New boiler ?

MouldyOldDough

Our boiler (Worcester greenstar) is approaching 17 years old and will not last forever

We are getting a new extension built in a few weeks and I am considering getting a replacement boiler - since the extra load may push it over the edge (the pressure keeps on dropping) and it "water rattles" when heating.

Our service engineer reckons that it is slowly dying - seals keep on failing.

So do we get another Worcester ?

What is the estimated fitting time if we went like for like ?

ie) How long would we be without hot water/heating ?

CSI_Yorkshire

A straight swap can be done in half a day.

WB are still amongst the better brands.  I ended up with a Viessmann.  Vaillant also seem to have a decent reputation at the moment.

Belenus

Do you want a Combination Boiler or will you have a hot water cylinder?

We have just replaced a 18 year old Potterton Powermax HE boiler with a Vaillant EcoFIT Pure 625 System Condensing Boiler and an Advantage 210 Litre Unvented Indirect Hot Water Cylinder With a back up Immersion Heater.

The work took 2 days.

We were without cold water for only a few hours at the start of the work. We had hot water, heated by the back up immersion heater, by the middle of the first afternoon.

Depending on how your plumbing is set up, and also depending on any unforeseen problems that may arise, you may be without water for longer. 

Lack of heating should not be an issue until the autumn or winter months.

We looked at Worcester Bosch and Vaillant, two of the better makes according to many.

Get the cause of the water rattling identified so you can determine if any additional work beyond the boiler is required.

Here is a picture of our new boiler and water tank in a first floor boiler cupboard. There is still some cosmetic work to be done.

Belenus

Perhaps I should explain why we had water back so quickly as you may not be so fortunate.

Cold mains water enters the house under the kitchen sink and is distributed from there to all the toilets, sinks, basins, showers and baths in the house.

There is also a cold water feed to the first floor boiler cupboard. This supplies the boiler, central heating system and the stored hot water cylinder.

All the installers had to do was isolate the incoming mains with the under kitchen sink stopcock. This then allowed them to cut the cold water feed in the boiler cupboard at a suitable point and fit an isolating valve there. They could then close that valve, reopen the stopcock returning cold water to the rest of the house, install the boiler and hot water cylinder and open the new valve when that work was complete.

The hot water cylinder was installed on the first afternoon. The gas boiler was not yet commissioned but we connected the backup immersion heater for an hour to allow us to have hot water again.

Here is a picture of the cold water supply in the boiler cupboard. The lower dark grey pipe is the original, Above that is the new isolating valve etc.

 

FreeBear

CSI_Yorkshire said:

A straight swap can be done in half a day.

WB are still amongst the better brands.  I ended up with a Viessmann.  Vaillant also seem to have a decent reputation at the moment.

Also had a Viessmann fitted here. Had plumbing, flue, and gas pipe done as well. Accounting for c**k ups, it took three days. But a simple swap should only be a few hours work unless things like the gas pipe needs upgrading.

Early days, so I can't comment on the reliability of the Viessmann, but they do seem to have a pretty good reputation.

MouldyOldDough

Ours is so much simpler

Cold water enters the house via the front, there is a stop co ck under the kitchen sink - with the Worcester condensing boiler on the kitchen wall - hot water is then distributed to the bathroom (directly above the kitchen), and will be to the new extension - no need for any storage / cylinders or anything else

The only add on is an external expansion vessel  (a 12 " diameter ball), in the larder, behind the fridge - which keeps the heating pressure constant - so no need to top it up..

The water "rattling" only occurs when heating up the preheated water tank

BUFF

slightly confused as you say that you have no need for storage/cylinder but then say that the rattling only occurs when heating up the preheated water tank? To me (& I suspect most) a storage/cylinder  & preheated tank are the same thing? 

CSI_Yorkshire

BUFF said:

slightly confused as you say that you have no need for storage/cylinder but then say that the rattling only occurs when heating up the preheated water tank? To me (& I suspect most) a storage/cylinder  & preheated tank are the same thing? 

Could be one of the boilers with an internal hot water tank - that's often called preheat

FreeBear

BUFF said:

slightly confused as you say that you have no need for storage/cylinder but then say that the rattling only occurs when heating up the preheated water tank? To me (& I suspect most) a storage/cylinder  & preheated tank are the same thing? 

Some boilers have a small internal water tank that can be kept hot. Others will fire up on a regular basis to keep the DHW heat exchanger hot so that there is minimal delay in getting hot water out of the tap. My boiler does the latter unless I put it in Eco mode (which I have done).

MouldyOldDough

FreeBear said:

BUFF said:

slightly confused as you say that you have no need for storage/cylinder but then say that the rattling only occurs when heating up the preheated water tank? To me (& I suspect most) a storage/cylinder  & preheated tank are the same thing? 

Some boilers have a small internal water tank that can be kept hot. Others will fire up on a regular basis to keep the DHW heat exchanger hot so that there is minimal delay in getting hot water out of the tap. My boiler does the latter unless I put it in Eco mode (which I have done).

That's exactly what ours has ...