Decided its time to get a new gas boiler for heating & hot water. The old one is about 18 years old and parts are starting to fail – I don’t really fancy getting stuck without heating, even for a few days, for a third winter on the trot. Also the gas bills just gone up again!

So what sort of boiler should I be looking for? Got a heating co coming round this afternoon so I’ll see if his suggestions match the STW consensus.

Vaillant Ecotec & unvented hot water cylinder – having chatted to many plumbers over the years, the consensus opinion was Vaillant for reliability. I took the plunge last year & have been very happy so far.

Worcester Bosch are excellent too.

As for cylinder vs combi, that depends on how you use it. I don’t use much hot water at home and shower at all sorts of different times. A combi means I don’t have to wait for hot water in a tank to build. Although a well insulated tank won’t cost much in lost heat any how.

The advantage of a HW tank is you can fit an immersion element as a back up. I can cope without CH for a few days in winter, but not having a hot shower is a real pain…

I’ve heard WB and V are pretty much equivalent but spare parts are much cheaper for V.

Combi boiler = work of devil. I’ve never had a satisfactory shower from one. Maybe newer, high end are better but the ones I’ve experienced are hopeless.

double post.

Top tip. Make sure you buy a boiler that is built for your house or flat size.

For instance in a rented house we had a Glow worm 24C – inadequate (meant for a flat-sized property). In our house we have a Glow Worm 30c. The correct size.

Visually both outerboxes look the same dimensions.

Also consider getting a pump installed to help with water flow upto/your shower.

Don’t use British Gas or anyone who tells you a boiler swap should cost £2,000+ cost of boiler plus….

But BG would give me £300 trade in on my old boiler plus a government grant of £275 – whats not to like 😉

do you have a water softener ? (you’re a NF resident I think, and lots do)

If so, WB recommend NOT using softened water.
… so we ended up with a Vaillant

575 ‘saving’?

Found out how much their service is yet?. …

BG quoted me 2700. The highest Corgi-regged indie was 1600.

I paid 1100

seen the smiley yet ?

taxi…

We stayed a week in a house with a hot water tank which was a surprising change to our house that has a combination boiler. No issues when someone runs another tap, instant hit water and quick to fill a bath. Although the plumbing in my house could be rubbish

IMO only change from a cylinder style to a combination if you really need the space

Do a bit of a search for ECO replacement boiler grants. They are still running this. But the money pot is running out. If you qualify and are in fuel poverty ? ie 10% of your income is spent on heating you will get a free boiler. HTH

pieface – that issue with combis arises due to people not spending the extra to get a decent hot flow rate.

no issues at my parents or mine with combis/powershowers and taps going on .

my previous two rentals took about 45 minutes to run a hot bath though due to the boiler being sized to the house but the hot water flow not being considered

WB recommend not using softened water in the CH system. they don’t say anything about the water beng heated though. if filling the ch system just put the softener on bipass

and what trail rat says re boiler size. I have never had a problem with combis, nice power showers and quick bath fills.

Slightly OT but valiant recently serviced our boiler. The chap altered the “inlet something or other” as it wasn’t right for the size of our house and this action would now save us money.

What’s that mean then?

Oh an our Valiant EcoTec has been excellent btw, in that we never hear it and it always works.

i’m looking at boilers just now. I looked about and WB and Viessman have good reviews. None of the 5 companies that have quoted for the installation had a bad word about either of them.

Mr Pea is a heating engineer and says Vaillant ecotec plus!

Man came round last night and talked Worcester or Vaillant – and recommended Vaillant as its easier to service, although not much between the two. All seemed to make sense.

The Worcester would fit in the existing cupboard space though (in kitchen) but the Vaillant would need reconfiguration of wall units, plus it will project forward by 30mm or so (and not have a cupboard door on the front).

Just need to get another couple of quotes to compare (BG won’t be one of them after previous experiences) and make a decision.

Glen Close

Viessman have good reviews

Our Viessman is incredibly efficient but has not been very reliable; this is made worse by the fact that the BG people who come out to fix it have usually never seen one before and don’t carry the spare parts. Next time I’m going for something more mainstream!

Have a look at the glow worm Ultracom 2 made in the same factory as vaillant and owned by the vaillant group you can pay another £150 to make the 5 year guarantee a 10 year guarantee providing you get it servixed anually. Or going down the vaillant group see if the installer is on the advanced scheme to get extra warranty for free.

Edit: And a said above size the combi on Dhw demand and range rate the central heating.

My mate is a heating engineer and he maintains that Worchester Bosch is the best.

For instance in a rented house we had a Glow worm 24C – inadequate (meant for a flat-sized property). In our house we have a Glow Worm 30c. The correct size.

I did the opposite of this and got my mate to fit a combi boiler that was oversized for the house. The result is a turbo charged shower and instant hot water. That was 8 years ago and it’s still going strong!!!

Getting an. Ideal logic+30 fitted next week ……………..5yr parts and labour warranty as well

Recommended by a very good plumber friend of mine

i/ we instal 2-3 boilers a week.. worcester bosch all the way.. they can cost more to buy but in 6 years i ve only had one warranty call and wb sorted it within 30mins next day.

repairs, you find that a lot of wb parts are so much cheaper that for many other manufacturers that where possible for generic parts we fit the wb original branded product..

boiler ‘sizing ‘ by the number of rads today is balony.. for a combi be steered how much hot water you can possibly demand at the same time.. ie how many hot taps have you.. the number of rads is largely irrelevant as WB even supply an akternative ‘chip’ for every combi to reduce the gas useage during the CH cphase.

the most common sizes we fit are the 24i jnr and the 30si.. only difference is the volume of hot water delivered and on the si you can control the hot water temperature..

cheapest place to buy the boiler is online at plumbnation.. then get someone to fit for a daily rate plus materials.

using this basis you can have a combi replaced with a 30si installed legally for under 1300 quid..

Had a WB fitted a few months back by BG,very happy with it…Fitted in a day & the lads even sorted out the pipe work on my “Bike stuff drying radiator” in the garage…The bloke said he wouldn’t be able to sleep that night if he’d left it as it was,lol….
As for the shower,it’s probably the best power shower I’ve ever used…Only needs to be turned up half way,on full it’ll take the skin off you……….

What’s the difference between a system boiler and a regular boiler?

Just about to have a combi installed, done a bit of research and one of best combis at the moment is a baxi platinum 40 he it has flow rate of 16 litres per minute and is 91% efficient also it has fantastic reviews. Best of all it comes with a ten year (thats correct) ten year parts and labour warranty.

I’m obviously in need of more quotes.

B.G. quoted £2700… “Oh and your boiler is mounted to asbestos board and we’ll need to get the asbestos team to remove it. That will be another £900”.

Inspired by this thread, I contacted a local plumber, £4333.86 for a WB combi (OUCH!) or £2700 for a conventional system (this does include a can of hairspray and 2 plastic bags for the asbestos board).

Can anyone recommend someone in Fife/Perth & Kinross area?

ouch! had a Valiant Ecotec plus system boiler fitted here in expensive buckinghamshire for £1600 plus vat earlier this year, had a worcester bosch combi in previous house – 10 years without so much as a service – both excellent boilers