Viessmann Vitodens 200 or Vitodens 300

[spacey3]

Since the incident in the home and everything else that is going on to remodel I think it may be prudent to replace the age old boiler in the kitchen with a new one (located elsewhere).

I am looking at system boilers with a twin coil cylinder for solar water.

However recently I came across a Vitodens 300 system that is of course not available in the UK but you can import.

My questions is has anyone had any experience with the new Vitodens 300 range? Is anyone aware what (apart from the two obvious differences - LAN connection and colour touch screen) are the differences between the 200 and 300 range.

 

[simond]

You can't import legitimately, it isn't supported by Viessmann in the UK and therefore will not be able to be registered with Building Control or Gas Safe Register. Having a CE mark isn't the whole story for domestic gas boilers.

For what it's worth, the previous Viessmann 300 series wasn't very reliable (fans, water pressure switches, variable speed pump KM Bus controllers) and it was dropped in the UK due to low sales. We fitted a fair number, a fact I now regret.

One of my customers had so many problems the Viessmann MD gave him another two years warranty, especially as their service tech forgot to do up the gas union the last time he was there.

 

[spacey3]

Thanks for the info, just out of curiosity what is the difference between the 300 and 200 model, I can't see anything in the description other than the LAN interface and Colour Display.

 

[simond]

No idea, what Viessmann are knocking out in other markets is an irrelevence to a UK installer.

If you look at Vaillant, Bosch etc they all sell different, arguably more interesting, products in Germany but comparisons are pointless, because it is down to their UK product management team what comes over here. The testing regime in the UK is such that it costs a small fortune to get approvals for each model derivative.

The main reason the previous 300 series was dropped for our market was because we are very price sensitive in the UK on boilers. You can go to a house with priceless antiques, Wilton carpets and a Bentley in the drive for the au pair, but they won't want to spend a penny more on the boiler room.

Conversely, the 100 series Viessmann range was never sold in Germany because they thought the cheap construction would damage the brand.

Worth saying that the colour display on the 300 will be almost impossible to understand, there is someone in Viessmann who only signs off controls once they have been rendered unfathomable. Yes, we can understand them once we've been on their course, but one has to bear in mind we just fit them. We aren't the end user - and they don't get a course.

When the thing's not doing what you want at 4pm on Xmas Eve, I don't want to answer the phone and Viessmann will have gone home. You have been forewarned, if it is a KM bus control, you may live to regret specifying it.