Advice on Which Combi Condensing Boiler, Please :o/

southcoastrgi

jack_pott wrote: »

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.

nowt wrong with Baxi it's my boiler of choice, I wouldn't fit ideal

[Deleted User]

southcoastrgi wrote: »

nowt wrong with Baxi it's my boiler of choice, I wouldn't fit ideal

I suppose it would depend on what you mean by nothing wrong. The Consumers Association found that the most reliable brands are Worcester, Vaillant, Viessmann, British Gas, Glow-worm, Ideal, Potterton and Baxi, in that order.

79% of Worcester boilers survived 6 years without a repair, compared with 63% of Baxis.

southcoastrgi

alot depends on the model some are better than others with all makes, & alot depends on the installation & on going maintanence, WB & Vaillant are full of plastic bits, BG boilers are re-badged Glowworm so unfair to list them seperatly, Potterton are Baxi anyway, servicing wise WB are by far the biggest pain in the backside to service & repair, putting Ideal above Potterton & Baxi just goes to prove what a total waste of time that survey was

Mike_the_Boilerman

daveyjp wrote: »

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

Indeed. And as a bod who mends boiler breakdowns for a living, I'd point out I get 10 calls for broken Worcesters for every broken Vaillant callout.

From this, I draw the conclusion that Vaillant are more reliable given I get about an equal number of annual servicing calls for Vaillants as Worcesters, as opposed to breakdown calls.

Mike

Lgas

Really? I hardly ever get WB breakdowns. Don't get many Vaillant ones either to be fair though.

[Deleted User]

Whatever you get, get one with a 5 year guarantee!! Beware of a 1 year guarantee.

Lizbetty

Thanks loads for your replies, sorry for the delay in getting back.

I notice that there's a lot of people with contempt for Ideal, I understand this is because they made some right duffers in the past? I'm thrown because I was told that they now have people from Vaillant on board, a 7 year warranty and the boilers are really good - I saw that the Ideal Logic won a design award, I think from the Good housekeeping Institute? And that they have really pulled their socks up.

This is what's throwing me, really. I like the look of the Ideal Vogue boiler, I understand that the parts are more metal than plastic on this one and the reviews look really good. But then the (previous?) reputation of Ideal is putting me off them!

We have another Gas Safe Engineer coming out next week, he mainly fits Ideal. One of the guys who came out didn't account for the fact that we would need our pipe replacing for a 40w/any size larger than our current boiler as it's too narrow, and yet he quoted for a 40w boiler. That bothered me, the other chap who came said that pipe must be changed (possibly run outside the house due to our concrete floor, which put me off a bit), and also he pointed out the fact that the people quoting us must check the water pressure otherwise we shouldn't bother with them, it was nice to be given the tip as he knew we were getting three quotes!

It's such an expense. I'm a bit scared to take the plunge tbh. The 7 wear warranty on the Ideal Vogue looks like it might be worth a punt, but then a warranty isn't worth much is the backup if it's a hassle claiming under it because of poor customer service.

Hmmpf. I will have another read through your comments again, I'm trying to take it all in tbh! If anyone has any comments on the supposedly new improved Ideal at all, that would be great. I am hoping that they have changed and they're great now, as I like the look of their new range. I totally get the comments about incentive schemes from manufacturers though and I don't fancy being a mug for the sake of someone getting some bonus points towards a holiday in Benidorm or whatever!

Thanks again!
Lucy

Seronera

Ideal are currently just about the best out there. The Vogue you have been quoted for was quite closely modeled on a Vaillant and it's a top quality machine for less than a middle of the road Worcester. Baxi are better than they were, but I'd be looking at the Baxi Ecoblue range not the duotecs.

For a mid range boiler the most successful I know of is the Ideal Logic. Its been out for over five years, its proved reliable, easy to work on, backup from Ideal has been superb. Customers love it and it has a seven year warranty and you are not paying over the odds for over hyped German boilers.

I fix boilers for a living and I don't believe a word that Which say. I know which boilers go wrong and WB are no better than average and they are uneccessarily complicated. If you put a WB with the case off next to an Ideal Logic the German machine looks like a dogs breakfast inside. The Ideal shows you how neat and accessible boiler design can be.

I've only been working on these things for 20 years. I probably know nothing

Pidgeofcdf1

Sorry to jump in, had a quote of £1860 for a baxi platinum 33kw inc vat to replace my knackered halstead. After reading thus thread and others I'm a bit confused if baxi are ok or not? It comes with 10 year warranty so I guess they must have faith in their product.
Had originally wanted a wb but quote from same local fitter is £500 more with less warranty.
Many thanks

Seronera

Pidgeofcdf1 wrote: »

Sorry to jump in, had a quote of £1860 for a baxi platinum 33kw inc vat to replace my knackered halstead. After reading thus thread and others I'm a bit confused if baxi are ok or not? It comes with 10 year warranty so I guess they must have faith in their product.
Had originally wanted a wb but quote from same local fitter is £500 more with less warranty.
Many thanks

I service quite a few Baxis and the odd one has had a few leak problems and the odd one has had the dreaded E168 fault code (usually a new PCB), but to be honest that is no different from any other make of boiler out there and better than many. I'd not worry about fitting a Baxi as I still regard it as a decent make. I'd be happy to have one in my house

Much more important is the quality of the install and the dedication of the bloke (or woman) doing the job, and by that I mean that the system is properly cleaned out and inhibited and that a magnetic system filter is fitted, and that controls (TRVs and reasonable roomstat) are fitted, and possibly old radiators upgraded to modern convectors if the money will stretch that far . All will help the boiler to operate as it was intended to.

I wouldn't worry if I were you. Now if you mentioned Biasi or Ariston or Ferroli (I inherited one of those in a house I bought!!) I'd have a dicky fit.