauge to watch. When the radiators need bleeding you bleed them and the tank quietly replaces what came out.
Hot water arrives at whatever pressure the height of the cistern gives it, which is why a bath downstairs fills faster than a shower in the roof. The trade off for that is a layout that is forgiving, cheap to work on and understood by every engineer who walks through the door.
Who keeps one
The homes that should stay open vented
These are the cases where replacing like for like is the right call rather than the lazy one.
- An older radiator system that has run at almost no pressure for decades. Seal it and pressurise it and joints that were never troubled before can start to weep.
- Weak mains pressure or flow coming into the house. A stored, gravity fed setup does not care about the incoming main in the way a combi or an unvented cylinder does.
- A house where the cylinder and tanks are already in place, working, and nobody wants the disruption of taking them out.
- Gravity fed showers, pumps and other bits of kit that were specified around a vented cylinder and would all need replacing on a conversion.
- A straight like for like replacement where the budget matters more than the layout, and the boiler is simply worn out.
There is no prize for changing a setup that has served the house well. A modern condensing heat only boiler dropped into a sound open vented system is a perfectly good piece of work.
The honest bit
Plenty of homes are better off converting
We would rather say this than let you book a like for like swap you will regret in three years.
If the loft has been boarded, insulated or converted, the tanks are in the way. If a tank has been dripping onto the bedroom ceiling, that is a leak waiting to happen. If the airing cupboard is the only storage in a small MK terrace and one person lives there, the cylinder is taking up room for no return.
In those cases, look atsystem boiler installation, which keeps the cylinder but empties the loft, or atcombi boiler installation, which gets rid of the cylinder as well if the mains supply is strong enough to support it. Both cost more than a straight swap because there is more to take out, and both are worth pricing properly before you decide.
Ask for the survey to give you the two figures side by side: the like for like, and the change of type. Then judge it against how long you plan to stay and what the loft is actually for. Thenew boiler cost page explains what sits behind either number.
Fitting day
What the job involves
A heat only replacement in the same position is one of the tidier jobs in heating.
- System drained down, gas and water isolated, dust sheets out.
- Old boiler off the wall and the pump, valves and controls assessed for reuse or renewal.
- Pipework adapted, and a condensate pipe run to a drain because a modern one produces waste water and the old one did not.
- New boiler hung, flue fitted through the wall or roof and sealed.
- System flushed, inhibitor added, magnetic filter fitted on the return.
- Loft tanks checked, lidded and insulated while the engineer is up there.
- Time and temperature controls fitted and set, boiler commissioned, paperwork completed.
Most swaps of this kind finish inside a day. The one thing that catches people out is the condensate pipe: it has to reach a drain, and on a boiler sitting in a back bedroom or an airing cupboard that run needs thinking about at the survey rather than on the morning.
Budget
Guide price for a regular boiler
Typical guide prices, your quote may differ. Treat it as a budget, not a quotation.
| Job | Guide price | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Regular (heat-only) boiler | £2,200 to £3,600 | Keeps the loft tanks and cylinder |
Where you land in that range depends on the model, the flue run, whether the pump and valves are being renewed at the same time, and how far the condensate has to travel. If you are still weighing up whether to replace at all, start withboiler replacement.
We are a referral service, not an installer. The price you pay is agreed between you and the independent Gas Safe registered installer who surveys your home.
Heat only questions
Regular boilers, answered straight
Plain answers to what people in Milton Keynes ask before they replace a boiler.
Is a regular boiler the same as a heat only or conventional boiler?
Yes. Three names for one appliance. Heat only is what most manufacturers call it now, conventional is what older installers say, regular is what you will see on price lists. All of them mean a boiler that heats the radiators and the cylinder coil and nothing else, with the pump and the expansion handled outside the casing.
Are regular boilers being phased out?
No. Manufacturers still make condensing heat only models and they are still fitted every day in England. What has changed is that a modern one is condensing and has to be fitted with proper time and temperature controls, so it is a different machine from the cast iron thing it replaces even when the layout stays the same.
Can I keep my loft tanks if I want to?
You can, as long as they are sound, supported properly and lidded. They should be insulated and free of debris. If the loft has been boarded or converted around them, or if a tank has been weeping for years and staining the ceiling below, that is usually the point where people decide to seal the system instead and be rid of them.
Why is my hot water pressure so weak upstairs?
On an open vented layout, the hot water arrives at whatever pressure gravity gives it, and that depends on how far the cold water cistern sits above the tap. An en suite tucked high in the roof space can end up with barely any drop at all. A shower pump is the usual fix within the existing setup. Moving to a mains fed cylinder is the bigger one.
Do I need a magnetic filter on an old open vented system?
Yes, arguably more than on a newer one. Decades of open vented running tends to leave a lot of sludge in the bottom of the radiators, and a new heat exchanger has much narrower waterways than the one you took off the wall. Expect a flush, inhibitor and a filter on the return, and expect a manufacturer to ask about them if you ever make a warranty claim.
Cold house? Start here
Get a straight price
from a local engineer
Fill the form and a Gas Safe registered installer who covers your part of Milton Keynes will be in touch to survey and quote. It costs nothing and you are not committing to anything.
- Gas Safe registered engineers only
- Free, no obligation survey and quote
- Guide prices published, no mystery pricing
No obligation
Book my free survey
Quote requests open soon.
This site is still being set up and is not taking requests yet, so there is nothing to fill in and none of your details are collected. Please check back shortly.