GBA77

If its 5000 euros - roughly 4,300 squid - roughly 1.6m florint just for the boiler and balanced flue (no radiators/piping/vales/manifolds etc etc) then I wonder what flavor vaseline they intend using, if any!

Ask your UK contractor about the Budapest property. He may very well have a easy solution for you or give you some free and further advice. It may pay you to buy the boiler in the UK and give your UK contractor a free few days holiday in Budapest (which you would need to pay for of course so that needs to be factored in to your costings) However if the UK supplied boiler packs up then trying to have it sorted in Hungary could be a massive problem. If its an international name brand then I dont see a problem unless boilers designated for the Hungarian market are built to/for local conditions.

As mentioned by Pilis (etc) I would suggest a full and DETAILED (something most Hungarian contractors have zero idea about) written quote, and if its in Hungarian and your current Mrs - read partner or whatever - is not Hungarian, ask and or pay someone to have it deciphered accurately.

After countless attempts of being shafted by locals, I now get a mate (a local) who I met at choir practice to get me prices and or quotes. Its costs me a few rounds yes, but its saved me bundles already.

Let us know how you get on.

duztee

Check the junk mail that is delivered weekly, along with the tesco,penny, aldi, lidl etc there are often ones from building suppliers.
This week I had one from a supplier offering boilers from 5 different manufacturers mostly the smaller wall mounted types, price range was from 150,000fts to 495,000 fts, and a through the wall balanced flue kit for 96,000 fts

It is not always a case of 'shafting the foreigner' it is quite possible that the contractor already has plenty of work or was possibly not interested on taking on a job involving a chimney going up 4 floors, but instead of a straight forward No, decided to just give a silly quote.

Peter_in_Hungary

These days you will only get a balanced flue boiler (there have been too many deaths from gas heaters that are not room sealed). Through the wall is cheapest but this will depend upon the proximity of windows trees and other potential obstructions.

Peter_in_Hungary

A gas appliance must be installed by a registered gas fitter to an approved installation plan. You can not import a UK fitter to install a boiler here without getting them registered etc. and you don't want the effort of that bureaucracy - even before Brexit! I don't think importing a boiler from the UK would give any price advantage.

wolfi

Peter is right!
Use a fitter that knows the rules here and before you decide:
There surely is a store that sells boilers somewhere in your neighbourhood, look at the alternatives and their costs so you get a feeling.
We have a German Vaillant (good but expensive) and in the guest apartment we decided on a cheaper Baxi (Italian) - but had a few problems there, though I don't know if it was wear or a mistake by the fitter.
I have to add that the water here near Hévíz is very hard i e a lot of lime, maybe that was the reason for wear.

Sachina

I had central heating installed some 10 years ago by a company who did the whole job ie. drawing up plans, giving a quote, installing the whole system and getting it certified by TiGaz. Since then they call once a year to check the system and clean the chimney and flue.. Unfortunately they don't operate in your part of the country.otherwise I would recommend them

The Baxi boiler which runs the central heating and provides hot water has never given any problem/

I believe Baxi have a showroom in Budapest and also a website. If it were me, I would get in touch with them to ask their advice

Baxi kazán - Kazán Webáruház

Peter_in_Hungary

I spoke to my son over the weekend who had a boiler change last year.
Old wood burning boiler removed
old 2" iron pipework cut, welded and modified to fit the new gas boiler, involving all new copper pipework in the area of the boiler.
fitting an isolating heat exchanger separating the old gravity iron system from the gas boiler
filter on the old system
line the chimney
wireless thermostat the control the new boiler
total cost just over 800,000huf with parts including the boiler about 450,000huf within that.

Pilis Nemzeti Park Fella

We have a Vaillant in Hungary and a Baxi in UK. The Vaillant has been pretty good, now 25 years old and still going strong, though as a holiday home these days it doesn't have to work too hard on central heating (though did exactly that about 10 full winters early days). It's a bit of a monster, you get the impression the system could quite happily heat a small factory

The Baxi is only about 3 years old and although the system it replaced wasn't exactly ancient - about 12 years old - the Baxi is about 50% more efficient, judging by our gas bill. I did ask around before getting the Baxi installed, and people who know said Baxis are generally pretty reliable, middle of the road boilers, neither BMWs nor Fiat 500s if you get my drift. Probably your Skoda Octavia - cheapish, under-rated, get the job done.

wolfi

Thanks, Pilis fellow, for the feedback.

After our latest experiences the main problem here right now in Hungary is to find good workers - who know the things that they're installing/repairing and won't cheat you.