Worcester Bosch 36 CDi or Baxi platinium 40kw

amistupid

I've had quote to install both from different engineers.

As far as I can gather both boilers cost about the same, the advantage of the Baxi is it has a 10 year parts and labour warranty against the five years of the Worcester. The quote for installing the Worcester is about £100 more.

Both quotes include chemical clean and power flushing the system, which currently runs off a Worcester 350 combi,.

Both tradesmen are local and appear reputable. My gas supply pipe is 22 mm. When I was given the quote by the Baxi engineer there was no mention that the gas supply pipe may need to be increased to 28 mm.

It was the engineer quoting me for the Worcester who mentioned this and who told me that the pipe may also have to be increased to 28 mm to properly supply the Worcester boiler, he said would only know if it did need replacing after fitting testing the boiler.

What else concerns me is the engineer for the Worcester boiler said he would power wash the system about a week AFTER installing the new boiler. This seemed odd to me.

Have we any gas engineers here able to give some independent advice.

Cheers.

Cardew

WHICH have done a comprehensive report on boilers. Might be worth spending £1 or visiting a library to read - assuming you don't subscribe to WHICH.

Robwiz

I'm not a gas engineer but power flushing after installation is very unusual. The whole point is to get all the magnetite out of your pipes before installation so that it doesn't harm the new boiler.

Have you asked for customer references from both installers? Or looked them up on Check-a-trade? I wouldn't give an installer a job without having checked with previous customers. Ask for the phone numbers for their last three install jobs and ring them.

It's a common ploy for tradesmen to quote for unnecessary work to bump up their income, so ask the references whether their job came in as quoted or whether the installer found additional work was needed.

Which? magazine reports Worcester and Vaillant boilers having highest customer satisfaction but search on reliability – I have seen some fitters on the trade forums reporting known faults on some Worcester models.

amistupid

Thanks.

I've just rang Worcester technical, they state their Compact CDI range do not have enough KW capacity for my central heating needs and have recommended their classic range. According to other internet boiler site my property needs the 42 CDI which is £300 more than the one the engineer quoted me for and they said under no circumstances should the system be flushed after the new boiler had been installed. They also said it would be very unusual if my gas supply pipe needed upgrading.

Incidentally Which rated the Worcester CDI range their best buys, according to the Worcester site, but I'm now tempted by the Baxi which gives similar performance, with a ten year warranty and £300 cheaper than the Worcester.

ollski

Did you find your 35kw Worcester 350 struggled?. A hot flush can be done after installation if the system was cleansed prior to installation, the hot flush is primarily for cleaning corrosive flux from the newly installed pipe work. You were right to be advised a pipe work upgrade may be required, especially if you are going up to 42kw but you need to make sure that your hot water supply can utilise all that power.

MoneyMate

Hi amistupid, I Had a Worcester Bosch 38 CDI fitted by a approved Worcester accredited company last July their recommendation is 22mm Gas pipe.
Came with 7 Years with Boiler topped up to 10 Years with Company doing work.
A Wireless Honeywell room Stat ( Great bit of Kit)
Fitted Magnaclean heating filter ( Recommended by Installers ) just take filter out and clean every 12 Month's or so,protects the central heating circuit, BUT they did flush out pipework on completion, Black gunge every where well worth flushing out.
Would recommend :beer:

southcoastrgi

if you need more kw than their compact range for your heating then you must live in buck house, they are talking about your hot water requirements in which case a combi might not be suitable for you

Ray_Alexander

Usually you'd get a flush done before the new boiler goes in - just to ensure the pipework, etc isn't full of crud that could land up in the new boiler. So am surprised of the idea of a power flushing after installation. Still take my case for example, yeah I got some quotes from some firms and ended-up taking the cheapest one from stl heating. Sure they came out and had my system flushed before putting the new boiler in. I was told that if the system ain't flushed, then you've no idea of what stuff could get in the new boiler - well I'm no expert, but I wasn't going to disagree with them.