Worcester Bosch Greenstar Installation — Notting Hill

There are few worse mornings than the one when the engineer doing your boiler service hands you a red warning label and tells you your boiler has been condemned.

That was Thursday morning for the owners of this four-storey Notting Hill townhouse. Their Baxi 800 combi — 11 years old and showing its age — had developed a crack in the heat exchanger: a serious fault that makes continued operation unsafe and requires immediate isolation. The Gas Safe engineer issued the notice, turned off the gas supply to the boiler, and left. Five bedrooms, four floors, no heating, and February outside.

The owners called three companies. Two said the earliest they could attend was the following Tuesday. RARE had an engineer at the property within two hours.

The survey revealed an additional complication. The original flue route from the Baxi boiler ran across the rear elevation of the property — a route that had been compliant when the boiler was installed 11 years ago, but that was now no longer compliant with current Building Regulations following a substantial rear extension built in 2019. The extension had enclosed the original flue terminal, changing the relationship between the flue outlet and the adjacent window to the point where the flue could not be reinstated in the same position. Any new boiler installation needed a new flue route — adding time and complexity to what was already an urgent job.

RARE's engineer worked through the flue routing problem that afternoon. The solution was elegant in its simplicity: route the new flue through the utility room — a space directly adjacent to the boiler location — and exit through the side elevation of the property, entirely bypassing the rear extension. The route required one internal horizontal run and one short external section, was fully compliant, and added minimal time to the installation.

A Worcester Bosch Greenstar 8000 Life 30kW was specified — matched to the property via a proper heat loss calculation rather than simply replacing like for like. The 8000 Life is Worcester Bosch's premium residential range, with ErP A-rated efficiency, an industry-leading 12-year warranty when installed by an Accredited Installer, and a track record of exceptional reliability in London's demanding residential market.

RARE's engineers arrived at 7:30am on the Friday with the boiler and all materials already on the van. The new flue route was installed first — a clean, properly supported run that will outlast the boiler it serves. The old Baxi was disconnected and removed. The Worcester Bosch was positioned, connected to the gas, water and condensate, commissioned, and the flue gas analysis completed and recorded. A Tado smart thermostat replaced the basic programmer, with the app configured and demonstrated to the client before the engineers left. The 12-year manufacturer warranty was registered online from site.

By 5pm on Friday, less than 36 hours after the condemned notice had been issued, the house was warm.