Which radiator and combi boiler?

ajbaker

Hi all,

Having been really discouraged by the local plumbers who have not been willing to entertain conversation about which brand of radiator and boiler they are quoting to fit, I have decided to do a lot of the purchasing and work myself. (Dont worry, obviously not doing the boiler myself!)

What I have found are loads of web sites selling radiators from very cheap to very expensive with no discernible difference, especially at the lower end. Same with boilers. So I am hoping individuals who have been through this process may offer some positive or negative comments about brands.

I am currently looking at fairly cheap radiators from the following brands:
Stelrad (Classic or ...)
Myson (Select Compact)
Biasi (Style 2000 or Conecpt Plus)
Acova
Bisque

I may also consider a chrome towel rail for the bathroom. Only the Biasi seem to be reasonably priced for this. Also since aesthetics are important, I may consider a column radiator for one or two rooms. Finding reasonable prices for these is difficult.

Regards the boiler, at the moment I am thinking of a Worcester Bosch 28i Junior. They appear to have a fairly good reputation and a reasonable price.

Any thoughts on the quality/reliability/costs of these?

Thanks,

Andrew

IJJoseph

By far the best brand of boiler (IMO) is Vaillant. You pay slightly more than Worcester Bosch (WB) but the heat exchanger is stainless steel instead of aluminium and so comes with a 2 year warranty whilst the rest of the boiler has a 5 year warranty. Personally I don't rate the WB that highly. A lot of plumbers prefer them because they are a little easier to work on but then they need to be as I don't believe they are anywhere near as reliable as the Vaillant.

alanobrien

ajbaker wrote:

Hi all,

Having been really discouraged by the local plumbers who have not been willing to entertain conversation about which brand of radiator and boiler they are quoting to fit, I have decided to do a lot of the purchasing and work myself. (Dont worry, obviously not doing the boiler myself!)

What I have found are loads of web sites selling radiators from very cheap to very expensive with no discernible difference, especially at the lower end. Same with boilers. So I am hoping individuals who have been through this process may offer some positive or negative comments about brands.

I am currently looking at fairly cheap radiators from the following brands:
Stelrad (Classic or ...)
Myson (Select Compact)
Biasi (Style 2000 or Conecpt Plus)
Acova
Bisque

I may also consider a chrome towel rail for the bathroom. Only the Biasi seem to be reasonably priced for this. Also since aesthetics are important, I may consider a column radiator for one or two rooms. Finding reasonable prices for these is difficult.

Regards the boiler, at the moment I am thinking of a Worcester Bosch 28i Junior. They appear to have a fairly good reputation and a reasonable price.

Any thoughts on the quality/reliability/costs of these?

Thanks,

Andrew

I went through a similar process recently buying and replacing rads and a boiler.

The rads i fitted myself, the boiler was done by a well trained and very personable heating engineer.

Although i am not to fussed about aesthetics, ;D
i did look at various makes of rads and eventually bought mine from screwfix which was cheaper than the local DIY sheds and i was quite impressed with the quality of the rads which came with safety covers etc.

Biasi also seem quite good and our local plumbers merchant seems to sell a lot of them.

As regards the boiler i went for a Vaillant system jobbie (622E) after much digging around. I think the reputation and stainless steel heat exchanger swung it for me.

The Worcester Bosch system boiler was next on my list as these are also excellent quality.

You pay a little more for these market leading brands but they are better built and more reliable than the "thing" that british gas quoted for me. :rolleyes:

se999

Hi,

We did a big extension project 2 years ago, we ended up with a Worcester Boiler which we were very pleased with.

For rads we went for standard ones in most rooms, but had odd places we wanted/needed special radiators for design or fitting an unusual sized space reasons.

Surprisingly B&Q online came up with some unusual radiators at what were then good prices for something slightly 'different' .

This is on their site currently:

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/product/product.jsp?CATID=156675&entryFlag=false&PRODID=153472

Their site was a good place for browsing anyway, and getting ideas on rads.

B&Q delivery was no problem. Also ordered an Acova rad which was also OK, but can't remember where from.

ohreally

For rads - Stelrad are a good budget choice.
Boilers...
Worcester Bosch
Vokera
Vallient.

ajbaker

Thanks for all your responses so far. I guess I should have expected some would have good experiences, and some not so good. I hope it goes to show most well known brands are of a reasonable quality.

Still not sure of the boiler, but its looking like the Biasi radiators. I had considered ScrewFix rads, but the top grill looks awful and I really don't see the point. Safety? Are there any on which the top grill is removable (and not just temporarily).

Does anyone have any negative comments for these?

alanobrien

ajbaker wrote:

Thanks for all your responses so far. I guess I should have expected some would have good experiences, and some not so good. I hope it goes to show most well known brands are of a reasonable quality.

Still not sure of the boiler, but its looking like the Biasi radiators. I had considered ScrewFix rads, but the top grill looks awful and I really don't see the point. Safety? Are there any on which the top grill is removable (and not just temporarily).

Does anyone have any negative comments for these?

The top and side grills of the screwfix rads is/are removable.

The rads themselves are of good quality.

I assume the grills are for safety, at least they stop my 2 small boys from injuring themselves on the edge of the rads so thats a plus for me.

ajbaker

Thank you for all the replies so far.

Having had a few boiler installation quotes, it looks as though I may need to be looking at another brand of boiler. The Worcester Bosch cannot flue into my (unused) chimney, and since its a listed property in a conservation area, getting permission for a flue through the tiled roof will be challenging.

So, what condensing combi boilers can flue into a chimney. The only one I am aware of thus far is the Halstead Eden boilers:

http://www.halsteadboilers.co.uk

Comments on quality?