Getting a New Boiler - Good Brand?

anotheruser

So originally I fell for the Worcester Bosch, but after talking to one of the engineers, he said their name has carried over the last 15 years but all boilers are pretty much the same these days.

Quick info:
Going from a conventional to a combi.
Having Hive or Nest installed.
All include some sort of "flush with cleanser and add inhibitor" and filter.


Choices:

Worcester Bosch i30
£3100 - £3400
6 year warranty

ATAG IC 35 Plus
£2800
10 year warranty
The installer didn't actually say it would be this boiler, so I chose the middle one out of the three they supply.

Baxi 630
£2600
7 year warranty

Ideal Logic 30
£2200
Warranty unknown
Add £350 if I want a power flush with chemicals (which I'd opt for knowing the age of some of my radiators!)


Quite a difference.

The first plumber said Worcester Bosch have either 5 or 7 year warranty, but if you fit the WB filter, you get an extra year. The filter costs an extra £150 though.

To be honest, I don't think I have claimed on any warranty on anything I own. Perhaps a pair of hair straighteners for the Mrs, but out of probably over 100 items that could go wrong, I've never needed to so I'm not that bothered about the warranty anyway.

I'm looking at the Ideal as it's the cheapest really. Although I did quite like the plumber guy - better than the one who came to quote before him anyway!

Any reason I should look at the others?

bris

Warranties are important, don't be foolish enough to think you will never use it.


When things go wrong with boilers you're around £300 a time, why wouldn't you want that protection?


The longer the warranty the better so it should be a huge factor in your choice.


The filter, Yes you want one fitted, they keep the system cleaner and help to avoid void warranties due to water cleanliness.


Valliant and Intergas are another two to throw into the mix. I recommend Intergas but as no one in the UK has really heard of them they are a hard sell but they are a great boiler.

sajjed

I have a Worcester Bosch greenstar 38cdi fit 2 years ago ( previous WB lasted 20 years ) cannot fault it.
I also have a 10 year guarantee with it. Peace of mind if it breaks down all parts and labour are included

nickcc

Though not on your list I have a Viessmann combi which has a five year guarantee bought seven years ago. The later Viessmann boilers have a ten year guarantee. The boiler cost me £900 and in my opinion is an excellent combi, I also have Hive which, to be honest, I really needed as the Viessmann wireless thermostat supplied with my boiler was far to complicated for my simple brain to understand,

southcoastrgi

Out of those I'd go for Atag or Baxi both excellent boilers (Atag is a higher spec), the ideal & WB have aluminium heat exchangers which shouldn't be in anything but a entry level boiler, stay well away from Logic they are complete crap, I agree with bris Intergas are excellent boilers & on a par with Atag in terms of quality

Rusty_Shackleton

We had a new boiler fitted in September, and after lots of research and discussions with our engineer settled on a Baxi Platinum. Firstly, it's one of the few boilers around that comes with a 10 year warranty - I question what planet anyone is on that is willing to pay for a new boiler that only has a 3 or 5 year warranty!

Second, Baxi Platinums have stainless steel heat exchangers, not aluminium. Finally, the Platinums have been around a while. Granted you'll get ever so slightly more efficiency from a newer range, but as my engineer put it: all the issues and faults were known (and fixed) long ago on the platinums. For newer ranges like the duotecs, they've got too short a service life to know if any major issues will come up in the future.

I work in manufacturing and the last point rings very true in my experience. Similarly I trust warranty periods as a good indicator of the faith placed in a product by the manufacturer. Warranty's are an excellent marketing tool. cost nothing to offer and very little to honour if your product is actually good. The warranty period is a good indication of how long the manufacturer expects the critical and expensive components to last - 10 year warranty, that manufacturer knows it'll last or they wouldn't be in business long. 3 year warranty, you'll be buying a new boiler come year 5.

cairndog

I've just had an Ideal fitted for £2000 for LPG gas. This includes a power flush and removing my 10yr old Worcester Bosch with all that entails.
They give a 10yr Guarantee, providing you have it serviced every year. Hopefully this won't be too costly if I use the same Gas Safe engineer that fitted it.

As someone in this thread said, most modern boilers only last about 10yrs anyway, and the plumber only lives down the road.

vw100

Ideal now offer 10 year warranty's on some of their range. In fact some of the same boilers are same models just priced different according to their warranty period. This is their blurb on aluminium heat exchangers

https://idealboilers.com/blog/the-benefits-of-an-aluminium-heat-exchange

southcoastrgi

vw100 wrote: »

Ideal now offer 10 year warranty's on some of their range. In fact some of the same boilers are same models just priced different according to their warranty period. This is their blurb on aluminium heat exchangers

https://idealboilers.com/blog/the-benefits-of-an-aluminium-heat-exchange

Aluminium heat ex eat themselves & will end up in the condense trap plus Ideal have terrible customer service & will do anything they can to get out of a warentee call, the ideal Icos & isar were diabolical boilers & the logic followed on from that

missile

I have just replaced our boiler with Viessmann model Vitodens 100. I am very pleased with it. Much quieter than my old boiler.
Came with a 10 year warranty, which I hope I will not have to use.

cybervic

I have an Intergas XCLUSIVE range, it came with 10 years warranty. It looks pretty nice and easy to use.