Recommendations for a Combi Boiler

[PeP]

Hi guys,

I need  a new boiler and don't know the 1st thing about which are best.

I've been told that condenser boilers break a lot and thats about it.

I've also been quoted £1060+fitting for a 28kw Alpha but have seen higher kw boilers for less.

Is there any boiler experts or recent purchasers on here with any words of wisdom?

[Barry Ashcroft]

Just had a Worcester one fitted so far so good.

[westfield_bumble]

had a baxi 105e combi for 5 years in last house with no probs. Current house i've got a 105he(condensing boiler) its been in over a year and been spot on so far touch wood.

Think you have to get a condensing boiler fitted rather than a combi these days.

[John Williams (Panda) - Joint Manchester AO]

Just had a Worcester one fitted so far so good.

this will be my next one when my cheap one (in the house when i bought it dies) as recommened by a very good fitter....

british made and reliable

cheers

john

[kermit The Frog]

Another vote for the Worcester-Bosch. My Plumbers have installed several for me over the last couple of years and I’ve never had a problem with any.

[iiyama]

Vaillant are better boilers then Worcester as they are more 'intelligent', (they also look better if thats a concern!), Worcester come in a close second. Also check out Vokera as they use pretty much the same internals as Worcester, (from memory!), and are cheaper.

[Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO]

I'm just about to install C/h in my latest purchase. Worcester Greenstar is the one, most British Gas installers and service engineers reccomend them, thats the guys that have to work on them not the sales peeps  

[JeffC]

had a baxi 105e combi for 5 years in last house with no probs. Current house i've got a 105he(condensing boiler) its been in over a year and been spot on so far touch wood.

.

same here, have just fitted a  he baxi, we have a decent size 4 bedroom house and it is currently  running 15 radiators (all downstairs are big doubles ) without a problem, from memory the price for the boiler  new was just over £400 last year plus a reasonable  £60 to get it fitted  

[slater]

Another vote for Baxi had my combi fo a couple of years now no problems at all and lots of hot water at a decent flow rate.

lewis

[moomin]

most British Gas installers and service engineers reccomend them, thats the guys that have to work on them not the sales peeps  

This is true, speak to the people who get called out to do repairs and find out which ones they call out on least.  my plumber laughs all the way to the bank on all the work he does round here on cheap boilers (with expensive spare parts prices).

Worcester or Vaillant seems to be the general rule at present, unless you are 'on a budget'.

I fitted a Vaillant last year (plus Vaillant controls), it's a big improvement over the cheap-for-a-reason Baxi Potterton piece of crap the developers fitted when the house was built.

Of course, they don't build em like they used to, partly because they now have to be ultra quiet/efficient/recyclable/etc. so I'm sure someone will have some 30 year old thing with a cast iron heat exchanger still going strong.

moomin

[Top Cat]

Fitted a Worcester Bosch Greenstar 30si to replace an ageing Valliant to my own house just before Christmas.

I work for a Local Authority with a large retained stock of domestic dwellings. We have fitted many hundreds of this range of boiler over the last couple of years with little or no trouble.

I managed to get a free 2 year warranty on mine, don't know if that offer is still available.

[V8grunt]

Just had some work done on my boiler,

The plumber said that the new condenser boilers have a 10 year lifespan?  

[Darrell O'Neill]

Im not an heating engineer, but an electrician and probably worked on more boilers than most.

From an electrical maintainence point of view, Worcester all day long.

Ive obtained replacement parts for worcestor boiler that are 20-30yrs old +. yet have found replacements for other brands a nightmare to obtain even after a few years.

[moomin]

Just had some work done on my boiler,

The plumber said that the new condenser boilers have a 10 year lifespan?  

Yeah, crazy isn't it.  It is because, obviously they are built down to a price for a target market, but also because of the emissions rules.  In order to do all the efficiency and condensing bit, they don't make the heat exchangers out of pig iron any more, stainless steel or some similar alloy I think, and they simply don't last as long (although the big old lumps will rust, eventually).

I'm no heating engineer mind, this is just my understanding.

moomin

[highwayman]

I had a new condensing combi Viessmann vitodens 100 fitted 32KW last year which has an efficiency sensor which throttles back the boiler as the external temps rise and boosts as the temps drop. It was £800 for all the boiler kit including flue and sensor and £400 to fit by a WSCC member. All part of the services of the club

these retail at £1200 just for the boiler , bought the boiler off ebay from a viessmann approved plumber