New boiler required

buglawton

Valiant offer a 7 year warranty parts & labour so long as the installation and annual servicing is done by a technician on their approved list. There's a postcode lookup to find those installers. This and overall reviews persuaded me to get a Vaillant. Compared to the 20 year old boiler it replaced it's cut the gas bill by 30% and at the same time freed up space as the old immersion heater / hot storage tank could be disposed of. Even got rid of loft cold tank so now all mains pressure.

horseymchorseface

seems the ideal brand has a 10 year warranty, wonder if their any good

sevenonine

Hengus wrote: »

I used an installer that was recommended to me, and registered with/and trained by the manufacturer.... .

Congratulations on your success - I wish I knew someone who'd recommend an installer - I have to rely on "luck" which not always turns out right for me.

Can you tell me whether you picked a top-of-the range boiler because I guess that would elicit the level of service you received.

I asked previously whether a chemical flush would be sufficient which, I suppose in my case means relying on the advice of the installer; also whether it is necessary to have the radiators cleaned as you had done.

I am aiming to get a budget boiler (Alpha, as presently) as I want to downsize to a smaller property and don't want to spend a lot of money.

System

sevenonine wrote: »

Congratulations on your success - I wish I knew someone who'd recommend an installer - I have to rely on "luck" which not always turns out right for me.

Can you tell me whether you picked a top-of-the range boiler because I guess that would elicit the level of service you received.

I asked previously whether a chemical flush would be sufficient which, I suppose in my case means relying on the advice of the installer; also whether it is necessary to have the radiators cleaned as you had done.

I am aiming to get a budget boiler (Alpha, as presently) as I want to downsize to a smaller property and don't want to spend a lot of money.

Trying to double-guess what your CH system needs is a 'fools errand'. Get at least three estimates and see what the three installers recommend without prompting them. If you say 'I think that a chemical flush will do' they will just quote for that knowing that some work may be coming their way in a few years time.

It's a complex subject:

https://local.which.co.uk/forum/thread?thread_id=3145

System

sevenonine wrote: »

I am aiming to get a budget boiler (Alpha, as presently) as I want to downsize to a smaller property and don't want to spend a lot of money.

Well don't knock the Intergas range then, I would have gone for the Intergas RF Eco; however, it has issues with the smart programming controller that I already own. Gurarantees are good. this is the view of one installer that I have a lot of respect for:

'Well I am gonna be a little bias towards Intergas, as they are a cracking boiler! They are built for a 20 year service life and have a 10 year warranty on ECO RF and 7 year warranty on the HRE. We will be selling them shortly.....' The Evohome Shop

Pincher

It's the same as running old bangers. If you have a garage that is willing to keep it going, it can go on forever.

You don't have a friendly gas safe engineer, so you need to either find one, or try to buy something decent, with a long warranty.

Note that 5~10 year warranties usually comes with conditions:

1. It must be installed by a manufacturer trained engineer.
2. It must be serviced annually, by a manufacturer recognised engineer.


If I was upgrading for a two bedroom flat, an Intergas combi would be top of my list.

These guys are just heating engineers.

http://www.ciphe.org.uk/

Not tied to any brand.



This website should give you some idea of prices.

https://www.plumbnation.co.uk/


https://www.plumbnation.co.uk/site/glow-worm-energy-25kw-combination-boiler-natural-gas-erp/

Five year warranty for £700!


Not sure what is happening to Glow worm, they seem to be cheaper than Potterton these days. My Flexicom 30SX is discontinued. I would gladly buy another one, I like it so much, but it feels like they are going down market.

sevenonine

[/QUOTE=sevenonine;72373364]I asked previously whether a chemical flush would be sufficient which, I suppose in my case means relying on the advice of the installer. .[/QUOTE]
I think you misunderstood me...I was referring to my earlier post asking whether you think a chemical flush would be good enough rather than a power flush which will take longer. Of course I'm not so silly as to put words into the installer's mouth!

[/QUOTE]I also said "I am aiming to get a budget boiler (Alpha like my present boiler) as I want to downsize to a smaller property and don't want to spend a lot of money".[/QUOTE] I hope to sell my house and downsize to a smaller property; this would mean replacing my Alpha boiler with a similar brand or even Intergas with the minimum: 3-year warranty.

Also why are all these companies calling the boilers "combi"? - I thought new boilers are "combustion"!

Finally I asked which is best - a company's installer or an independent (own business) installer?

buglawton

Doesn't 'combi' mean combined heating and water?
And talking of how long they can last, my 20 year old one was shockingly rusted once out where you could see it.

System

Thanks Hengus for giving me something else to worry about with a sludged up system.i m new to central heating after moving in to a new property 6 months ago.It has a 4 year old Gloworm combi boiler. I ve had a quick google around on CH filters and the Magnaclean one seems ok around £100 and is fitted after the last radiator to the return pipe to the boiler. looks to be an easy D.I Y. job just needing a pipe cutter. It then traps metallic particles and is an easy way to add chemical cleaners without paying out for Gas Safe engineers to come and charge me what they think they can get away with.
Anyone got any comments on the this filter ?
I intend to do the same with my car radiator and give that a good flushing as blocked up radiators are the main cause of overheating and blown head gaskets costing hundreds to repair.
just had a closer look at my boiler and it has got a filter on it. Fernox TF1 supposedly an award winning filter.costs around £75 and looks an easy DIY fit. Collects magnetic and non magnetic particles and an easy thing to clean..So thats a job for tomorrow to clean it out.

matelodave

buglawton wrote: »

Doesn't 'combi' mean combined heating and water?
And talking of how long they can last, my 20 year old one was shockingly rusted once out where you could see it.

There are mainly two types of boiler.

A combi (combination) boiler heats the hot water when you turn on the tap by passing it through a heat exchanger in the boiler.

A system boiler requires a hot water tank and therefore heats the tank and you draw hot water from the tank.

Nowadays all boilers (whether combi or condensing) will be condensing boilers which means that extra heat is extracted from the flue gases to improve efficiency.