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Just had the boiler serviced and it was noted that it will need replacing fairly shortly. So was wondering whether to get British Gas to quote for it. Any reason why I shouldn't do that? Local company who serviced it could supply and fit as well but just want to get a few options.
It's a combi and 30Kw currently but it's always been a bit under powered so was thinking of getting a higher spec one 40Kw - we have a cold water flow rate of 16l per min so 36 or 40 is what I thought.....
Recommendations?
Was it BG who serviced the boiler or a local Gas Safe engineer. Boxt and Heatable were recommended when I asked https://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/bummocks-condemned-boiler-i-have-questions/
So was wondering whether to get British Gas to quote for it. Any reason why I shouldn’t do that?
Because they are shysters and the quote will be significantly more than pretty much any other quote...in my experience
Get some quotes from local firms or you could try heatable or boxt who both get good reviews
Getting a local to quote can be a pita, however I found a good one and he did a great job. Going local means that if you are changing rads etc it's easier. Local was also cheaper.
Find a local specialist too. We had a Worster[sic]. Did OK for 14 years. I have come to understand that <12 years is more typical.
I had a Viessemann installed just before Christmas. Much to the plumber’s satisfaction as the original suggestion was for a Worcester but we both agreed aluminium was not a great material for heat exchangers in any, and particularly a system, boiler.
A friend who has plumbs recommended Vaillant as excellent.
Was it BG who serviced the boiler or a local Gas Safe engineer.
local Gas Safe engineer did the service. Current one is a Baxi and it’s 13 years old. He said he could fit one with a 10yr warranty for about £2k which seemed reasonable esp as he needs to move the flue down a couple of feet…
I guess the brand is the key decision… Or are they all very similar?
Heatable. So painless it was unreal. Also cheapest quote by miles for a top line Worcester boiler. 2k cheaper than BG too.
I second Heatable. Massively cheaper for a decent Worcester Bosch combi (& various other bits) to replace an old back boiler.
Literally half the price BG quoted.
They also upgraded the boiler to the next model up as they didn’t have stock of the one I’d bought come delivery/installation day.
Went through this last year. Was all set to get another Worcester, but several plumbers I occasionally work with all suggested they ain’t what they used to be, whereas ideal logic are massively improved and that’s what they fit out of choice. So that’s what I got, can’t remember the model, but it was the more expensive one as that has a proper heat exchanger. Also got 12 year parts and labour warranty from ideal at no extra cost (they’ve reduced this now)
Local installer btw, much cheaper than bg
Ideal Vogue Max
Ideal logic plus. I paid around 600 with flue, amd found a gas safe fitter on ebay to fit it for 600. Incl a rad power flush.
7 year warranty but so far its not needed anything iirc
Only 24kw mind, but with T22 rads its plenty for a 2bed flat.
£2k for a Baxi 830 from your local engineer would be a great deal in my opinion. I'm a Gas Safe registered engineer and I'd naturally say shop local, you know you're usual guy and he's more likely to look after you and visit out of hours in the event of an issue. He should take pride in his work knowing he'll be working on it in future. With Boxt/BG/Heatable I doubt if you'd see the same person twice.
I personally wouldn't get a 40kw model as you may need a gas pipe upgrade as they use more gas and you'd only see a small benefit in hot water mode. 30kw is a competitive price point and you get better value for money, 35kw could be a compromise.
My heatable guy was a local-chap, and have now got his details for the annual service. Suspect if I’d found him directly I could have got it slightly cheaper, however I needed a boiler quick and didn’t have the time to ring round / get the run-around. Click and ordered, fitted two days later with zero fuss. Perfect.
Had a Baxi 830 installed a few weeks ago for about 2k with 10yr warranty. Plumber recommended them over Worcester.
Baxi 830 fitted by a recommended local gas safe heating engineer- £450.00 cheaper than the Worcester equivalent boiler with the same warranty cover.
Boilers are almost like everything else these days, choose one and be a dick about it...
New boiler here 2 years ago, after chatting to the local plumber who came out to quote went with the Ideal for the longer warranty, think it was 12 years vs 8 on the Worcester Bosch.
I've now seen the same plumber few extra times for its annual service, he actually sends reminders for services.
IME plumbers recommend whichever they favour, have certified training for, or can get the best deal on. I found multivariate recommendations not useful when I was doing the rounds for quotes.
We got an Ideal Logic Max (30kw I think) installed a few months ago.
We were recommended a plumber by our neighbour who has the same boiler, as does the plumber. He says he only install Ideal boilers unless someone wants anything specific because they are a good mix of price, reliability & performance. It comes with a 10 year warranty.
It seems OK so far, although getting used to a combi boiler after having a normal boiler with tank is taking a while.
We had the boiler moved from a cupboard in the kitchen up to the airing cupboard which involved a lot of re-routing of pipework including the gas pipe, obviously.
We also had a condensate pump fitted that removes the condensate to the bathroom waste pipe which added a bit more cost, and stumped up for a Nest Thermostat (which seems a bit shit).
Total cost was just over £3k, which I thought was a good price. The guy was here for 3.5 days due to all the pipework that needed moving.
I have Viessmann and Valliant in my rentals, both been fine although if I was buying again I'd get another Viessmann. I have a local boiler guy who fits and services them. Wouldn't touch BG.
We had a new combo boiler a few years ago & it was a choice between a Worcester & Valliant. My gas engineer strongly favours the the Valliants as they are far more durable (stainless heat exchange unit?) and much easier to service. Because it replaced a much older indirect boiler with a smaller bore pipe supply we had to have a larger pipe (22mm?) fitted which had to run around the house as we have solid floors. I think ours is a 32Kw for a 4 bedroomed house.
I got an Ideal Logic 32 a few years ago fitted with the extension. Comes with 7 year warranty, 4 years in been fine. Think I paid £1200 at the time all in
Worcester-bosch for me. Had an Ideal fitted in a rental property and was nothing but problems until the day it failed (about 3 months out of warranty.)
Over the years I've had one boiler (actually full system) fitted by BG. It was about 1/3 more than any other price but at the time they were offering a payment plan 0% deal and there was no way we could have fitted central heating without that.
These days with more free cash I would use a trusted local fitter every time.
Thanks all for the responses. I'll leave BG out of it!
So how much better is a stainless heat exchanger? Should I be basing my search around that as an essential criteria?