Central Heating Boilers Prices: Complete Buyer's Guide

• Average new boiler costs are highly variable and range from £650 to £4000,
• Installation and running costs are major items on the final bill and can easily dwarf boiler costs,
• There are schemes and grants that can substantially reduce the financial burden on your household.

Modern homes aren't complete without the inclusion of a proper central heating system capable of providing the hot water, heating, and comfort you deserve!

Sadly, from your choice of boilers to their size and form, from installation costs to pipeline work, from energy efficiency to an energy source, nothing about designing and installing a central heating system is simple! Homeowners are often stranded without guidance regarding how to approach this.

This blog post will bring to bear our years of experience helping home and business owners install and configure the central heating systems of their dreams. From the price of a new conventional boiler to a detailed breakdown of installation costs, this guide will give you all the tools you need to navigate this world successfully.

The Cost of a New Boiler System In 2024

The cost of a central heating system is highly variable, and, contrary to some common misconceptions, it isn't only about the cost of the boiler exclusively, but it includes the cost of the radiators, the thermostats, the hot water cylinder, sensors, etc., which are all essential when building a functional, reliable heating system! Exploring each item in detail is essential to get a comprehensive accounting of the cost.

Average Cost of New Boilers

Here are the approximate costs of the common types of boilers in the United Kingdom in 2024:

• Conventional gas boiler cost: £800-£2500
• Modern combi boiler cost: £1,000-£3,000
• System boiler cost: £700-£2,200
• Electric boiler cost: £500-£2,000
• Oil boiler cost: £2,000-£5,000
• Biomass boiler cost: £10,000

Factors Impacting New Boiler Cost

The above figures are merely a ballpark estimate of new boiler costs. Here are the more specific factors that go into determining new boiler costs:

• Boiler Sizes

The boiler size directly influences the heating capacity, and ultimately, the cost of the boiler. Instead of traditional size measurements, however, boiler sizes are typically categorised by their capacity measured in BTUs or kWs.

• BTU (British thermal unit): 1 BTU is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 Fahrenheit.
• kW (kilowatts): kW is another common measure that is often listed alongside the boiler's name. It is an alternative way to measure the heat energy boilers produce.

Both of these metrics measure the same thing and both are usually listed on boilers. To convert between the two, you simply need to multiply the kW figures by 0.000293 to get the boiler's BTU rating.

The ideal boiler capacity will ultimately depend on the size of your property. 1,000 square-feet buildings need a boiler with a capacity between 30K to 45K, 2,000 square-feet buildings a boiler with a capacity between 60-90K, etc. Heating engineers usually determine the size of the boiler you should get after checking the layout of your building, its insulation, and local temperatures.

• Boiler Models

Whether you're going with combi boilers or system boilers, there is a large variety of models you can choose from that offer entirely different features. Though the building blocks have remained the same, central heating systems have come a long way from the days of the entire system being one or two gas boilers circulating hot water throughout the building with little input or control from the residents.

Nowadays, boilers come with a variety of features. They can integrate into your smart home ecosystem, they can operate by using multiple power sources, and they slot in a variety of filters and add-ons. Naturally, these features come at a premium, which you should account for during the budgeting process.

• Boiler Brand/Manufacturer

It is no secret that boiler manufacturers sometimes offer products with identical specifications at different prices. On the low end, you have brands like Alpha that offer boilers for as low as £600. On the high end, brands like Burnham produce boilers for commercial settings almost exclusively with costs starting from £1,000.

At Culm Store, we offer boilers, tanks and cylinders from Warmtec and Eltrem, international brands that strike an excellent balance between affordability and quality. If you want products from a boiler manufacturer you can rely on, you can't go wrong with either!

Other Heating System Costs

Here's an overview of the other items necessary to create a heating system and how much they approximately cost:

• Radiators

Radiators are responsible for dispersing, controlling, and, in some instances, producing heat. In traditional setups, you need radiators in every room. However, with the advent of underfloor heating and other novel approaches, the number of radiators is highly variable from as few as 4 to as high as 30 depending on the size of the house. They cost anywhere from £50 to £300 a piece!

• Heating Controls

Radiator valves, sensors, thermostats, and wireless devices are needed to varying degrees if you want to control temperatures room by room and integrate the heating system into your smart home ecosystem. The number of valves, sensors, and thermostats will vary depending on the type and features of the boiler, the size of the building, and the requirements and needs of the residents/owners. Combined, these can cost you anywhere from £200 to £500.

• Hot water Cylinder

Aside from combi boilers, which provide hot water directly, most other types of boilers need one or multiple hot water cylinders where the system can store and disperse hot water according to the residents' needs. An affordable hot water cylinder would cost as little as £100. Though if you want a stainless steel hot water cylinder with low heat loss and excellent energy efficiency, it can be upwards of £1,000.

• Miscellaneous Costs

For the sake of completeness, we wanted to create a category encompassing all the additional items you might or might not need during the planning and installation of the heating system. This category includes valves, water filters, connection pipes, and much more.

We can't give a cost estimate for this category, but it is immensely helpful to ask what are your exact requirements here. To illustrate with an example: Do you need advanced magnetic water filters that ensure clean water and improve the longevity and durability of the entire heating system? This will cost you upwards of £100.

New Boiler Installation Costs

Now that you have all the heating equipment you need, it is time to integrate it into the building and create an efficient, functional heating system. This process costs anywhere from £1,000 to over £10,000, which on the high end, is higher than the cost of the boiler, radiators, and hot water cylinder combined! Several factors determine new boiler installation prices:

• Specifications of the Boiler

The specification of the central heating boiler is the primary factor in determining installation costs. The size of the boiler will influence how much space you need. The type of the boiler will determine the pipework and layout of the heating system. The features of the boiler will determine whether you need to accommodate for sensors, thermostats, etc.

When you're calculating a new combi boiler cost, for example, you need to take into account the costs of connecting it to both the hot water and heating grid, which requires extra construction work!

• System Type

Will the system solely provide heating? Heating and hot water? Is it steam-based or conventional? The answer to these questions will determine the number of tanks you need. Non-condensing systems are generally the most affordable while steam-based heating systems come at a hefty price.

• Building Size

Extending the heating system to cover every square inch of the building is neither a simple nor a cheap task. Whether it is ensuring each room has a radiator or it is extending underfloor pipes, regardless of heating system or boiler type, the bigger the building, the higher the installation costs is a good rule of thumb.

• Labour Costs

Installing the boiler will require a substantial amount of labour, which can only be carried out by specialists, construction workers, and heating engineers. The costs will depend on the local labour market, and you can be charged either hourly or by task. It starts from £500 and can reach £1500 and above for especially complex pipework and conversion tasks.

Running Boiler Costs

The upfront costs of purchasing and installing a central heating boiler are substantial and need to be carefully budgeted for, but equally as important are the ongoing costs you'll incur while operating the heating system. These include energy bills, regular maintenance costs, and repairs. A building will likely operate a central heating system for a decade+, and the running costs quickly add up!

Energy Bills

Energy costs represent the biggest item on this list. For a large building, a central heating boiler that operates 24/7 can easily cost £10,000+ in energy bills alone. This is why it is so important your choice of boiler be, at least in part, informed by its energy efficiency.

• Energy rating

Boilers are rated from G to A+++ on how efficiently they convert energy into heat. By law, no new boiler can have a rating lower than A, representing 90% efficiency. Naturally, the higher the boiler's rating, the less energy it'll need to maintain the same heating output and keep your building warm!

• Energy source

Boilers can be powered by electricity, natural gas, and oil. Not only are the prices of these utilities variable, but local governments have various subsidies and schemes to reduce the burden on households, which can further impact costs. Which one you should choose will depend largely on local factors. A great compromise is hybrid or dual-fuel boilers, however: These boilers operate using more than one energy source, so you can power a hybrid boiler with both gas and electricity. 

• Smart features

Above, we gave energy bill estimates of a system that operated 24/7, but this is not the norm, especially with the popularity of smart boilers that directly interface with sensors and thermostats. These boilers can calibrate their energy output to the building's true heating and hot water needs, which significantly reduces energy consumption. Some advanced boilers can even detect human presence and adjust heating output based on that information! If you want to minimise energy consumption and environmental footprint, you need a boiler with advanced heating controls.

Maintenance Costs

Modern heating systems are complex and include many moving parts and complex machinery. To ensure everything is in tip-top shape, regular maintenance is needed. If the boiler is from a reliable boiler manufacturer and the system is well-designed and not overworked, then maintenance costs can be as low as £150 annually. On the other hand, a poor-quality boiler will require constant maintenance, and failing to do that, repairs can cost as much as £2500.

In all circumstances, however, regular maintenance is vital, as issues that aren't addressed can quickly snowball and cause irrevocable damage to the boiler.

New Boiler Replacement Cost Guide

Designing a new heating system is fundamentally different from replacing existing boilers. In the latter instance, a lot of work has already been done and can be repurposed to work with the new boiler, which can meaningfully reduce costs. So, boiler replacement needs to be tackled on its own! Here are the biggest factors affecting boiler replacement costs:

• Replacement Boiler Type

What's the type and size of the existing boiler? What is the type of replacement boiler you want to install? If the types and sizes are different, you can't just slot in the new boiler and expect the system to work. If you have an old heat-only boiler and you want to replace it with a new combi boiler that provides both heating and hot water, a new hot water cylinder is needed and pipework is required to reroute the hot water to the faucets inside the building.

This is just one example. Ideally, a heating engineer will draw up a boiler replacement scheme for your building, which helps you understand all the work required for the replacement to be successful.

• Age of the Current System

The amount of money you need to spend to upgrade the existing system to bring it in line with the requirements of your new boiler is proportional to its age. Pipelines and valves are durable, but they still have an expiry date. Additionally, if the building had been fitted with a regular boiler two or three decades ago, the layout is likely out of date for newer boiler models.

• Other Boiler Replacement Costs

Whether it is obtaining a building permit to connect your new combi boiler with the gas lines or replacing traditional radiators for a conventional boiler with electric ones for an electricity-powered boiler, several miscellaneous items should factor into your new boiler installation cost.

Tips When Buying a New Boiler 

Purchasing a boiler can be a daunting task. Thanks to years of experience working with domestic and commercial clients providing boilers, we've come up with a set of tips that can help simplify the process to a degree:

1.  Let Your Needs and Requirements Guide Your Decision

When researching boilers, it is easy to get sidelined by marketing claims and the latest features, but it is always worth pausing and asking if you truly need these, especially if minimising boiler installation costs is your biggest priority.

Ultimately, the job of a heating system is two things, providing heat and hot water. If an affordable, 9kW electric boiler is enough to get the job done, why spend additional money? Boiler prices exponentially increase when you look at higher capacity, higher output options, which are only necessary for larger buildings!

2.  Get a Free Quote

We've detailed all the variables that go into determining heating system boiler installation costs in this article, but even this knowledge doesn't make calculating costs a straightforward task. This is why the best boiler manufacturers and suppliers provide reliable customer service and are willing to discuss your project and give you a precise quote on how much the boiler will cost. 

Though this ideally shouldn't be the only number you rely on, it is a free service, so there's no reason to not at least get a second opinion on boiler costs! 

3. The Warranty Matters

As we mentioned above, a heating system is designed to operate for decades. A generous warranty for the boiler is essential, at least to make sure if manufacturing defects rear their heads a few years into the system installation, repair and replacement costs will be covered. 

Thankfully, some excellent suppliers provide boilers with +5-year to +10-year warranties, which give you some peace of mind. There are also warranty extensions that you should consider, especially if you have a large building or an expensive system. 

4. Consider Solar Panels 

It has never been easier to take advantage of solar energy in the UK. With solar panels getting exponentially cheaper and the government providing a variety of grants and schemes to households, as long as you have space, it is incredibly accessible. 

As running costs, primarily due to energy prices, is one of the biggest issues when operating a central heating system, installing solar panels is killing two birds with one stone. You can minimise the environmental footprint of your home and significantly cut down on energy bills. Both modern combi boilers and electric boilers can directly take advantage of the energy produced by solar panels. 

5. Take Advantage of Grants and Cost Offsets

There are many grants and schemes by both local and national governments to help cover a portion of the boiler replacement cost. These will help ease the financial burden on your household/business. 

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is one of the more popular schemes in the UK that cover the cost of a new heat pump or biomass boiler, in part, if you are replacing a boiler that uses fossil fuels, such as gas, liquified petroleum gas, and oil. 

There are many others. You should check with your local council to see which is available to you. Gas boiler prices might seem cheap initially, but after taking into account grants and cost offsets, they don't look as appealing. 

Pros and Cons of Different Boiler Types

Understanding the differences between all types of boilers available on the market is essential when designing your heating system. This section will give you a brief overview of each type and their pros and cons. 

• Gas Boiler

The most common, gas-powered boilers have been the centrepiece of heating systems in the UK for more than a century. They saw success due to relatively high energy efficiency and the affordability of gas, which minimised its running costs vis-a-vis the alternatives. Gas boilers have recently fallen out of favour due to gas price increases, gas subsidy reductions, and the invention of excellent alternatives. 

• Electric Boiler

Electric boilers aren't a recent invention. They've been available for decades, but due to the highly inefficient electricity-to-heat conversion process, they never saw widespread adoption. Recently, however, electricity-powered boiler costs have been reduced significantly due to more energy-efficient processes and schemes by the government. Today, electric central heating is entirely viable for both domestic and commercial purposes. 

• Oil Boiler

Perhaps the least widespread type, oil boilers rely on a variety of oil derivatives as fuel, primarily kerosene. It is both highly inefficient and expensive to run oil boilers, and they're not suitable for central heating. Rather, oil boilers have their niches in various industries due to the high temperatures and pressures they can reach. 

• Combi Boiler

Combi boilers are relatively new and highly flexible. Unlike a heat-only boiler, a combi boiler provides both heating and hot water in one package, which makes it excellent for central heating. A downside is that new combi boiler prices are higher vis-a-vis gas and electric ones. Though, with a mid-range combi boiler being able to fulfil all your heating and hot water needs, the extra boiler costs are well worth it. 

• System boiler

not unlike a combi boiler, a system boiler is also capable of providing heating and hot water. The key difference is that a system boiler can't provide it on demand, it needs a cylinder to store the hot water. This approach certainly has advantages over combi boilers. If you have multiple bathrooms or a large house, a gas combi boiler might not be able to keep up, in which case, a system boiler is a great alternative. 

• Biomass Boiler

Cutting-edge, biomass boilers rely on recycled wood pellets as fuel. Though they don't differ in operation from a regular boiler, they produce significantly less greenhouse gas emissions. The major hurdle in front of their widespread adoption is that biomass boiler prices are much higher than the alternative, at least upfront. 

Conclusion

Whether you are looking for information on combi boiler installation costs, ways to reduce your heating bills, or boiler replacement schemes that can help you save money, there are many questions and concerns both domestic and commercial clients have when trying to design, upgrade, or replace their heating systems. This comprehensive guide, informed by Culm Store's experience in the industry, will help you get answers to all these questions and more!