Can anyone recommend a reliable gas boiler?

thestens

We need to replace the combi boiler in a 3 bed house which we rent out. The last boiler has just cost us £400 to fix and now 3 weeks later we have been told that the "main part" has gone and it is uneconomic to fix it! The boiler is only 7 years old but it was a cheap one, which now we are told is "rubbish". Can someone recommend a reliable one? We aren't necessarily looking for the cheapest or most economic to run - reliability is the keyword! Thanks.

oldskoo1

I'm no expert in these things but i do know my gas man admitted he makes all his money from doing just a few installs a month. He is even trying to push me to a new boiler.

I wondering if outside regular servicing these people try to push us down a new boiler route and use past history/issues as a tempt tactic to convince us.

I'm not saying its the wrong route for you to take but a 7 year old boiler is not really old. All the boilers i have had have been over 10 years old. My current one is about 12 years old and its had a few hiccups, the fan needed replacing after 10 years and the PCB was done this year. £140 for the PCB part and £125 i think for the fan (2 years apart).

I looked at all other parts that could go with time, gas valve at £120, spark electrode less than £10. 99.9% of all parts are less than £150, the only big cost was £400 for the heat exchanger assembly kit.

I put sentinel descaler and inhibitor in just before winter and the boiler is now working absolutely fine. After a few weeks of me putting this into the system the slight kettling went. It seems very simple to fix, reasonably efficient and provided it is maintained not many bills.

I would get a second opinion in your situation, it seems a bit crazy to write off a boiler like he has suggested.

Like i said i was in a similar position. I had an ongoing issue with a boiler that couldn't be fixed, i apparently needed a new boiler. Another gas man came and immediately changed the PCB and it's 100% fixed.

penrhyn

I have just had a Worcester Bosch R15i installed, as it had a good reputation and a Which best buy award. Our local RGI also installs Vaillant which are made up the way in Belper.

SailorSam

I got an Ariston a couple of years ago, it was more expensive than some others that i looked at but it did come with a 5yr guarantee (although i need to pay for an annual service), so when i worked out what i was saving on the insurance over the 5yrs it came out as a good deal.

captainhindsight_2

Glowworm flexicom 30cxi, good reliable boilers and good value should do the job, and remember to claim the £370 cash back for the new boiler. Worcester Bosch are good but a bit overpriced IMO, they are just on everyone's mind as the best because of the huge amount of advertising they do

elsien

My plumber has stopped installing the Worcester ones and gone to Vaillant, as he says although Worcester are good, if they go wrong you have to call out Worcester to diagnose the fault (they don't like sharing the diagnostic tools) so he's no longer able to come out and repair them if they do get a fault.

Cardew

I suggest you read the WHICH report.


IMO the problem these days is many of the manufacturers use parts - in particular the electronics - sourced from other manufacturers. Also firms are bought out by other manufacturers, but retain the same name.


Thus there is no guarantee that manufacturer X, who made excellent products 10 years ago, still retains that quality.


I have a 26 year old Ideal boiler that has been trouble free, yet I keep reading that 'Ideal are rubbish'.


It is much like cars. I had several new Mercedes when living abroad and in UK and they were 'bullet-proof'. However they out-sourced production to other countries and the marque went through a period where their cars were slammed for their unreliability - particularly in the USA.


It works in reverse - Skoda were a joke in terms of reliability, but now as part of the VW group they build excellent cars.

lstar337

Cardew wrote: »

I have a 26 year old Ideal boiler that has been trouble free, yet I keep reading that 'Ideal are rubbish'.

From what I have read Ideal went through a rough patch with a couple of units that were less than stellar. Recent models are proving to be much better though. We have an Ideal Logic+ which is pretty well regarded, very efficient, and comes with 7 year parts and labour warranty.

daveyjp

Unless the OP's boiler is going to cost at least £2,000 to fix it is not uneconomical to repair.

Cardew

lstar337 wrote: »

From what I have read Ideal went through a rough patch with a couple of units that were less than stellar. Recent models are proving to be much better though. We have an Ideal Logic+ which is pretty well regarded, very efficient, and comes with 7 year parts and labour warranty.

Agreed.


My point is that you might get excellent service for the next, say, 7 years and rightly conclude that it is an excellent reliable boiler.


However in seven years time that model(or its successor) might have modification, or different parts sourced, and that model will be unsatisfactory.


That is why I made the car analogy. My Mercedes were faultless and I would gladly recommend them. However the same models were then produced outside of Germany and the quality suffered badly.

southcoastrgi

A lot of the problems with boilers are down to poor installation, even the most expensive boiler won't perform to it's ability or will break down if it's not fitted correctly, a decent RGI will recommend a decent boiler suitable for your circumstances