New Combi Boiler
Discussion
There's a distinct chance I'm going to be needing a new Combi Boiler, engineer is booked for tomorrow, if I'm lucky it'll need a new pump but based on age/quality it could well get written off. 
Never been overly impressed with the existing boiler, an Ariston something or other fitted in 2012 by the previous owners of the house so other than the unplanned expense it's not all bad, and an excuse for an 'upgrade'.
So before the engineer has look I'd like to be armed with a little knowledge on what's any good in the world of heating up water, requirements are for an average size 4 bed/2 bath property, with 12 radiators.
What brands to steer away from, features I may or may not know I need, and at what price point it's all going to end up?
Never been overly impressed with the existing boiler, an Ariston something or other fitted in 2012 by the previous owners of the house so other than the unplanned expense it's not all bad, and an excuse for an 'upgrade'.
So before the engineer has look I'd like to be armed with a little knowledge on what's any good in the world of heating up water, requirements are for an average size 4 bed/2 bath property, with 12 radiators.
What brands to steer away from, features I may or may not know I need, and at what price point it's all going to end up?
We used to have an Ariston combi. Absolutely useless pile of junk which in the end British Gas agreed to replace with a Worcester Bosch boiler at cost price to save their engineering visits!
Do ensure any replacement is big enough to cope. Seems to me providers are good at supplying a boiler that in theory is big enough but not in practice.
Do ensure any replacement is big enough to cope. Seems to me providers are good at supplying a boiler that in theory is big enough but not in practice.
sherman said:
Strangely I havd an Ariston combi boiler thats perfectly fine.
Its 5 years olds. Its on a 13 year warranty so will be sound for some timd to come.
WB or Valiant seem to be the go to brands. You will need circa £2500 for a new boiler.
Unless you get British Gas to supply and fit, then it'll be closer to £5k Its 5 years olds. Its on a 13 year warranty so will be sound for some timd to come.
WB or Valiant seem to be the go to brands. You will need circa £2500 for a new boiler.
raceboy said:
There's a distinct chance I'm going to be needing a new Combi Boiler, engineer is booked for tomorrow, if I'm lucky it'll need a new pump but based on age/quality it could well get written off.
Never been overly impressed with the existing boiler, an Ariston something or other fitted in 2012 by the previous owners of the house so other than the unplanned expense it's not all bad, and an excuse for an 'upgrade'.
So before the engineer has look I'd like to be armed with a little knowledge on what's any good in the world of heating up water, requirements are for an average size 4 bed/2 bath property, with 12 radiators.
What brands to steer away from, features I may or may not know I need, and at what price point it's all going to end up?
What's your house heat loss??Never been overly impressed with the existing boiler, an Ariston something or other fitted in 2012 by the previous owners of the house so other than the unplanned expense it's not all bad, and an excuse for an 'upgrade'.
So before the engineer has look I'd like to be armed with a little knowledge on what's any good in the world of heating up water, requirements are for an average size 4 bed/2 bath property, with 12 radiators.
What brands to steer away from, features I may or may not know I need, and at what price point it's all going to end up?
My Priorities for a new boiler would be
Highest possible Modulation (ie lowest output possible without cycling)
Sized correctly to the house heat loss (appreciate that might be harder with a combi because due to the HW on demand they need to be much larger than space heating would require - but I'd want the functionality to have a lower output for CH and full output for HW)
Viessmann, Valliant, Intergas and WB in order of preference but you need to make sure whatever is fitted is done by a gas engineer that has the training to maximise the warranty length.
That's about it from me
We had an Intergas boiler fitted about 5-6 years ago and have been very happy with it.
The installer suggested it over Worcester for several reasons, but one of the main ones was the hot water flow rate is high for a combi.
The trend now seems to be for 'hybrid' boilers that work alongside a heat pump which seems a good balance for the typical British home. The heat pump can do most of the work on milder days with the gas boiler able to supplement when needed.
The installer suggested it over Worcester for several reasons, but one of the main ones was the hot water flow rate is high for a combi.
The trend now seems to be for 'hybrid' boilers that work alongside a heat pump which seems a good balance for the typical British home. The heat pump can do most of the work on milder days with the gas boiler able to supplement when needed.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
raceboy said:
Valliant are local
And Worcester are the big player I've actually heard of.
It's Vaillant, not Valliant. And as others have said, stick to Vaillant or Worcester Bosch. And Worcester are the big player I've actually heard of.
Mazinbrum said:
Don’t know if it’s true but the bloke that fitted our Vaillant said WB were more popular as they have a plastic tank inside so are a lot lighter and can be fitted by one man whereas the Vaillant is stainless steel.
They weigh about the same … the stainless steel bit is the Vaillant heat exchanger (not used on every model) , Worcester use aluminium. Worcester boilers do contain plenty of plastic components though. A Vaillant EcoTec & Worcester 8000 are both heavy buggers…just over 50kg, so they take a bit of getting on the wall or through a loft hatch.
OutInTheShed said:
Nobody got a good word for Ideal any more?
They'll be top of the list if my current 35 year-old Ideal ever breaks...!Just had a look at BOXT - very slick. How would the prices compare with a normal local boiler fitter I wonder? Would the BOXT man be a bish-bash-bosh-near-enough-guv type?
I was however surprised to see how little there is in a boiler for £3,000...
It's basically ruddy empty!
Edited by Simpo Two on Monday 29th January 21:08
te. The newer Esprit/Logic/Vogue range are fine. What’s annoying me a bit at the moment is the lack of details about the user interfaces, my previous boiler in the last house had better functionality than the current one, for instance you could set heating patterns differently at the weekend, the current one just the same everyday, I want one like the old one, or is Wi-Fi the way forward? 
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