Advice on Which Combi Condensing Boiler, Please :o/

Lizbetty

Hi everyone

We need to move our boiler to make a little cloak room thing into a utility room. As we have an old style gas boiler, and our daughter's room is taken up with x2 cold water tanks and a hot water cylinder, we decided to go for a new boiler. Our bills have been huge since we moved in and so that's another reason.

We have had our first quote - I'm really cautious about boilers because I hear that some types are so unreliable. I'm not sure how accurate Which tests are, we've been quoted for Baxi boilers as these were recommended by the plumber (we will be getting other quotes/advice) - Which says they're really poor on reliability, I've done a bit of googling and foud a few comments to say that certain Baxi models have been spectacularly bad, but overall they're fine.

We've been quoted the following for the boiler to be moved and replaced:
Baxi Duotec 33 - 1900
Baxi Platinum 33 - 2050
Baxi Duotec 40 - 2300
Baxi Platinum 40 - 2400

We live in a 4 bed house with pressure above 2bar (sp?) and we were advised that the 40 might be the best option (one bathroom where we're hoping to have a shower attachment directly to the hot water rather than an electric shower, one en suite with an electric shower fitted already).

All thoughts on the above would be gratefully received, it's obviously a huge outlay but I would prefer to pay the extra few hundred now than wish we had later.

Also, the boiler is currently downstairs. We've been quoted for putting the boiler in my daughter's room upstairs, as it would be cheaper because of the pipework apparently.

I'm really not too up on the siting of boilers and how restrictive the pipework makes it..I'm really not happy about my daughter having it in her bedroom. I know we can get carbon monoxide detectors but it still makes me uneasy, and there's also the noise issue worrying me (and she's not happy her space being invaded by a boiler either, after we've said we're getting rid of the tanks to give her more room, as her bedroom is smaller than her sisters !).

We haven't got a regular plumber and so I'm probably a bit more cautious than I would be if we had one we knew was fantastic. I do tend to be over anxious over everything, and this is one of those things that's sending me into a bit of an 'OMG WHAT IF HE DOESN'T FIT IT RIGHT AND SOMEONE DIES!' frenzy.

All advice on that would be fantastic. I may be being irrational, I hope someone will tell me if I am

Sorry it's another boiler question and thanks in advance for any input!

Lucy

Lizbetty

Ooh that was long. Sorry.

southcoastrgi

2 bar (sp) which i presume means standing pressure, means nothing you need to measure working pressure, but if you do have 2 bar standing that will drop drastically on working pressure & therefore i wouldn't be fitting a combi or unvented cylinder, nowt wrong with Baxi

Lizbetty

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. The plumber checked the working pressure from the outside tap and said it was over 2 bar and that we could run a shower using hot water from the boiler and it would be decent pressure from it.

I'm even more confused now as we had another quote from someone recommending an Ideal Vogue 40kW boiler.

That quote came in at £2645 to move the boiler from a downstairs cloak room to the kitchen, and replace one radiator.

I had a look at the cost of boilers and I'm wondering whether this is reasonable? There are the water tanks and hot water cylinder to remove, too. The boiler would cost around £1200.

Also getting a bit befuddled with the reviews - I know Ideal have had some duff models but it seems their latest range are brilliant? Or is it too early to say that?

andrewf75

Just had a Worcester Bosch fitted which won a Which best buy recently. Happy with it so far.

[Deleted User]

Which? rate Worcester and Vaillant as the best brands both for overall performance, and in terms of reliability. Baxi is the worst brand for reliability, and in the bottom half for overall performance. Ideal doesn't fare much better.

When it comes to advice from salesmen, here's an interesting story:

An acquaintance of mine used to be a motorbike salesman. One year Honda had a promotion whereby each model was allocated points which the salesman would win when he sold one. The one with the most points at the end of the year won a holiday in Japan. Points were allocated according to how badly Honda wanted to shift the product, and the bike with the highest number of points was a trials bike which wasn't selling because it had a reputation for being a bit duff.

In walks a customer one day. He's setting up a motorcycle training school and wants a quote for a job lot of 30 Suzuki trials bikes, because he'd done his research and knew which bike suited his needs best. I'll leave you to guess which bike the salesman sold him, but he won the holiday in Japan......

daveyjp

Worcester do exactly the same. Vaillant don't, thats why BG always sell you a Worcester.

macman

You don't need a plumber to install a gas boiler. You need a GSR RGI. Your plumber may also be GSR-most are not.

Lgas

daveyjp wrote: »

Worcester do exactly the same. Vaillant don't, thats why BG always sell you a Worcester.

BG often fit Vaillant boilers, it's down to customer preference.

Just don't go for an Ideal boiler OP, that's my tuppence worth.

C_Mababejive

Are you sure a combi would suit your demand profile??

daveyjp

Lgas wrote: »

BG often fit Vaillant boilers, it's down to customer preference

I don't think I said they wouldn't fit a Vaillant. Their default position is to sell a WB.