Which combi boiker to choose?

[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.