Which combi boiker to choose?

[Mancs80]

Hi,

Hope you guys can help... I want some opinions!

Basically I need a new combi boiler, budget is fairly limited.

Had three quotes and the Ideal Logic Plus 30 and Baxi duo tec 28 have come in on budget. Literally £50 between the two.

warranty on both is 7 years.

which brand would you choose and why?

thanks for your help

 

[townfanjon]

Hi , here we go ...... This question is asked a lot on here ... You will end up with a load of different answers, down to we all have our
favourite boilers.
personally, viessmanns all day long for me , but logics are ok.

 

[Ray Stafford]

They are both excellent, and there is little to chose between them, apart from the personal preferences of the installer.

Choose your installer first, and let them choose between the 2 boilers. If they happen to have been on a lot of Baxi training courses, or have an excellent relationship with the local Ideal rep, those factors are more important than choosing between two very good, well priced products.

 

[village idiot]

What prices were you quoted for the two boilers as you say budget is tight? Give us the quotes and what you want to spend on the new boiler then we can recommend

 

[hammers4spanner]

both good boilers , ideal imho looks better however think i would opt for the baxi reckon it would last longer

 

[gasmanrob]

Both excellent choices but I'm more of a baxi man as had an excellent relationship with the local rep. Just be sure you're getting the HEA and not the GA

 

[Mancs80]

Hi and thanks for the replies so far.

I have been quoted £1390 for either model. Fully Installed (stand-off bracket,basic chemical flush and salus magnetic filter included). Benchmark certificate etc.

My budget could go to £1500 max, which I know isn't a huge budget when talking about boilers installed!

The extras I could choose from are a new programmable wireless stat (Solus) for an extra £50, £200 upgrade to get the Platinum baxi which comes with a 10yr warranty.

Currently the boiler I have is controlled by a programmer wired nr the boiler. There is a wired stat in the hall. Are these new programmable stats the way forward? Apparantly you set min/max temps rather than off/on times??

 

[Ray Stafford]

Just be sure you're getting the HEA and not the GA

Very good point.

 

[Alan2015]

my friend forget both of them the best boiler going now is main eco elite 25 or 30

 

[sheff paul]

Hi,

Hope you guys can help... I want some opinions!

Basically I need a new combi boiler, budget is fairly limited.

Had three quotes and the Ideal Logic Plus 30 and Baxi duo tec 28 have come in on budget. Literally £50 between the two.

warranty on both is 7 years.

which brand would you choose and why?

thanks for your help

G/WORM ULTIMATE, German input by Vaillant, British cheap pices, had a good run fitting them.

 

[Dannyboygas]

Id personally prefer a baxi, stuck in my ways from years gone by nightmare ideals. HOWEVER I cannot stress enough I am not slagging the Logics off. Ideal have come on leaps and bounds if you ask me. Anybody any idea why?

 

[dancinplumba]

Baxi is my choice

 

[Leo21]

Baxi here to, it's been in production longer. Better proven record.

 

[lame plumber]

Intergas for good mid range combi, less to break, which has to be good.

 

[hammers4spanner]

intergas to n ew and untested ?

 

[lame plumber]

intergas to n ew and untested ?

current model based on a product thats 18 plus years old!!! more going for it than some current WB models

 

[Masood]

Intergas for good mid range combi, less to break, which has to be good.

Good choice as long as the installer isn't stuck in his ways... Still a lot of people who haven't even heard of Intergas. Of the two original choices I'd go for the Logic Plus.

 

[Killy Bing]

of those two the Baxi HEA
make sure it's not a GA

if you don't need it changed immediately then save abit more and dig a little deeper if you intend to stay in the house and go for the baxi platinum which is a HEA but with a longer warranty.

 

[Alpha man]

Logic Plus for me.

 

[Ermintrude]

Baxi now as ideal have gone plastic g

 

[dancinplumba]

Intergas would be the best choice but op said ideal or baxi

 

[bert large]

Baxi for me. Proven product for years.

 

[AWheating]

if noise is not a big issue then the baxi is a good choice.

if you gas meter is far away i would be questioning if the gas needs upgrading.

 

[Mancs80]

if noise is not a big issue then the baxi is a good choice.

if you gas meter is far away i would be questioning if the gas needs upgrading.

Hi,

the gas pipe into the kitchen unit where the boiler will go is 22mm, it's about eight meters from the gas meter.

Are the Baxis very noisy? The kitchen is directly mounted below a bedroom and as its a fairly new building the walls and floors are like paper!

thanks,

 

[bert large]

Not noticed that Baxis are noisy at all to be honest, can't say I noticed any difference to most Vaillants.

 

[Leo21]

Baxi,s aren't massively noisy.

 

[lupieloo]

Do not choose Ideal there awful. Baxi are ok they do offer a long warranty but id pay bit more and go for a Worcester myself. I work on too many ideal boilers and all i do is repair them.

 

[village idiot]

Do not choose Ideal there awful. Baxi are ok they do offer a long warranty but id pay bit more and go for a Worcester myself. I work on too many ideal boilers and all i do is repair them.

Which Ideals do you repair? There are various models. Surely, you can't paint all the models with the same brush? All this posts are beginning to put me off Ideal boilers now??? Might have to start installing WB from now on. Have a 3yrs old Ideal Logic 35 Combi to repair next week. Faulty main HE. To have that repaired I've informed the Customer to set aside at least £450. Might be cheaper to get a new boiler. Then again, I might just get Ideal to replace it for a 'One-Off charge of £275. That is cheaper & reasonable.

 

[kozak1968]

If your on a budget then the long warranties wont be worth it. If you struggle to pay for the boiler then the servicing probably wont happen, bang there goes your cover.

 

[Dannyboygas]

Village idiot

if I remember rightly they charge another excess of 100 odd pounds extra for the main HE.

 

[LPC]

If you're on a budget, Worcester Juniors are a proven design. There are literally millions of them out there, and I haven't had to repair many at all.

 

[lupieloo]

Mainly ideal icos and Isar to be honest I got to one more or less every day. Glow worm are awful. Worcester greenstar junior are good for there price. I'd always pay a bit more to get a better boiler. Worcester have a brilliant repair service.

 

[Leo21]

Worcsters, no no no. Stupid boilers designed badly. Any repair turns into a marathon of plasters and o rings. Even topping up the pressures a task.
oretty teliac
Relaible, yes. But when they go wrong, expensive.

 

[Ray Stafford]

oretty teliac

I'm impressed Leo. I just wish I understood what it meant. Google translate reckons its Finnish for "oretty teliac".

 

[bert large]

A Worcester Junior, despite being a far inferior boiler than the Baxi Duo-Tec in my opinion, is around £200 more expensive so not exactly a budget boiler.
I hate Worcesters with a passion. Vastly over rated due to their admittedly excellent marketing & clearly designed by people who have never had to either fit or repair a boiler, the complexity of the Compact in particular beggars belief.

 

[Leo21]

A Worcester Junior, despite being a far inferior boiler than the Baxi Duo-Tec in my opinion, is around £200 more expensive so not exactly a budget boiler.
I hate Worcesters with a passion. Vastly over rated due to their admittedly excellent marketing & clearly designed by people who have never had to either fit or repair a boiler, the complexity of the Compact in particular beggars belief.

Thats what I meant to say, but lack of intelligence hindered me.

 

[village idiot]

Village idiot

if I remember rightly they charge another excess of 100 odd pounds extra for the main HE.

The cheapest I can source the HE is £280. If I add 20% to that, then my labour, the customer is looking at £450 easily. I had a chat with Ideal today and they say they can replace it for £275 all in. Customer is happy to use them, so that's my good deed for the week done. If they finish the job and request an additional £100, that is his problem

 

[LPC]

Vaillant or Worcester CDi Classic.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Vaillant or Worcester CDi Classic.

Christ, the boiler will cost 90% of the install price

 

[Leo21]

Vaillant or Worcester CDi Classic.

Vaillant, vaillant, vaiilant, vaillant, and so on. At least a Vaillant can be fixed without losing the will to live.


Legal disclaimer..other manufacturers are available.

 

[Nostrum]

The cheapest I can source the HE is £280. If I add 20% to that, then my labour, the customer is looking at £450 easily. I had a chat with Ideal today and they say they can replace it for £275 all in. Customer is happy to use them, so that's my good deed for the week done. If they finish the job and request an additional £100, that is his problem

Arent the hex's covered under a longer warranty?

The only logics we will fit from here on are the heat onlys since they went plastic, grundfos or not. Always tried to avoid cast alu heat exchangers anyway.

To be honest, I haven't found one boiler that I can say ticks all the boxes, the Ideal Vogue is probably the closest.

I might take another look at Viessmann but from servicing experience's I didn't find them anything to shout about.

 

[LPC]

If there were criteria for choosing a boiler i'd probably say the main things would be:

Reliability; obvious. How proven is the design, and manufacturer.

Repairability; how easy are they to repair if they go wrong? Are the parts reasonably priced and easily available in short time-frames.

Ubiquity; If your installer disappears (and lets face it, they do, a lot) is your boiler going to be well known to Mr.Local Engineer who is top drawer, but there are lots of odd boilers out there. I think this one is a very overlooked one. I've only ever been to see 2 Veissmans ever, and not one Intergas.

 

[Mancs80]

Hi All,

thanks for for all the replies, sorry I haven't had chance to get back on.

i am going to throw a spanner in the works now...I've had another quote in and this guy is offering the Vaillant Ecotec Pro 28, magnaclean filter, chemical flush and inhibitor. Use existing programmer and room stat. Fully installed inc VAT £1400.

So choices are: Vaillant Exomtec pro, ideal logic plus or Baxi duotec.

i know Vaillant are normally well recieved and talked of, which is now the best option???..I'm royally confused!

 

[Leo21]

That is unbelievably cheap. To cheap to do it properly in fact.

 

[Mancs80]

Hi,

yes, it does seem cheap. The guy appears very genuine and checks out, his gas safe card photo matches and his registration is on the GS online register. He previously worked for British Gas but then set up on his own about five years ago.

he says the price is due to a special 'boiler swap pack' which is on offer at his local heating supplies merchant. do they commonly do this sort of thing?

I'll do some more digging, but in principal is the Vaillant boiler the one to go for out of my choices?

thanks again

 

[Ray Stafford]

he says the price is due to a special 'boiler swap pack' which is on offer at his local heating supplies merchant. do they commonly do this sort of thing?

They do, but it only makes a few tens of quid difference - and that price is many hundreds of pounds under where I would expect it to be.

The Vaillant is also a fine boiler though.

 

[PhoenixServices]

If you go for the vaillant the system needs to be spotless or kiss good bye to your warranty and reliability.

 

[LPC]

The Vaillant is a very good boiler. BUT; as said above, don't even think about getting it installed without a VERY thorough flush, aka a powerflush. Vaillants are very sensitive to dirty systems and I powerflush every system before installing one.

That price is very cheap but not completely insane. There are guys working for that sort of money, and more fool them. But the likelihood is that he isn't a top-level installer working for that money.

Go to this site:
Central Heating Installers | Heating Efficiency | Vaillant

and tap in your postcode. They are Vaillant Advance registered installers who will likely do the job properly and you'll also get a 5-year warranty on the boiler instead of 2 if they install it.

Expect to pay around £1800-£2000 for a Pro 28 installed, but it will be worth it.

 

[Nostrum]

Agree with above, great boilers if installed right.

It require spotless system to keep warranty in tact and not break down.

Unfortunately, I won't support a manufacturer that won't support the installer, pinching the servicing work etc. After all we are their customers, we buy their products and we recommend them, not the end user.

 

[spike.gb]

Go for the Vaillant all day long, system must be power flushed. We solely fit Vaillants unless customer specifies something else at their peril. The Vaillants are easy to maintain, once we've fitted a Vaillant we only hear from the customer when the annual service is due to maintain the guarantee. If you afford it and your guy is a Vaillant Advance installer the Ecotec Plus models have a 7 year guarantee if you prefer the peace of mind of a longer guarantee.