[Closed] Baxi boilers

I had a baxi installed 5 years ago now on the recommendation of a boiler engineer, I can’t say anything negative it just works every time, with the exception when the wife turned of the return feed valve for some unknown reason, got another engineer out, from a different company, he spotted the issue straight away, serviced it and of he went saying that he hadn’t seen one broken down yet.

I’ve got an old baxi, the only issue I’ve had is with the water heat exchanger becoming blocked.

We had a baxi back boiler when we first moved in. Eventually, flames were coming out the side of it and it was condemned.

I’d hazard a guess at it being close to 25 years old by then so didn’t owe us anything 🙂

Baxi Bermuda fitted when we moved in 23 years ago, serviced annually and have been waiting 10 years for it to die but it still keeps going!! Not a bad word to say about it.

We've just moved and the current boiler is a 50 year old Baxi back boiler thats been nursed well past its best . We've never had a modern Baxi only Worcester and a Valliant in the last 35 years -10 houses.

A close friend is a plumber and he says it is not worth going cheap, you will pay for a replacement much sooner. Condensing boilers are very different from older boilers and they recycle their corrosive exhaust, so you will be very lucky to 15 years out of it. He has seen cheaper units corrode themselves to oblivion in 2-3 years.

Whereas my well respected gas/plumbing guy suggested I get a Baxi as their warranty is superb as long as it’s serviced and they’re great value and very efficient. T years on it still hasn’t missed a beat. It replaced a 20 year old Worcester which had one failure which was terminal.

Baxi Solo 30 here, been in the house 24 years. Only needed a circuit board replacing and a valve of some sort in all that time.

I will clarify, I’m not suggesting baxi are cheap tat, I was making a point about buying cheap. I’m sure you will be guided well by your chosen fitter. To counter fossy my parents have had 2 Baxi boilers in 17 years. Not because they are bad, but because condensing boilers consume their own corrosive exhaust. Whether the replacement Valiant will last as long only time will tell. We still have the original Valiant in our house having completed it’s 40th year.

We had a motherboard replaced on a Baxi in our previous house. The guy who we called (friend on holiday) said certain designs from a couple of companies are prone to this.

I've got half a dozen of the things, of various ages and configurations. They work, and when they do stop working, which is odd, my plumber diagnoses them wthin minutes and there are four or five places within a five mile radius keeping the required bits in stock and we're up and running same day, tenants happy. Oldest is at least 20 years old, newest under 20 weeks. Baxi by no means a risky option.

Before you commit, quick question. Anyone living in the house on DLA or PIP or similar(maybe others, UC?). There are grants around for fully funded boilers and insulation. If you dig in my post history you'll find a thread.

We had a “biasi” in our last flat, it was great...and cheap.

I'm not convinced condensing boilers are much better. I'll only replace my boiler if it dies. My gas is only £40 for cooking and Central Heating, so not sure just what saving I'd get from a more modern one - would certainly not be worth 'upgrading'.

I’ll only replace my boiler if it dies... so not sure just what saving I’d get from a more modern one – would certainly not be worth ‘upgrading’.

Our thoughts exactly.

I just searched a local supplier and the Baxi boilers are not much cheaper than the Worcester Bosch.

They were only ever a middling brand reliability wise with some decentish boilers and some built to a budget.

Potterton, Main and Baxi were part of the same group and many of the boilers were shared across the brands! The older condensing combi boilers with diverter valves have all the maintenance issues associated with that type of valve i.e. they need the HW diaphragm replacing regularly and eventually all the internals of the valve become worn/stiff, the seals leak (can be replaced cheaply if you know what you are doing) and don't function smoothly. Often when working on these boilers, they were susceptible to leaking in other areas, because of the push fit o-ring seals on many of the fittings, which are easily disturbed even by the most surgical engineers!

Many of the components are from well known names in the industry Grundfos pumps, Honeywell components, that Italian expansion vessel maker etc and are relatively easy to get hold of.

On the subject of condensing boilers my personal theory is that now most boilers are also combi boilers and quite often have a lot of short run cycles. I would like to know if system boilers tend to have a longer life and if so I expect it's because they run for longer cycles. Just a theory btw!?!?!!

Ours is 3 years old and great.

Viesman

just searched a local supplier and the Baxi boilers are not much cheaper than the Worcester Bosch.

For the same flow rate the Worcester is £350.00 more .

Ah! I searched on heating capacity. For example, a 15kw Bali was £140 cheaper than the WB.

Edit. A 28kw Baxi is £10 more than a 27kw WB. They don’t list the flow rates on that site. That is where you need the expert advice, I suppose the heat is no good if you can’t get it around the system.

Had mine for about 4 years with zero problems.

My girlfriend’s brother is a gas engineer and took care of the conversion for us. If it’s good enough for him, then it’s good enough for me.

They don’t list the flow rates on that site. That is where you need the expert advice, I suppose the heat is no good if you can’t get it around the system.

You'll not struggle with central heating flow as long as you get the radiators properly balanced, but hot water flow in a combi boiler will generally always be a bit poor. Don't think I've fitted one yet that has anything better than about 12 litres/min. It's just the nature of them, cold water feed is only 15mm and then there's a lot of restriction through the various bends, heat exchanger, etc. Compare that with a decent system boiler and >20 litres/min.

As for Baxi, my stepdad was a builder/plumber for most of his working life and never installed anything else. I've not installed one but serviced some and I've not seen anything that would make me advise against them.