SIME boilers Good reputation or Bad

[michael1000]

hi
I am new to this forum
We are in Australia and have just moved into a house with a SIME external Boiler. Just wondering to they have a good reputation for heating.
We are running 7 panels but panel heating is not common at all in Australia due to the weather and Boilers/hydronics are very expensive here, plus we do not have the choice of Boilers the UK or Europe have.
We have an oportunity to get a Baxi Boiler and just wondered should we stay with the Sime or move to the Baxi ?
There is not much info in aussie at all and due to the limit of whats around most installers have a barrow to push.
Just for anyone who is interested, prices for Heating or Combi boilers in Australia are over twice the price of the UK and more.
We do not have to meet any effeciency standard and you can only buy one condensing boiler in the whole of aussie for hydronic heating.
That is a baxi Combi 30, which retails for $5800 aussie. About 2400 Pounds. Amazing hey. Thats not installed. Minimum price for a boiler change over is 400 quid.
Panels are also over double the price.
The SIME 34e format we have retails for $2400 or 1200 pounds as well. Its 83 percent effeciency, as I say sime dont have any condensing boilers here for sale. God knows what price the local plumbing shops would charge. I think we are the only place in the world accepting these boilers now.
Anyway you can see why most people have trouble affording this sort of heating. We envy your prices for boilers.
Parts are so dear here as well hence we want to get the right unit. a new pump for sime is 300 quid, a circuit board 300 quid, etc etc. I know its a small market but it is annoying the margins the local installers charge.
Thanks for any opinion of boilers. Just want to get it right before changeover. I lean towards the Baxi, unless someone could point me otherwise.
cheers michael

Note-there are only 4 boilers that are available that I know of in Australia.
Ferroli 30 Kw outdoor (indoor also available) 1100 pounds
80% efficiency
Sime 82 effeciency -1200 pounds indoor or outdoor
Baxi 82 effeciency 1200 pounds or he 90 effeciency 2400 pounds
pretty much the only boilers available in Australia for Hydronic Central heating.
Not installed prices.
there is a local one but not very effecient.

 

[DP]

I would suggest a regular service on existing boiler. On my rounds as a service engineer I find lack of service can often be the main cause of malfunction.

Install some controls to put heat where it is needed i.e. living rooms and/ or sleeping rooms zones and TRVs fitted in rooms that are sunny.

Sime is an average boiler that will continue to keep you warm and washed. No point in splashing out on a new boiler when Sime is healthy and strong. Start putting money away each month for the day when this boiler is uneconomical to repair.

 

[charliechaplinspants]

Why would you need heating in Australia? Air conditioning. Maybe.

 

[michael1000]

[/quote]Why would you need heating in Australia? Air conditioning. Maybe
In Melbourne and tasmania, two of our states it gets cold. Not UK cold but cold and wet. 0 Celcius, for a while, hot insummer 45 celcius
But we need heating for 4 months of the year. Only Melbourne or Victoria really has Boiler/Hydronic set up.The other states too warm and heating this way is way too expensive. A plumber standard quote is 500-700 Pounds per radiater installed. Thats with boiler etc. So 6 average size panels is 3600 pounds. Being that most aussies have big houses, they need 12-15 panels at least it gets to be very very expensive.
Back to topic.
sime

 

[bengasman]

Sime is not a very good boiler, but ferroli and baxi are not exactly top of the range either, and I wood not replace a working sime with one of those 2.
If it keels over, sime would be my last choice out of the 3 to install again.
Having said that, aussie models could be entirely different from uk models; it all depends on the country they are exported to.

 

[charliechaplinspants]

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[fatplumber]

I think I took out four Simes last year and replaced with summat better. One was only three years old. The clients all said that they had formed very intimate relationships with the repair man.

 

[fazedup71]

I think I took out four Simes last year and replaced with summat better. One was only three years old. The clients all said that they had formed very intimate relationships with the repair man.

What was wrong with them? other than having to replace the micro switch for the flow sensor we have had no problems with them so far. I don't like how on the formats the customer can activate the engineer mode. I have mentioned that to the rep several times but it falls on deaf ears.

 

[fatplumber]

Continuing problems as far as I remember. The youngest one was never gassed properly. I had the governor changed at the meter and it improved but it was locking out every day in the end. Sime came out once and it was ok for a few months according the the client. I replaced the fan a and pcb within a month of each other. I stuck in a WB junior of the same output and it worked fine at the outset. Pressure at the valve was fine. Never got that with the Sime. Never sussed it but the client just lost the will to carry on. Each of the others I changed for 27 juniors and the clients are all over the moon. Bags of trouble free hot water. No sense that they are struggling.

 

[charliechaplinspants]

What was wrong with them?

They were sh*it.

 

[fazedup71]

Continuing problems as far as I remember. The youngest one was never gassed properly. I had the governor changed at the meter and it improved but it was locking out every day in the end. Sime came out once and it was ok for a few months according the the client. I replaced the fan a and pcb within a month of each other. I stuck in a WB junior of the same output and it worked fine at the outset. Pressure at the valve was fine. Never got that with the Sime. Never sussed it but the client just lost the will to carry on. Each of the others I changed for 27 juniors and the clients are all over the moon. Bags of trouble free hot water. No sense that they are struggling.

Well I will keep my fingers crossed with the ones i have fitted, juniors are a lot nicer. Thanks for letting me know

 

[fazedup71]

What was wrong with them?

They were sh*it.

Go and sit on the naughty step!!

 

[charliechaplinspants]

Oi Fazedup are you a plumber by any chance.