Replacement boiler which?

[alfier]

I have a 27 year old Ideal E type 80 Boiler that I am considering replacing and using a combi to get rid of the Hot Water Tank etc and to lower my gas bills for the 2 of us.

I am not sure if I should get a Baxi Multifit HeatSaver or an Alpha Flowsmart or something else.

At 71 I would welcome some help from you young Experts.

Thanks Alfie

 

[manortim]

i would advise an Intergas boiler, the combi compact 24/28.

less parts and easily a good long service life without the need to replace those annoying parts that fail on most combis....

diverter valves and plate heat ex's!

 

[Youllneverguess]

Agree although they lack the internal expansion vessel that the Atmos version has. However, that is 4" taller.

Atag is the next on my list, but pricey. Then Worcester Bosch - who have done an awful lot of customer service improvements recently, although their warranty engineers aren't the brightest.

Potterton/Baxis are pants. Ideal are even worse. Vaillant are a bunch of ****holes and Viessman are an arrogant bunch to t**pots too.

The main thing though is the quality of the installer.

This is a very common question though and one that has been fought over and debated thousands of times on this forum. The search box is your friend here.

 

[jerholdsworth]

vaillant,not a good boiler then.

i have a lovley boiler.

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i will need a replacement soon and my first choice would be a vaillant but tell me if i am wrong.

 

[Youllneverguess]

Their boilers are average at best.

Fitted one at an architect's insistence.

It lasted 6 weeks before Vaillant had to come out to it. Architect now listens to me.

Vaillant rep promised to help if I came across any of their boilers in his area which had a fault. A few weeks later went to one. Did he answer his phone? did he hell. Did Vaillant want to help the customer with their in-warranty boiler? Did they hell. Was the fault on the boiler caused by the reason they didn't want to help? Was it hell.

What was the problem? Leaking heat exchanger. What was the was installation deficiency? Slightly undersized gas pipe. Which was NCS at worst. Had no bearing on the operation of the boiler for the first 6 months of its life.

 

[dcawkwell]

I suggest stick with the hot tank.

Backup for hot water if the boiler fails.

At your age worrying about saving a few quid isn't worth it. I'd rather
have hot water even if the boiler isn't working.

Simply replace with a system boiler. I would go with something
that has a long guarantee. Quite a few with 5 year warranties.

 

[simond]

I think a Vaillant or a Worcester Combination boiler would be your best bet.

Can't say I advise or get listened to by architects - although one of the UK's premier journalists in building matters has been most complimentary!

Worcester has the best support, and if you choose an Si or CDi combi and get it installed by a top tier accredited installer, you will get a 7yr parts and labour warranty.

Vaillant probably make the best combis, and you weill get a 5 yr warranty.

The advice about a good installer is very pertinent. Get any of these boilers put in by a non powerflushing chancer and you will pay the price with unreliability and shortened lifespan.

Good luck.

 

[manortim]

I do not agree that vaillant make the best combi's at all.

My main work is breakdowns, circa 3000 a year and the volume of 3-5 yr old vaillants i go out to for faults is increasing constantly.

Yep, the old thermocompact combi was good, the turbomax was good and the ecomax was the begining of the end for vaillant and decent kit in my experience.

Intergas have made a boiler without the main items that i see fail on common boilers backEd up by better efficiency and a heat exchanger that has been made 1.3 million times without a SINGLE failure, vaillant can't even come close to that.

And worcester.....the customer pays through the nose for the extended warranty and i know for certain that the worcester engineers have to 'look' for possible clauses with the install to drop the warranty.

I am not saying that worcester or vaillant are bad, simply not the best.

I have fitted the intergas and i am a firm believer in the principle of 'less is better' when it comes to parts that can go wrong within a boiler.

 

[jerholdsworth]

well,i think i will choose a vailliant combi but its not required for a while.
so in six months i will review my decision.

thanks.

 

[alfier]

Thank you all for your inputs, however I see my input got hi-jacked half way through so I'm real confused now.
So to start again(if you see the first post) are any of those two any good and if not which do you recommend. I need a combi because the wife wants rid of the hot water tank.
thanks Alfie

 

[DeltaT2]

The Baxi is OK, but Intergas is better. Don't fit Worcester Tupperware Bosch. These are over-priced plastic rubbish that eat fans.

 

[transam]

Take a look at the ravenheat combi store set up , free hot water some of the time , worth a look ?? maybe ?

 

[muggles]

Sooner or later someone will learn to do a search before they ask questions...this topic has been covered probably more than any other on this forum