New oil boiler - the big question

[PaulAH]

It's a big and perhaps unfair question. I need to replace my oil-fired boiler (5-bed detached house, quite well insulated, about 90,000BTU??). I'm dazzled by all the claims from various manufacturers - Boulter, Potterton, Grant, HRM, Worcester, Trianco etc etc. All things being equal, I would rather buy from a British company (East Anglia better still) than some multinational churning them out in Romania.

Grant looks good because the boiler will be in an enclosed cupboard and they do a model without fancy casing, price to match. Does anyone have any recommendations, pros, cons, do's, don'ts?

Thanks
Paul

 

[wilhelm]

hrm wallstar.

 

[oilman]

First, do you NEED to replace the boiler? If you want to, that's fine, as long as this decision is not the result of bad advice giving you the impression your current boiler is on its last legs, when it isn't.

Next, do you want one on the floor or do you want a wall mounted boiler. Floor mounted are Boulter (East Anglia) good boilers, excellent after sales, Grant, good boilers, excellent after sales, both of these are available in boilerhouse versions,. HRM make a good through-the wall boiler, excellent support again, There are others British made Such as Heating World, Warmflow, Mistral, Thermecon (but I have an aversion to the burner used in them, though their boilers compare reasonably wit the rest).

Worcester and Potterton are non-starters. The boilers are good, but if you need any help, you will be on the end of a long queue on an automated switchboard.

Do ensure your system is flushed before the new boiler goes in.
Do ensure you do the necessary to comply with building regulations.
Do have the thing properly commissioned, failure to do this can give you unnecessary grief.
Do treat your heating system for what it is. It's a major capital investment that should last 20 to 30 years.
Don't skimp on the installation for the sake of reducing the costs now, it could cost you dear later.

This'll do for starters.

 

[PaulAH]

Thanks Oilman. The boiler (an old Redfyre wall flame) is coming up for 30 years old and gives constant grief. I have kept the thing going with string, solder and chewing gum but, by your own 20-30 year standard, it's already well earned its keep. It guzzles oil, breaks down regularly and fills the house with fumes when there's a westerly wind (conventional chimney flue below ridge level is just asking for blow-back. Yes, this could be improved but good money after bad...).

The last service engineer we called out left a note saying his boss had ordered him not to touch it because there were traces of asbestos and "it has been tampered with by an unqualified person" (that's me - and I took great offence, having done a darn sight more to keep the thing running than he ever did!).

Now the idiot who fitted a new circulation pump the wrong way round (see my other post) has, I think, caused some more internal damage due to overheating. So time for the knackers yard. Convinced?

No I don't have a thing about service engineers. Only when they're pillocks.

Glad you mentioned Boulter - their Camray Utility looks pretty good for this hidden installation. This could be the final choice. I've already taken your advice and bought some X400 to chuck into the system before work commences.

Any thoughts on buying over the internet? The all-in price at inspiredheating.co.uk is the same as Plumb Center PRE vat. Tempting...
Paul

 

[oilman]

Do you have someone who is prepared to fit the boiler if you buy it, or are you going down the building control route. The reason for this is that unless you have the equipment, you will need someone to commission it, and you have to have had the required improvements to the system to comply with regs, so you can show the commissioning engineer the documents. Though boilers WILL work without commissioning, modern high efficiency boilers are much more critical on their setting up, and if they're not done properly there IS no warranty.

 

[AnonymousImport]

I work for grant boiler Ireland. The type you want is a boiler house model. Very good boiler with a 5 year warrently.

 

[oilman]

I work for grant boiler Ireland.

Obviously a man with no vested interest. :

Very good boiler with a 5 year warrently.

This applies only to the heat exchanger, and is common among most good boiler manufacturers.

The type you want is a boiler house model.

A boilerhouse model may be a good choice, but jumping to conclusions about what a customer WANTS never seems to indicate good listening IMHO.

As you can see from my earlier post, I hold Grant in high regard, but the decision to purchase should be the customers choice. Heating is a long term decision and ought to made after research and as far as possible, even handed advice.

PaulAH almost all the information you need will probably be on here or here .

 

[AnonymousImport]

You seem to have a chip on your shoulder. Is it that u dont like people knowing more than you sir. I said Nothing wrong in my reply. P.s I think he is talking about a boiler house model.......

Be a little nicer please. Your like an OLD CORGI inspecter

 

[PaulAH]

This may be a heating forum but please cool it, guys. You're both right. Mr Heating is trying to help and you can't blame him for pushing his own product, which is obviously a good one. Mr Oilman is a very eloquent and intelligent guy with his head screwed on.

Me, I'm a DIY enthusiast and grateful to you both for not sneering at an amateur as so many other "experts" do. As it happens, I have a degree in physics which gives my a pretty good grounding of the principles involved in heat and electrics but I defer completely to you guys when it comes to the practicalities.

Mr Oilman: In reply to your last, I intend to install the boiler myself and get a pro to commission it. Nothing wrong with that surely?

Mr Heating: I'd like to take you up but delivery from Ireland might crank up the price!
Thanks
Paul

 

[oilman]

If you install yourself, you will need to inform the building control department so you get an installation certificate in order that the commissioning engineer can complete the paperwork. The problem comes when you want to sell the house and the buyer finds out you have no paperwork to cover it and starts trying to grind the price down. For the little extra it would cost to comply with regs compared to the aggro at sale time it might be worth doing things so they comply now.

As for boilers coming from Ireland, it's no problem. The England base is in Devizes, and from your point of view both Boulter and Grant boilers are as easy to get as the other. They both use Riello RDB 1 burners (well engineered and spares easily available).

You can look at the OFTEC web pages for technical information about installation requirements, though both manufacturers manuals are very thorough in the installation details.

 

[taydo]

What does IMHO mean?

 

[PaulMcC]

Hello all - another Paul here!

PaulAH - Have you bitten the bullet and decided to install it yourself? Hope it goes OK.

Sorry to hijack this thread but like PaulAH I am also looking into installing a new oil boiler and have found this thread very useful.

Could anyone help me with these questions?

I have an old 4 connection boiler - pumped water for the heating and gravity fed for the hot water tank open vented system. I can see the merits of changing to a 2 connection pumped system but this would lead to need for additional control valves/controller etc. Being new to this I figured that a direct replacement would be simple and as I have the boiler outside in my workshop/tool shed I have found a Turco 2000 boiler house which fits my requirements. It is extremely good value at approx £500 - but is it a case of you get wht you pay for?

Any opinions (good or bad) about the Turco range?

Many thanks and apologies for hijacking the thread.

 

[PaulMcC]

P.S. IMHO - In my humble opinion

 

[oilman]

Make sure you get a Sterling burner, not Ecoflam

 

[PaulAH]

Hello t'other Paul

Interesting one. I'm in exactly the same position, with gravity fed hot water and pumped heating. Decided to go for the Boulter Camray 65/90 which, according to a very helful guy in Boulter's technical department, has two flow and two return ports. With a bit of fiddling these should match up with the original configuration.

(Sorry Mr Heating / Grant... I'm going for the Boulter principally because because my local supplier has them in stock at an excellent price and they're made in East Anglia, sentimental fool that I am).

Building regs - and common sense - require that gravity feed should have a thermostat on the hot water cylinder coupled to a motorised valve that shuts off the flow when the water reaches the required temperature. Mine already has this although it's never been wired up!

Yes, I'm going to plumb the kit in myself and get a registered oil engineer to commission it. Worth the cost, not only to get the system running at best efficiency but to provide certificated evidence of a proper installation when it comes to selling the house. Solicitors are quite hot on this, as Oilman pointed out earlier.

Sounk OK to you, Oilman?

Paul