Boilers; Ideal vs Worcester? Hardwired vs wireless thermostat?

slinga

Had a Worcester boiler fitted 4 years ago.
No problem.

The fitter was very good as he had to do some work moving water pipes and gas and elec supply as we previously had a 40 year old back boiler, which was trouble free but probably well innefficient.

He did say that under Gove ( ha, freudian slip ) regs the thermostat had to go in the hall, can't remember the reason now.
It was wireless so he could have easily put it anywhere but said the hall these days was the only place allowed.
Any comments?
He does a yearly maintenance for warranty requirements.

teddysmum

When our WB was fitted (2014) we had the choice of wall fitting (obvious place being the hall, but no legislation was mentioned) or mobile (recommended, but my choice,anyway).


We only have the two spare bedrooms on a very low setting, as the heat from pipes, rises through the floorboards anyway and,as mentioned a number of posts back, the thermostat is in the living room,where I spend most of my time and want a constant temperature, with no wasted boost just because someone opens the front door and cools the hall.

bris

The best boilers on the market just now are Intergas, but as no one in this country knows them it will be a while before they catch on.


Worcester has slipped ever since Bosch took them over but they are a household name so it's difficult to sell anything else.


Baxi/Potterton are every bit as good and slightly cheaper as are Valliant.


The Valliant group also own the Glow worm brand which are now pretty good and the budget Heatline brand which again are now good. All 3 brands share common parts so they are really just catching all sectors of the market.


Thermostats, the worst place you can put a thermostat is actually the hall. You are wasting so much heat because it's usually the coldest space in the house so you are wasting so much energy heating it up when no one is there. The livingroom where everyone is, is where the thermostat should be that way you only use the energy you need.

Cardew

bris wrote: »

The best boilers on the market just now are Intergas, but as no one in this country knows them it will be a while before they catch on.


Worcester has slipped ever since Bosch took them over but they are a household name so it's difficult to sell anything else.


Baxi/Potterton are every bit as good and slightly cheaper as are Valliant.


The Valliant group also own the Glow worm brand which are now pretty good and the budget Heatline brand which again are now good. All 3 brands share common parts so they are really just catching all sectors of the market.


Thermostats, the worst place you can put a thermostat is actually the hall. You are wasting so much heat because it's usually the coldest space in the house so you are wasting so much energy heating it up when no one is there. The livingroom where everyone is, is where the thermostat should be that way you only use the energy you need.

Where do you get your information about the various brands of boiler?

WHICH carry out a comprehensive survey of all the boilers both in UK and in similar consumer organisations in Europe. Their top brands are Worcester Bosch and Viessmann.

Your bold statements on the merits/demerits of various manufacturers will be shown to be accurate or inaccurate in a few years.

lstar337

bris wrote: »

Thermostats, the worst place you can put a thermostat is actually the hall.

I say it depends completely on your home and living habits. As explained above, I have a smallish house and all rooms feed off the hall. Doors are rarely closed and I find that heat rarely stops at open doorways.

bris wrote: »

The livingroom where everyone is, is where the thermostat should be that way you only use the energy you need.

Everyone is in the living room? Interesting that you keep yourself confined like that, but we tend to roam all around the house.

My parents, they never really use theirs and prefer to spend the bulk of their time in the kitchen dining area.

As we use the whole house, I heat the whole house. A hall stat works just fine for us. I have thought about upgrading to a digital programmable stat, but any savings would be so minimal it doesn't make financial sense.

System

Historically, the main thermostat has been located in a hall because it is away from local heating sources. If the main thermostat is the sole means of temperature control then you can put it in any room that suits. However, if say the living room also has a TRV, and the TRV setting is below the set temperature on a living room thermostat, then the thermostat becomes irrelevant. The living room will stay at the temperature controlled by the TRV and the rest of the house likewise.

FWiW, my thermostat is wall-mounted in the hall with all rooms with individual TRVs. It works as I would like it to work but then it is each to their own.

lstar337

Hengus wrote: »

FWiW, my thermostat is wall-mounted in the hall with all rooms with individual TRVs. It works as I would like it to work but then it is each to their own.

Exactly like ours.

If you or I were to use a walk-about thermostat, we would need to check/adjust the TRV for every room we enter. Otherwise the boiler could be running longer or shorter than needed resulting in either a colder than usual house, or load of wasted energy!

tracywilko

We have a Potterton 50 Flamingo which is a condensing boiler i believe (water tank in the loft). we are having our living and dining knocked through to open plan so loosing the radiators and having underfloor heating installed. we have had conflicting info - one chap said it won't be compatible with 5 radiators upstairs, 1 downstairs for the kitchen which isn't having u/f heating and the u/f heating. the boiler must be at least 20 years old.

this chap said we would need a combi boiler, but then another guy came out and said our boiler will work with u/f heating - and these guys install both u/f heating and boilers, so you thought they may have wanted to advise you to have a new boiler as well. i assume we would save money by installing a new boiler regardless of whether it is combi or condensing etc. I've seen posts where people do not rate combi at all.

the u/f heating guy did say if you decide to change your boiler you can do at any time as they will just connect up to the existing. HELP !

bris

Cardew wrote: »

Where do you get your information about the various brands of boiler?

WHICH carry out a comprehensive survey of all the boilers both in UK and in similar consumer organisations in Europe. Their top brands are Worcester Bosch and Viessmann.

Your bold statements on the merits/demerits of various manufacturers will be shown to be accurate or inaccurate in a few years.

I install them.
Which, well if they say so it must be true, right?

Pincher

Atag and Intergas are hardly mass market. I suspect WHICH! didn't include them in the study anyway.

I'm not a combi man, but if I do, it will an ATAG or Intergas.

It does restrict the choice of engineers.

When the non-Intergas engineer says, after half an hour, that he can't find the diverter valve, I expect it's almost worth the wasted call-out. :rotfl: