I have just installed a Worcester Greenstar Junior 24i to replace a Potterton Combi 80 and would be interested to hear of others experiences with this particular boiler. Normally I install Pottertons, Baxis and Mains as most of my customers won’t or can’t make the jump to a more expensive boiler.
The first thing that surprised me was the hanging frame with the expansion vessel and the pressure relief connection attached. OK, I can see that this takes a little weight off hanging the actual boiler but was a bit taken back by the fact that critical internal water connections had to be made after hanging the boiler. In the case of the pressure relief discharge it was impossible to see what was going on.
The next surprise I got was that there were no pre-formed tails with the boiler. Ok, maybe this isn’t a big deal but it still adds at least 1.5 hours to the time for the install. The only reason that I can think of is that it is possible with this model to run the pipe work up behind the frame. If so, so what? If I had wanted to do this, I would have expected to be able to buy a stand off gizmo.
Next was access to the PCB. The only way to get this was to unhinge the complete control panel to access the last retaining screw, either leaving it dangling of having to rely on someone holding it for you for a few minutes – incredibly badly designed.
Then onto making the electrical connections. When the instructions say to unclip the grommets and cut to size what does this mean exactly. They don’t ‘unclip’ in any way that I could see. What they actually require is a lot of force using inappropriate tools in close proximity to the PCB. The chances are that your hand will slip forcing one or more connections to come flying off the PCB – well it did in my case. Just what you want when you are finishing off and just fitting the programmable thermostat.
The pressure relief discharge pipe work is connected via a nut and olive – nothing wrong with that until you try to tighten it up and find that the male thread just rotates with the spanner. As you cannot see what on earth it is connected to there isn’t much you can do except try and clamp the thread and hope you don’t do too much damage.
Next, even though Worcester kindly provide a sticker of where they were planning on putting the hot water thermostat, it would be more useful if they actually provided one to allow the customer to regulate his hot water temperature – so much more useful.
So, when you come to start the thing up; I don’t know about anyone else but I quite like to know what sort of progress its making as it heats up. It’s very nice to hear the turbine running but personally, I would have liked some sort of indicator to tell me what temperatures it’s managing to achieve.
Next onto the simple job of attaching the condensate waste pipe. Well it would be simple if you didn’t have to dismantle most of the underside of the boiler to get to it, especially when you’ve just put it all back.
Finally the diagnostics. These appear to rely solely on the speed and frequency of the big blue light flashing) not that you can actually see it in daylight though). How much more would it have cost to have provided an LCD which in my case could have indicated that my T10 indicator (which previously came flying off in my attempt to unclip the grommet and was erroneously labelled T1) was either not attached or, as in my case, attached the wrong way round. Oh no, not when it’s possible to get the big blue lamp to flash at a slightly faster rate than it would do for the previous error condition it wanted to show.
Finally, are Glow Worm and Worcester the same company of has the head design bod recently changed jobs? This is the same as a Hxi or Cxi or something as far as I can remember.
Mind you, the telescopic flue was nice.
As I said, I am used to installing cheaper boilers. Although cheaper, from the point of view of installing them, they are far better thought out and I have never experienced any problems of any kind. I have no idea how much better the Worcester will perform over time but for something that costs about £250 more than a Main 24HE I would hope it provides years of trouble free service. I fitted this particular Worcester with a Magnaclean but please don’t get me started on the fittings provided with that – you get a ring spanner provided that no one needs, but don’t get a tool to turn their impossible to get to isolating valves for maintenance.
Anyone had the same sort of experience or is it just me?
The first thing that surprised me was the hanging frame with the expansion vessel and the pressure relief connection attached. OK, I can see that this takes a little weight off hanging the actual boiler but was a bit taken back by the fact that critical internal water connections had to be made after hanging the boiler. In the case of the pressure relief discharge it was impossible to see what was going on.
The next surprise I got was that there were no pre-formed tails with the boiler. Ok, maybe this isn’t a big deal but it still adds at least 1.5 hours to the time for the install. The only reason that I can think of is that it is possible with this model to run the pipe work up behind the frame. If so, so what? If I had wanted to do this, I would have expected to be able to buy a stand off gizmo.
Next was access to the PCB. The only way to get this was to unhinge the complete control panel to access the last retaining screw, either leaving it dangling of having to rely on someone holding it for you for a few minutes – incredibly badly designed.
Then onto making the electrical connections. When the instructions say to unclip the grommets and cut to size what does this mean exactly. They don’t ‘unclip’ in any way that I could see. What they actually require is a lot of force using inappropriate tools in close proximity to the PCB. The chances are that your hand will slip forcing one or more connections to come flying off the PCB – well it did in my case. Just what you want when you are finishing off and just fitting the programmable thermostat.
The pressure relief discharge pipe work is connected via a nut and olive – nothing wrong with that until you try to tighten it up and find that the male thread just rotates with the spanner. As you cannot see what on earth it is connected to there isn’t much you can do except try and clamp the thread and hope you don’t do too much damage.
Next, even though Worcester kindly provide a sticker of where they were planning on putting the hot water thermostat, it would be more useful if they actually provided one to allow the customer to regulate his hot water temperature – so much more useful.
So, when you come to start the thing up; I don’t know about anyone else but I quite like to know what sort of progress its making as it heats up. It’s very nice to hear the turbine running but personally, I would have liked some sort of indicator to tell me what temperatures it’s managing to achieve.
Next onto the simple job of attaching the condensate waste pipe. Well it would be simple if you didn’t have to dismantle most of the underside of the boiler to get to it, especially when you’ve just put it all back.
Finally the diagnostics. These appear to rely solely on the speed and frequency of the big blue light flashing) not that you can actually see it in daylight though). How much more would it have cost to have provided an LCD which in my case could have indicated that my T10 indicator (which previously came flying off in my attempt to unclip the grommet and was erroneously labelled T1) was either not attached or, as in my case, attached the wrong way round. Oh no, not when it’s possible to get the big blue lamp to flash at a slightly faster rate than it would do for the previous error condition it wanted to show.
Finally, are Glow Worm and Worcester the same company of has the head design bod recently changed jobs? This is the same as a Hxi or Cxi or something as far as I can remember.
Mind you, the telescopic flue was nice.
As I said, I am used to installing cheaper boilers. Although cheaper, from the point of view of installing them, they are far better thought out and I have never experienced any problems of any kind. I have no idea how much better the Worcester will perform over time but for something that costs about £250 more than a Main 24HE I would hope it provides years of trouble free service. I fitted this particular Worcester with a Magnaclean but please don’t get me started on the fittings provided with that – you get a ring spanner provided that no one needs, but don’t get a tool to turn their impossible to get to isolating valves for maintenance.
Anyone had the same sort of experience or is it just me?
