Help choosing a new combi

Idgam

Hi people, I wonder if someone might be able to give me some advice.

I need to replace my old boiler as it is not man enough to heat the house and the storage tank is very small and you only get about half a bath full of water from it. Not really suitable for a family of 4.

I have approached a plumber who has given me a labour only price of approx £1000. This is to fit 7 new radiators, two curved bay radiators and to install a new combi boiler. The quote also includes disconnecting all the old storage tanks, moving 5 of the radiators to other walls and a powerflush.

I have to buy the hardware and I am trying to decide between two boilers:

Worcester Bosch Greenstar 37CDi or
Vaillant Ecotec Exclusive 838

They are both about the same price but i am not sure which would be the better value in the long run :think:

keystone

Have a look at the equivalent Viessmann unit.

Cheers

Idgam

Thanks for that I will take a look. It is not a name I am familiar with.

heating-eng

Idgam wrote: »

Hi people, I wonder if someone might be able to give me some advice.

I need to replace my old boiler as it is not man enough to heat the house and the storage tank is very small and you only get about half a bath full of water from it. Not really suitable for a family of 4.

I have approached a plumber who has given me a labour only price of approx £1000. This is to fit 7 new radiators, two curved bay radiators and to install a new combi boiler. The quote also includes disconnecting all the old storage tanks, moving 5 of the radiators to other walls and a powerflush.

I have to buy the hardware and I am trying to decide between two boilers:

Worcester Bosch Greenstar 37CDi or
Vaillant Ecotec Exclusive 838

They are both about the same price but i am not sure which would be the better value in the long run :think:

both these boilers are very good boilers ..
you say it takes a long time to fill a bath ..combi boilers normally take longer than the old cylinder type system ..
water pressure: water pressure is key when fitting a combi boiler .you need to have enough cold mains water pressure and flow going in to get a good hot water pressure coming out ..

you may find that fitting a bigger cylinder could be the best thing for your system ..which is hard to tell without doing a full site survey ..

CandleFan

I've just had a worcester greenstar external oil combi fitted (have very good water pressure) and am very impressed with it. It also came with a 5 year guarantee, which might be a consideration. Apparently the worcester technical team respond very quickly if there are problems as well. Despite having no heating for about a year, prior to getting this fitted, i've had no probs. Its worth bearing in mind as well that the system is only as good as how it is fitted! Our previous one was horrendous, despite only being a few years old. Hope this helps.

Idgam

heating-eng wrote: »

both these boilers are very good boilers ..
you say it takes a long time to fill a bath ..combi boilers normally take longer than the old cylinder type system ..
water pressure: water pressure is key when fitting a combi boiler .you need to have enough cold mains water pressure and flow going in to get a good hot water pressure coming out ..

you may find that fitting a bigger cylinder could be the best thing for your system ..which is hard to tell without doing a full site survey ..

Thanks for that. The bath only takes a few minutes to fill up, but there is hardly any hot water and it only fills the bath under half way before the hot water in the cylinder is empty.

We did think about replacing the cylinder, but we could also do with the extra room so our plumber suggested the combi route.

heating-eng

Idgam wrote: »

Thanks for that. The bath only takes a few minutes to fill up, but there is hardly any hot water and it only fills the bath under half way before the hot water in the cylinder is empty.

We did think about replacing the cylinder, but we could also do with the extra room so our plumber suggested the combi route.

plumbers normally always advise combi,s even if its not right for the customer ..
in your case it may be the best thing to do but it will depend on water pressure and on the size of the house ..

NEH

We have Worcester one, a 30cdi which is simliar to yours and it is good however there is only two of us but there seems to be plenty of hot water...but it would depend on how many are in your household....

The only thing i don't like about a combi boiler is the fact that you can't have heating when someone is having a shower....I hate coming out of the shower to a cold house but that's my own personal opinion....

ginvzt

NEH wrote: »

The only thing i don't like about a combi boiler is the fact that you can't have heating when someone is having a shower....I hate coming out of the shower to a cold house but that's my own personal opinion....

Never heard of that one! We lived in two houses with combi boilers, and both heated the house at the same time as the hot water was used. In the first one, we could run two showers simultaneously and heating would still work.

NEH

ginvzt wrote: »

Never heard of that one! We lived in two houses with combi boilers, and both heated the house at the same time as the hot water was used. In the first one, we could run two showers simultaneously and heating would still work.

It's because there is no water tank. The valve shuts off and devotes to one or the other. Not a technical person so can't remember the ins and outs...It's one thing we won't be looking for when we buy again. Thankfully this house is rented so it's not ours to worry about. It's a pain ahving to use electric heating though when you're in the shower...

ginvzt

NEH wrote: »

It's because there is no water tank. The valve shuts off and devotes to one or the other. Not a technical person so can't remember the ins and outs...It's one thing we won't be looking for when we buy again. Thankfully this house is rented so it's not ours to worry about. It's a pain ahving to use electric heating though when you're in the shower...

I suggest your boiler is not up to scratch. I never had this problem. My OH parents live with a combi boiler all they life in Italy and this never happened. My parents have combi boiler and both systems do work simultaneously. The only thing that I can say and have experienced, that sometimes it can't heat enough water fast enough to supply hot water to 2 taps (i.e. shower and kitchen at the same time). But I think that can be solved with a more powerful boiler.

What boiler do you have (brand/make)? Maybe someone else can confirm your experience or tell you that it is not supposed to work like it does?