Removing a gas boiler - who can do it

I hope someone can advise.
We are looking after the house of a deceased relative and there is a fair bit of work required. The gas boiler was working but the local plumber has advised it should be replaced as it is quite old and has a permanent pilot flame. To be on the safe side he has capped the supply at the meter and given a price to replace the boiler and upgrade the supply form meter to boiler.
Now the boiler is isolated from the gas, can I (or anyone else not 'gas safe') disconnect and remove the boiler and associated pipework,flue etc or does that have to be carried out by a qualified gas safe person?

 

Are you going to replace the boiler to keep heat in the house? Why did the plumber disconnect the gas line? Just because the boiler is old is no reason to disconnect the boiler or remove it. Standing pilots are still allowed at least where I live. If the only problem with the boiler was that it is old and has a standing pilot, that is no reason to replace it. I think you should try and get a good, qualified, heating company to look at this unit and never call this plumber again.

 

I totally agree with Steamboy. Just because something is a few years old does not mean it needs to be replaced. Quite honestly, I think the newest boiler I ever fired was around 20 years old when I first saw it. Those boilers are now over 50 years old and while they have had a fair amount of maintenance the basic boiler is still going strong. I fired boilers close to 70 years old and they were in just as good of shape at that age as when new.

Absolutely nothing wrong with a standing pilot other than it burns maybe a dollar's worth of gas every month. Standing pilots CAN be retrofitted to intermittent or interrupted pilots for maybe $100 to $200.

But, to answer your question, after the gas has been secured anyone with a large enough hammer can remove the old boiler. You DO need to first disconnect water and electrical service to the boiler in addition to the gas piping. Standard tools like pipe wrenches and the like are used as well as a reciprocating saw and the aforementioned big hammer.

 

Thank you for your prompt reply. You have very much summed up my fears.

The boiler has been fine for years. He said I cannot get spares, but for example I know I can get a new fan (and just about anything else) on Ebay for less than £40 (the current fan is a bit noisy and I feel needs replacing, but he didn't find that out because he didn't even turn the boiler on)
He seemed convinced that I needed a condenser boiler, full stop.

I will call in another plumber. But if I do go for a modern boiler (£ouch!) could I strip out the existing from the capped meter back, myself? I imagine yes, but I was curious, The plumber was suggesting I couldn't do anything to the boiler even if it was being replaced.

Edited to add: thank you Furd. I have no problem with removal from a technical point of view. (Biug hammer, wrenches, turn off water, disconnect power etc)

 

This is primarily a US and North America site. I don't know anything about laws, rules and regulations in the UK so it is possible there is something that would legally preclude you from doing the work yourself but I rather doubt it.

I suspect it is similar there as it is here, too many "service technicians" are really just sales people and they make far more money selling new equipment than in repairing older equipment. You really need to get a few more estimates.

 

Thanks. I realise now that the forum is other side of Atlantic, but the replies have been interesting and your advice is sound. I will try a 'parallel' forum.
Thank you again.