New boiler - Vaillant or Worcester?

Alanp

I suppose boilers are like new cars, you can get one that never gives any bother, yet, someone else has nothing but trouble, some of the plumbers/heating engineers I have spokwith say WB aren’t as good as they once were, some say idea are good, I have a viessman which I’ve had now for fifteen years, it has had to have two repairs over this time but overall it’s been reliable, ( jinxed it now) when the inevitable comes and I have to change it I might consider ideal, but I’d probably go with another viessman, 

daveyjp

We have had a Vaillant Ecotec Plus for almost 14 years, my parents have had a Vaillant Ecotec Pro for a similar amount of time.  Issues with Plus, one failed sensor whilst under warranty.

Issues with Pro, a few.  A new fan and recently a split internal pipe which meant a complete new component at about £200 plus fitting costs.

DollyDabbler

We have a WB, bought 2018, fitted and under a service agreement from British Gas. 
Twice its been serviced by non british gas engineers that they employed and sent and twice following these services, we have had issues with the boiler.  The last time, it took four BG engineers to solve and virtually every working part in the boiler replaced.  

housebuyer143

DollyDabbler said:

We have a WB, bought 2018, fitted and under a service agreement from British Gas. 
Twice its been serviced by non british gas engineers that they employed and sent and twice following these services, we have had issues with the boiler.  The last time, it took four BG engineers to solve and virtually every working part in the boiler replaced.  

😯😯 That's concerning! 

dogshome

In 2017 we decided to switch from oil to gas,and though I'd decided to go for WB , the plumber who lives in the village was all for a Baxi - (Maybe he gets a kick back, but on the other hand I know where he lives !)

The best Baxi with 10 yr warranty was cheaper than the equivalent WB and had less hoops to jump through, so one was fitted.

So far it's been, faultless with an annual service by the man who fitted it, and what impressed me was at the last service he thought he detected a problem and rang Baxi.

The next morning an engineer employed directly Baxi arrived, went thoroughly over the boiler and pronounced it was in A1 condition.

I chatted to him and his territory covers most of Essex, with a small army of other guys covering most of the UK    .

housebuyer143

Thanks all for your comments. I have decided on WB but mainly because the engineer who I liked best is an authorised installer and the Vaillant authorised engineer I contacted wasn't interested in quoting and there were not many others in the area I would have wanted to use.

It goes in next week, so fingers crossed it all goes well 🙏🤞

jonnydeppiwish!

housebuyer143 said:

Thanks all for your comments. I have decided on WB but mainly because the engineer who I liked best is an authorised installer and the Vaillant authorised engineer I contacted wasn't interested in quoting and there were not many others in the area I would have wanted to use.

It goes in next week, so fingers crossed it all goes well 🙏🤞

What boiler did you go for and what was the quote please?  I have to do a full boiler/rad change so looking at this or an ASHP

housebuyer143

jonnydeppiwish! said:

housebuyer143 said:

Thanks all for your comments. I have decided on WB but mainly because the engineer who I liked best is an authorised installer and the Vaillant authorised engineer I contacted wasn't interested in quoting and there were not many others in the area I would have wanted to use.

It goes in next week, so fingers crossed it all goes well 🙏🤞

What boiler did you go for and what was the quote please?  I have to do a full boiler/rad change so looking at this or an ASHP

It was the Greenstar 4000 with 10yr warranty. 
System filter, new programmer, room thermostat, power flush, some filter that prevents air locks (had loads of issues before). It was £3300 which was fair compared to other quotes I got. 

victor2

Monanore said:

I've had a Worcester boiler for 15 years and my guy ( seriously expert ) says it'll go another 5.  However, he said if I wanted to change it he would recommend Ideal.

A builder friend built 5 houses (one of which was for himself) and put Vaillant boilers in them all. One failed after a few years, but was replaced under warranty. However, he did say the inconvenience made him wonder why he invested more in the boilers. He knew I had an old Ideal boiler and said he'd probably consider them as they give long warranties. As my 25+ year old Ideal boiler approached its end of life, I replaced it with another Ideal one, with a 10 year warranty. In 3 years, I've had Ideal out to it twice, with new gas valves fitted each time (which the engineers conveniently carry in their vans). Now the wireless thermostat has developed a fault and only has a two year warranty, so isn't covered. Ideal's support has been excellent. They even helped me factory reset the thermost, but to no avail, and it appears it's a known problem.

I wouldn't have another one though, based on this experience.

housebuyer143

victor2 said:

Monanore said:

I've had a Worcester boiler for 15 years and my guy ( seriously expert ) says it'll go another 5.  However, he said if I wanted to change it he would recommend Ideal.

A builder friend built 5 houses (one of which was for himself) and put Vaillant boilers in them all. One failed after a few years, but was replaced under warranty. However, he did say the inconvenience made him wonder why he invested more in the boilers. He knew I had an old Ideal boiler and said he'd probably consider them as they give long warranties. As my 25+ year old Ideal boiler approached its end of life, I replaced it with another Ideal one, with a 10 year warranty. In 3 years, I've had Ideal out to it twice, with new gas valves fitted each time (which the engineers conveniently carry in their vans). Now the wireless thermostat has developed a fault and only has a two year warranty, so isn't covered. Ideal's support has been excellent. They even helped me factory reset the thermost, but to no avail, and it appears it's a known problem.

I wouldn't have another one though, based on this experience.

I wonder if they make them too clever now. My old one was just turn on and it worked. It didn't really have any options other than on. They make the new ones so they are modulating and you can manually adjust the KW the boiler pulls etc...
Bit like cars now - too much to go wrong