Which is best Condenser Boiler to buy?

maintenanceman

ohwhatAplumber wrote: »

personally I would go with Biasi boilers latest range, i had a Advance Plus fitted at a cheap price and have recommended to two family members. the hot water performance is exceptional and most the parts used inside are used by all the over priced boilers on the market.

What someone from Biasi just stumbled across this thread???

Scos

Do not buy a Ferroli boiler! I had a terrible experience with them - the boiler didn't work from the start - customer service was terrible. Avoid!

gropinginthedark

Juat read a couple of pages of this thread and seen many prople saying their boiler is great but then adding that it's been in for a realtively short time. More important is what happens as the boiler ages. My Baxi was fine for 10 years then there was a condensate trap problem, next a burner replacement and the engineer said the relays are getting noisy and the circuit board will probably need replacing soon. So is 12 years a reasonable expected life span? So far repairs have cost more than a new boiler if you disregard installation cost.
I have seen some sold with a guarantee that spare parts will be available for 15 years and I know of folk with a 20 year old boiler still going strong. BTW British Gas seem to think I should budget £5k for a replacement boiler - I could buy the unit they'd use for £700 (they buy hundreds so probably pay somewhat less) so over £4k for a day's installation work (sorry BG "workers" so best make that 2 days) sounds a bit steep...

ena1m

On the 2nd December 2008 we bought a Vaillant boiler ecoTEC esclusive 838.

A month ago it broke down and we called a local plummer. The cost of buying and replacing the broken pump and the temperature sensor was £ 500.

The boiler broke down again only a couple of weeks later. This time we called Vaillant and for another £ 178.80 they changed the boiler motherboard. Vaillant also told us that the pump had broken down because when water went through the boiler system, [as it is meant to do], it left limescale behind. By the way, at the time of installation we had a limescale inhibitor installed into the pipe system.

Since Vaillant last service (only a few weeks ago, now) the boiler has failed to work properly and, last night, it started leaking water too. After having spent £678.80 in service alone and in less than one month, we are not impressed with the quality of the product and the service. We now need to call out Vaillant again in the hope we will be third time lucky. It will also mean for the third time this winter no heating or hot water until the repair takes place. With a 92 years old in the house too this is no fun.

It has been indicated by Which? that a Vaillant boiler is supposed to last between 17 to 25 years. So far, it has not even lasted five years.

Vaillant has not been helpful when contacted, in fact they only responded when we placed our grievances on Facebook. They did not own up to having produced a faulty boiler, one with a faulty motherboard, temperature sensors and especially one that is not suitable to be used in London where the water is very hard.

The failure of the boiler after such a short period of use is unacceptable and Vaillant attitude is even more unacceptable.

When I will next need to change boiler I will not buy a Vaillant, not ever again. After our experience a friend, due to change his boiler, decided against a Vaillant and ended up buying a Worcester Bosch. It comes with a 7 years warranty which says a lot more that load of empty words.

The Facebook page of Vaillant has plenty of negative comments and the only commendable element is that Vaillant does not seem to remove them.

JohnB47

Back in 2001 or 2002, we had a replacement boiler fitted. The installers said they once favoured Vaillant but that their reliability had gone off with their latest versions. Instead they fitted a Worcester Bosh, which has worked flawlessly since (touching wood now).

diywhynot

ena1m wrote: »

On the 2nd December 2008 we bought a Vaillant boiler ecoTEC esclusive 838.

A month ago it broke down and we called a local plummer. The cost of buying and replacing the broken pump and the temperature sensor was £ 500.

The boiler broke down again only a couple of weeks later. This time we called Vaillant and for another £ 178.80 they changed the boiler motherboard. Vaillant also told us that the pump had broken down because when water went through the boiler system, [as it is meant to do], it left limescale behind. By the way, at the time of installation we had a limescale inhibitor installed into the pipe system.

Since Vaillant last service (only a few weeks ago, now) the boiler has failed to work properly and, last night, it started leaking water too. After having spent £678.80 in service alone and in less than one month, we are not impressed with the quality of the product and the service. We now need to call out Vaillant again in the hope we will be third time lucky. It will also mean for the third time this winter no heating or hot water until the repair takes place. With a 92 years old in the house too this is no fun.

It has been indicated by Which? that a Vaillant boiler is supposed to last between 17 to 25 years. So far, it has not even lasted five years.

Vaillant has not been helpful when contacted, in fact they only responded when we placed our grievances on Facebook. They did not own up to having produced a faulty boiler, one with a faulty motherboard, temperature sensors and especially one that is not suitable to be used in London where the water is very hard.

The failure of the boiler after such a short period of use is unacceptable and Vaillant attitude is even more unacceptable.

When I will next need to change boiler I will not buy a Vaillant, not ever again. After our experience a friend, due to change his boiler, decided against a Vaillant and ended up buying a Worcester Bosch. It comes with a 7 years warranty which says a lot more that load of empty words.

The Facebook page of Vaillant has plenty of negative comments and the only commendable element is that Vaillant does not seem to remove them.

Interesting first post. How long was the warranty? Was the central heating system flushed before the boiler was installed? Was a magnetic filter fit to the system? Does your CH system has copper or plastic pipework? 15 mm or microbore? Has the boiler been serviced every year since 2008 (5 years old now), by the same RGI/original installer? £500 to replace a pump and a temperature sensor seems steep...did you have other quotes for repair?

daveyjp

A 5 year old Vaillant will not be the same as the modern equivalent. They now offer a 7 year warranty which suggests they are happy with their products.

cyclonebri1

Much as I hate doing it I am going to resurrect this thread, it's a very direct question that many will pick up on when searching.

I'm looking for a new boiler VERY shortly, I'm open to views.

However my past experience is overpoweringly steering me in a single direction.

My present boiler was fitted over 17 years ago, it's still working but loses static water pressure quickly, may even be a leak elsewhere in the system.
In 17 years the only fault has been a dry jointed component on the mother board, resoldered and fixed myself when it was missed/miss-diagnosed by a certified guy.

It's a combi, why should I but different this time?

What make? Glow-Worm, a Swiftflow 100e.

I'm looking at Worscester etc, but I want convincing 1 way or the other:beer:

5thelement

I know which brand not t go for and its Ideal. This is one s**te boiler.

Seronera

5thelement wrote: »

I know which brand not t go for and its Ideal. This is one s**te boiler.

My Ideal Turbo 2 condensing boiler is nearly 23 years old (I installed it in August 1992) and has had two faults in that time. Its been utterly brilliant. If yours is an Isar/Icos then they were rubbish, but the current models, The Logic and the more expensive Vogue are proving very good boilers, and Ideal are providing excellent service backup......so far. I think your advice is out of date.

I spend my time servicing and mending boilers.No make is perfect but I do find there is a lot of hype about Worcester Bosch whose boilers are above average quality,but no better than that.Personally I'd prefer an Ideal as the current designs are really well thought through,and you can't say the same for WB which are always a dogs breakfast inside.

As I've said on other threads, if you go for any of the following you should get decent service provided it is properly installed and the system cleaned, inhibited and a good magnetic filter installed. Glow Worm (Flexicom/Ultracom)/Vaillant (Ecotec) Baxi (EcoBlue or Duotec) Ideal (Logic or Vogue) Worcester Bosch ( Greenstar CDi...NOT Junior), Intergas (4 moving parts=simplicity) Viessmann (Expensive ones are better, but even Vitodens 100 is OK). Vokera (The only Italian boiler worh looking at) Atag (Not well known but good).

Get proper controls, decent new radiators (its often cheaper than powerflushing old ones, but don't tell British Gas) and as long as its not too pricey get weather compensation e.g. Ideal only charge about £15-20 for their weather comp kit for combis. Others charge over £100 and the economics look a bit suspect when you think it will only save 2-3%...worth having at the right price though.

The Swift Flow was a decent old beast, but very old now. I'd suggest the reason you found the dry joint is that you have the time to spend hours on it whereas we menders are under pressure to find things quickly, and believe me, with the range of combis around today, all different, that is not always easy to do. Most blokes do their best.