Biasi boilers "Any Good"

[joby]

My heating engineer has been out twice to my HEAP OF S**T Worcester Bosch 280 RSF boiler to replace the pump as the backplate gasket has now failed so another night Freezing and without hot water 5 nights now Anyway I will get to the point He has told me that these Biasi Boilers are realy Good and better than the worcester bosch which are now to expensive!! Can anyone recommend one To Me he says i need a 28kw but how many btu`s will i need any advice please
Thanks in advance

 

[EliteHeat]

Yeah, I think most people would agree that Biasi are much better then Worcester

 

[joby]

Well I aint a heating engineer im a Bricklayer and considering the guys a worcester bosch specialist thought he may have some idea

 

[kevplumb]

considering the guys a worcester bosch specialist thought he may have some idea

if so he should have some idea how to repair it

biasi better than wb i'll have a pint of whatever your drinking

 

[Slugbabydotcom]

Cant recommend anything, they all have their pro's and cons, their Audi /VW/Skoda syndromes etc. Some are cheap to buy and expensive to fix. Some are expensive to buy and to fix. Some are cheap to buy with cheap parts but go wrong more often. Its a bit of a lottery just like buying a car.

You pays your money and takes your chance.

What I will suggest is:- Dont buy a Glow Worm or anything French or anything with a name that no one has heard of.

Others may suggest differently

BTW there is a good chance your Biasi is actually an Ideal with a different badge on it

As for KW and btu's there are 3412 btu to the Kilowatt .... Do your own sums

 

[namsag]

Other way about Slug an ideal could be a rebadged Biasi. Only fitted 3 of them 2 system boilers an 1 combi not had any problems at all with them. Customers choice. But on there previous reputation it would not be a boiler of my choice. Same as the worcester is not one i would choose expensive to buy ,expensive parts and not the most reliable. But we all have our favourites

 

[ChrisR]

Very hard to answer because there's no 'J.D. Power' type survey of boilers. Most boilers don't get much servicing, so ones which are 3-5 years old and have given no trouble don't get as much exposure as the baddies.
Perhaps the guys who do regular BG 3* servicing would have a better feel.
You can't go by what turns out to be good with 5 years hindsight, either, current models can be radically different. Some models like Ideal's Isar/Icos seemed to oscillate between extremes of reputation.

As it happens, one which is out there in big numbers but doesn't cause too many problems is the Ideal Mini. It probably did something to repair Ideal's reputation after the farce of the Response but, as others have pointed out, it's a Biasi with a badge.

My old boiler's up for renewal, and I'll be going for.....
one which fits the cupboard.

 

[Agile]

BG 3* service is not very reliable as a guide to reliability.

Owners of expensive boilers are most likely to go for ( expensive ) Bg 3* service.

Owners of cheap boiler are unlikely to get BG 3* service as it costs to much in their eyes.

As we cover all boilers, I see a disproportionate number of cheap boilers and relatively few Worcesters and Vaillants until they are over six years old. Its not because they are more reliable just because they are on BG cover.

Tony

 

[nickso]

i rarely had visit worcesters with BG...or indeed now for anything but a service. ive never considered them unreliable. the one thing i would say with new worcesters is if i do get one the fault is more often than not something quite catastrophic....expensive stuff like pcb's, exchangers and the like. the older ones can be cheap repairs or expensive.

interestingly BG maintain that vokeras are the most visited boiler in britain...or at least were 2years ago when they checked the records.

i would say the boilers i visit most are the italian junk, ideal, vokera ( i believe more to do with volume here), ocean alphas (again a lot about), baxi and johnson and starley.

Owners of cheap boiler are unlikely to get BG 3* service as it costs to much in their eyes.

i dont think thats true tony......plenty of italian junk and B+Q stuff on contract. the owners of cheap boilers need the BG cover due to the high number of callouts they couldnt afford if they werent on cover.

 

[joby]

Thanks for the replys Guys looks like its pot luck, No one seems to be able to recomend any particular boiler i suppose it all depends on how well its looked after and serviced like most appliances there only designed to last so long anyway

 

[Agile]

Not so, the single most important aspect is how they are fitted and that its only onto a very clean system.

The basic reliability of boilers is extremely high unless there is a badly made/designed component like the diverter in vaillants 2-5 years ago.

Any normal boiler should easily give at least 10 years service. Just because a repairer wants a £2000 replacement job rather than a £100 repair does not mean the boiler is really not repairable.

Its very difficult to guess the reliability because of the market penetration of each make and model. I make my own calculations based on whatever evidence I can glean but I know its very stastically inaccurate.

Yesterday in Hampstead I saw flues for three Kestons and one Vaillant on the side of one building, all condensing boilers. In Harlesden that would have been three Biasi and one Ariston and none condensing.

Tony


PS Your Worcester 280 RSF is a quite solid boiler which is completely repairable unit for anyone who has a will to repair it. You must understand that a replacement boiler nets the gas man a lot more profit than a little repair. I would largley recommend a repair only service person as they are less likely to suggest its not worth repairing.

 

[joby]

Thanks For that Agile but the question is how much do you spend on an existing boiler that is 10/12 years old and supposedly much less efficient than a condensing one, I have already been charged £310 for 1 Motorised valve/1 Vessel/1 auto air vent/ 1 pressure relief valve/ and service call included. 3 months ago now he`s in the process of replacing the pump when he finally gets the back plate seal as it didnt come with the pump this is turning into a nightmare 6 days now!!

 

[adwt2004]

Thanks For that Agile but the question is how much do you spend on an existing boiler that is 10/12 years old and supposedly much less efficient than a condensing one, I have already been charged £310 for 1 Motorised valve/1 Vessel/1 auto air vent/ 1 pressure relief valve/ and service call included. 3 months ago now he`s in the process of replacing the pump when he finally gets the back plate seal as it didnt come with the pump this is turning into a nightmare 6 days now!!

Is he just changing parts in a hope to fix the problem? I can understand how you feel, nightmare! Tony's right about finding a repair only man, at least they won't lie and say it's irrepairable.

 

[joby]

Thing is he is only a repair man he doesnt fit boilers so lets hope it is the pump

 

[adwt2004]

Thing is he is only a repair man he doesnt fit boilers so lets hope it is the pump

Well good luck m8, my girlfriends parents have got an ideal classic system boiler and has lasted over 10 years. My girlfriend's grandad has an old "thorn" boiler and is 30 years old! Lets hope I have the same luck when i have mine put in!

British gas do fixed price repairs, might of been worth you ringing them at least you know the costs won't spiral out of control.

Only today they announced to me they are slashing gas prices end of march. Felt like saying, yeah and most people heating needs will be much lower by then!