Which Boiler – Vaillant, Glow-Worm, Worcester? Fit Magnaclean?

hugh2006

ossie wrote: »

The plumber tried leak sealant (twice) to no avail. He then had to put isolation valves in the system to find which section was causing pressure loss. Found to be under concrete floor with no visible leak. Rather than dig up floor (expensive) he ran new pipes down from the boiler via downstairs toilet and small pantry then going through living room and entrance hall wall to connect up radiators and disconnected old pipe which was causing leak. This cost me £500 and took him 2 days and several cups of tea!

Thanks Ossie. At least you solved the problem rather than the extensive damage that water leaks could have caused. By the way, how old was the pipework? That will at least give me an idea whether my 15 year old system may stand up to the test.

hugh2006

cowbutt wrote: »

My recent installer was prepared to install either a Worcester or Vaillant boiler, but recommended the Vaillant Ecotec Plus 831 as he reckoned it had the edge for reliability and longevity (mainly down to a stainless steel heat exchanger, if I remember correctly). I took his advice, but sourced the boiler from vhsdirect.co.uk who were not only £100 cheaper than his normal supplier, but added an extra year's warranty taking it to three years.

He fitted a Magnaclean (the smaller model) and it caught lots of gunk just in the first 24 hours of operation. I'm pretty skeptical of the various "magnetic" gadgets out there (especially with respect to car "fuelsavers") but having seen the gunk it extracted, I think it's probably worthwhile. The labour for installing my boiler was about 1/3 of the total cost, the boiler was 1/3rd and the rest was things like the room thermostat, flue, and so on.

Thanks Cowbutt. Very useful info, including the split on costs.

denisiw

I'm about to have my nearly-15 year-old Glow-worm Energysaver 40 condensing boiler replaced. It started playing up over Christmas; it wouldn't ignite. I had Homeserve central heating insurance so I contacted them. I had to get their approval to have my own CH engineer to have a look at it as the one they had given the job to (A Jones) wouldn't come out because it wasn't a Vaillant!

The igniter was replaced but the problem re-occurred soon after. Another call to Homeserve and FW Marsh sent one of their CH engineers. He got it working but said that it was in need of a service and it was leaking. It was working for a couple of days but when it again failed to ignite I phoned Homeserve and was told that it would have to be serviced before they would send someone to have a look.

I had it serviced by FW Marsh and the cause of the leak was put down to a blocked condensate drain. This should have been flushed out at every service, but never had been, although I had had the boiler serviced every year. The boiler was working when the FW Marsh engineer left, but failed after a couple of hours, it wouldn't stay alight. I phoned Homeserve and they said that I had to get FW Marsh to come out again as they had serviced the boiler so were at fault and had to put it right. When I phoned FW Marsh the person I spoke to said that as the boiler was working when their engineer left and he had informed me that it was leaking it wasn't down to them and as parts were no longer available there was nothing that they could do! Catch 22.

That was the final straw; I decided that I was going to get a new boiler. I contacted FW Marsh and we agreed that the boiler was beyond economical repair (BER) and they would inform Homeserve. I’m getting £200 from Homeserve because it’s BER.

I can’t complain about the boiler I’m replacing. I bought it in the early days of condensing boiler development when there weren’t many to choose from. It cost me £542 and I got £200 back from the Energy Saving Trust who were giving grants to people who had condensing boilers installed.

I searched on the net for information on Glow-worm boilers. I decided on the Glow-worm Ultracom 15hxi as it was a similar configuration to the one it was to replace and didn’t involve too many changes to the flow and return, flue, gas or condensate drain.

I ordered one from Discounted Heating Supplies (£556) on Tuesday 20 January and it was delivered on Friday 23 January. They have a fixed £5.99 delivery charge and it was delivered by PlumbCenter. Living on the IW delivery charges are often the deciding factor when it comes to buying large items. I’ll also need to buy a flue which is £50 from PlumbCenter.

My brother-in-law is a qualified plumber/CH installer and has just been round to see what needs to be done. He's going to install it next Thursday.

When the 2 year guarantee expires I very much doubt that I will take out insurance.

simmons55

Hi all

I dont know much about boilers, but i just had a new one installed in my house.

I was quoted for the boiler, parts and labour.

My mate told me about:

boilerandbathroom.com

The price on the site was over £200 less than i was quoted and included free delivery. Alot of the boilers seem to be very cheap.

I then only had to pay the labour chnarges so i ended up savinf ALOT of money!

Hope someone finds this helpfull.

yummymummyofthree

For anyone considering a new boiler there is a very good family run company that offer very good advice. Their website is packed with information on what 'the perfect installation' should consist of, like an A_Z guide.

The site also allows you to build your own quote online and you can compare other companies.

If anyone is interested here is the site: newboiler.co.uk

They fitted my neighbours boiler and have since installed my sisters boiler a few miles away.

Cardew

yummymummyofthree wrote: »

Hi everyone and Happy Christmas,

e!

Joined today!

4 identical posts all promoting the same company.

Most of us like Turkey not spam at XMAS.

Methinks you might not last too long.

Glow-worm_1934

I work for Glow-worm direct - we have an approved list of installers on our website (glow-wormheating.co.uk) and would highly recommend that anyone considering a Glow-worm boiler consults this list to find the most competitive quote.

Any other questions regarding Glow-worm, installers etc can be found on our blog and I will always endeavour to respond within 24-48 hours.

Thanks and Merry Christmas
Sally, Glow-worm