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Afternoon All
My boiler is 25yrs old and has decided to stop playing. As such I will be spending the price of a decent bike getting the chuffer replaced.
I have no idea what's good and what isn't in such things. The plumber has suggested a 'Pro Combi' one. Is it any good? Is it made out of edam and string in a now defunct factory in the Ukraine?
I have called the plumber to try and get some sense of what's what but it might be easier organising an STW ride on the moon than getting a response.
Many thanks
Paul
Just had a Worcester Bosch 28i Junior fitted after talking to a few plumbers. Not overly impressed with a combi but depends on your circumstances. Mine were 3 bedroom house, 1 bath/shower, 3 other hot/cold taps so combi does cope. So far points are ....
- this model doesn't have an adjustable water temperature but has it set to 55 degrees. Think it would be better to have gone up a model so I can adjust the temperature in Winter and Summer as the hot water at the furthest tap was only just OK for washing dishes in the Winter and now in the Summer I have to add cold water.
- it has reduced my gas usage with no heating by about 25%. Difficult to estimate central heating savings if any.
- length of warranties vary - some are 1 year, others are 5
- warranty relies on you getting it serviced
- modern boilers are not as reliable as older ones so better off paying more in the short term than maintenance in the longer.
<Edit>
Shop around for quotes and go for someone with a good reputation as the prices I was given varies a lot.
we got a condensing combi, basically it uses the heat it throws out again so is more efficent, we got a glow worm.. it was pricy esp as we got british gas to install it, but its great. Cost us around 4k, im sure we could have got it installed for £2k from a local small company
worcester bosch junior as mentioned above is a good reasonably priced boiler - true it doesn't have adjustable control of water temperature but it should deliver a constant 55deg at the taps all year round
vailant ecotec pro also worth considering
glowworm okish
viessman have a name but i dont know nothing about them
steer clear of just about everything else (imho)
We also have the Worcester Bosch Greenstar Junior 28i and after 3 years I'm still very happy with it. It gets hot quickly and I never feel the need for anything more adjustable or powerful.
The worcester bosch ones are pricey but reliable.
I have one in cumbria. for my other residence I had to save money and bought a BIASI (italian apparently) - it was only £495 and after 4 years the only problem I've had was the CH temp probe needed to be changed.
Just like bikes ...it doesn't all have to be xtr(worcester bosch)
when deore(biasi) works just as well.