A good combi boiler . ?

[Gin]

I fear I might be asking how long is a piece of string .

 

But I have decided to have the boiler replaced in our gaff .

We have a Logic combi at the moment and after only seven years I think it is about to give up the ghost . It was cheap when installed but not so cheerful over the years .

I read that Worcester Bosch are decent but are there others out there that are reliable and also very quiet as it is in a cupboard in the main bedroom .

 

Edited November 20, 2021 by Gin

[Bobthebuilder]

53 minutes ago, Gin said:

I fear I might be asking how long is a piece of string .

 

But I have decided to have the boiler replaced in our gaff .

We have a Logic combi at the moment and after only seven years I think it is about to give up the ghost . It was cheap when installed but not so cheerful over the years .

I read that Worcester Bosch are decent but are there others out there that are reliable and also very quiet as it is in a cupboard in the main bedroom .

 

It might be worth contacting Ideal to see if they do a one off out of warranty repair. Most manufactures offer this service, it's about £320 but, they will change any parts that are defective for that price, parts, labour and vat.

If you have never had it serviced, try finding a good local gas safe engineer first, should be around £80. The expansion vessel will need recharging and the condense will need cleaning.

The best new boiler on the market IMO is the Vaillant Ecotec plus.

[onlyme]

My choice went down to Ideal vs Vaillant, plumber used to and rated the Ideal and at the time offered a 10 year warranty. in other circumstances choice would have been the Vaillant. Worcester Bosch I hear are not like they were but still come with premium parts cost. Any modern condensing boiler probably only good for 10 years so anywhere near end of life and a big bill a swap out is probably a better bet, might even pay for the much of the difference in price in better efficiency.

[Gin]

Thanks for your ideas ..

 

I have a British Gas contract for around a fiver per month and they will come out if there is no heat.

I have called them out twice this year with an excess charge of £99 each time. The first time the igniter was swapped and afterwards it was supremely quiet for a few months when firing up , but now it has gone back to rumbling noisely as it fires up even after the second visit in which the engineer told me he had cleaned the condensor pipes out and cleaned the (I think) ignition etc and something else I may have forgotten .

It is situated in a cupboard in our bedroom and the rumbling noise when igniting is what disturbs me . It just doesn`t sound right .

 

[TNS]

26 minutes ago, Bobthebuilder said:

It might be worth contacting Ideal to see if they do a one off out of warranty repair. Most manufactures offer this service, it's about £320 but, they will change any parts that are defective for that price, parts, labour and vat.

If you have never had it serviced, try finding a good local gas safe engineer first, should be around £80. The expansion vessel will need recharging and the condense will need cleaning.

The best new boiler on the market IMO is the Vaillant Ecotec plus.

I've got a Vaillant Ecotec Plus, great bit of kit so far!

[Bobthebuilder]

1 minute ago, TNS said:

I've got a Vaillant Ecotec Plus, great bit of kit so far!

Get it serviced every year, pumps, diverter valves, F75 sensors last approx 7+ years, once you have changed them the boiler will last 20 years.

I have been installing boilers for over 20 years, I have an Ecotec plus 825 in my house, fitted it 2 years ago. The boiler I had before that was a vaillant turbomax mk1 that was almost 30 years old.

[Bobthebuilder]

10 minutes ago, Gin said:

I have a British Gas contract

That might be your problem right there.

[Bobthebuilder]

16 minutes ago, Gin said:

It is situated in a cupboard in our bedroom and the rumbling noise when igniting is what disturbs me . It just doesn`t sound right .

That sounds like the gas valve is sticky / failing, can be a problem with the pcb as well,as a defective gas valve can damage the pcb ignition process.

I would contact Ideal if I were you. Ask for an "out of warranty repair".

[JimmyTheBruce]

On 20/11/2021 at 10:33, Bobthebuilder said:

Get it serviced every year, pumps, diverter valves, F75 sensors last approx 7+ years, once you have changed them the boiler will last 20 years.

I have been installing boilers for over 20 years, I have an Ecotec plus 825 in my house, fitted it 2 years ago. The boiler I had before that was a vaillant turbomax mk1 that was almost 30 years old.

Are Viessmann any good @Bobthebuilder?

Any views on system vs combi?

Apologies for asking you to work on a weekend, couldn't pass up the opportunity 

[Bobthebuilder]

Just now, JimmyTheBruce said:

Are Viessmann any good @Bobthebuilder?

Any views on system vs combi?

Apologies for asking you to work on a weekend, couldn't pass up the opportunity 

I have literally just sat down in front of the computer after working all morning fixing a Vaillant combi. So you caught me still in work mode.

Viessmann are very good boilers, I look after a few, expansion vessels are upside down for an interesting reason I discovered last week.

Main difference in combi verses system is down to how many bathrooms you have. Combi is great with one bathroom, that's what they are designed for. System boilers with a hot water cylinder can cope with 2 showers running at the same time, combis cant do that.

[JimmyTheBruce]

Thanks Bob, appreciate it.  I read this and thought it gave the air of objectivity but still seemed like boilerhut were talking up their book

https://boilerhut.co.uk/viessmann-vs-vaillant/

[Bobthebuilder]

1 hour ago, JimmyTheBruce said:

Thanks Bob, appreciate it.  I read this and thought it gave the air of objectivity but still seemed like boilerhut were talking up their book

https://boilerhut.co.uk/viessmann-vs-vaillant/

I prefer the Vaillant, but I have been working on them for 20 years, so probs a bit influenced because of that.

[Battenberg]

On 20/11/2021 at 10:27, TNS said:

I've got a Vaillant Ecotec Plus, great bit of kit so far!

#metoo

[Carl Fimble]

On 27/11/2021 at 14:24, Bobthebuilder said:

I have literally just sat down in front of the computer after working all morning fixing a Vaillant combi. So you caught me still in work mode.

Viessmann are very good boilers, I look after a few, expansion vessels are upside down for an interesting reason I discovered last week.

Main difference in combi verses system is down to how many bathrooms you have. Combi is great with one bathroom, that's what they are designed for. System boilers with a hot water cylinder can cope with 2 showers running at the same time, combis cant do that.

What about if you get a combi which is overpowered? We had a Bosch Worcester in our old place which was one of two models up from what was originally suggested. It coped fine with two or three showers on at the same time. I might be remembering wrongly but I think it was a 44kw one. I may well be talking pish though, it did work fine though. 

The only thing I miss now we've moved is the remote control thermostat, that was great- take it to whatever room you were in and turn the heating on of off, instead of the thing we have now which switches it on and off based on what temperature the room the thermostat is in. 

 

[Bobthebuilder]

45 minutes ago, Carl Fimble said:

What about if you get a combi which is overpowered? We had a Bosch Worcester in our old place which was one of two models up from what was originally suggested. It coped fine with two or three showers on at the same time. I might be remembering wrongly but I think it was a 44kw one. I may well be talking pish though, it did work fine though. 

Makes no difference. If your mains flow rate is 12 litres per minute, then that's what you have. The size of the boiler will not increase that.

[Carl Fimble]

Just now, Bobthebuilder said:

Makes no difference. If your mains flow rate is 12 litres per minute, then that's what you have. The size of the boiler will not increase that.

I was gonna say- yeah but what if the boiler heats the water so much that it can be mixed with lots of cold water for a shower, meaning temperature and quantity. Then it occurred to me that the cold and hot both come from the same mains feed.

Maybe we had a high pressure feed, but our showers always used to work fine, even with three going at once. 

[Bobthebuilder]

Just now, Carl Fimble said:

I was gonna say- yeah but what if the boiler heats the water so much that it can be mixed with lots of cold water for a shower, meaning temperature and quantity. Then it occurred to me that the cold and hot both come from the same mains feed.

Maybe we had a high pressure feed, but our showers always used to work fine, even with three going at once. 

You might have an unvented mains pressure cylinder that can deliver a lot of water, or maybe just lucky with the combi. I have seen combis work well like this from time to time, but rare.

[Carl Fimble]

Just now, Bobthebuilder said:

You might have an unvented mains pressure cylinder that can deliver a lot of water, or maybe just lucky with the combi. I have seen combis work well like this from time to time, but rare.

There was no cylinder or tank, just the combi boiler.

Maybe just lucky, for once, without even knowing it!

 

[MrPin]

On 27/11/2021 at 15:56, Bobthebuilder said:

I prefer the Vaillant, but I have been working on them for 20 years, so probs a bit influenced because of that.

How unusual to find somebody, on the internet, who knows what they are talking about!

My Vaillant boiler is still good after 12 years. I had it fixed once.