Replace burner or whole boiler

[Hen]

My burner is playing up, do I replace just the burner as the rest of the system is ok or do I go for one of these new condensing boilers. My old plummer is telling me to just replace the burner as he thinks the cost of a new condensing boiler is too great. I only have underfloor heating (no radiators) and I have a switch that only heats the water when I need it. When I don't need the UFH I very rarely have to heat water because of solar panels. Just a one person house. With oil prices coming down I think €300 to replace the burner is better value? Anyone got an opinion on this?

 

[noproblem]

When you say your burner is playing up, what's happening? If you don't use your ufh a lot, then only put it on now and again, you'll be using an awful lot of oil/gas to get it up to the required level for comfort. Your question is too vague to give a reasoned answer.

 

[Hen]

My old plumber retired and I decided to get my boiler serviced to keep it in condition because it is getting on in years but has never given me one ounce of bother. Anyhow the service guy had never seen a Lamborghini burner before and was concerned that the air inlet was too high and switched it low with the result that ash can build up and the burner can't fire. Now we have reset the air inlet but this has not fixed it and I just take off the burner and clear out the little bit of ash with a paintbrush and everything works fine. But because I have UFH and if I don't spot that the boiler has cut out, eventually cold water circulates around the house. So now I clear out the burner everyday between heatings so I don't get caught out. I can't really be doing this long term so am toying with the idea of replacing burner or new condenser. If I go condenser route I need to change my oil and as I am practically out of oil now I need to make a decision what I am going to do as I need a refill in the next week or so. I got my old plumber back to have a look but he says there is nothing really that can be done to guarantee that the Lamborghini won't ash up.

I work from at home and so have the UFH on from about 7 till 10 in the morning and again in the evening from about 5 till 8. I only have my boiler set to over 52degrees just high enough to keep bacteria out of the hot water and as I go to the gym 3 days a week I don't need hot water every day. The UFH is at the lowest setting at moment.

My electrician is coming to put a pipestat on it so that means I don't have to worry about not noticing the cut out but if I refill my oil tank with half/half and the Lamborghini gives up I will probably have to replace the burner as the new condensing models require kerosene. When I get the pipestat I will be able to figure out if it is still ashing up because at the moment I am doing prevention cleaning everyday and there is no ash there. So I think its a lot cheaper to replace the burner than put in a new condenser. My old plumber is not convinced there is the saving to be made with a new boiler.