New Boiler Required - Recommendations Please

[swanny65]

Hi
Just completed building an extension to my home, complete with overspend, and my 11 year old Baxi Barcelona appears to have died. I am looking for a decent replacement. Owe my in laws a few thousand quid but will be able to re-mortgage next year to cover that and the new boiler. I found the old Baxi very good for the heating system I have installed. We live in a 4 bed chalet bungalow, built 2002, with about 230m2 of floor area.

The Baxi had been leaking one day and not the next for a few weeks now and my plumber couldn't diagnose the exact problem, always dry when he took it apart. However the past few "colder" days, since Sunday, the leaking has been every morning, not afternoon, until today when it was dripping every 3 or 4 seconds into a bucket when I got home at teatime. The pressure had dropped a little. I took the casing off, unscrewed the 1/4 turn screws and removed the outside cover of the heat exchanger. I could see the condensation trap was not overflowing and there were regular drips from two points at the bottom of the heat exchanger - bottom left corner and half way along the bottom lip. I called my plumber and he asked me a few questions before diagnosing that the heat exchanger is probably leaking and it is time to replace the old Baxi. I will miss that explosive ignition !!!!

I have underfloor heating upstairs and downstairs in my home. There were 2 separate Unipipe manifolds (5 loops dowstairs and 3 loops upstairs). There is now a third manifold for the extension and garage conversion (2 more loops). In addition the boiler needs to provided hot water to a megaflow cyclinder.

However we did discover when building the extension that the original boiler is not conventionally wired in, or so I am told. How i explain it is the cylinder in the boiler keeps the water hot all the time and ready to be pumped from the manifolds, even when the manifolds are not calling for heat. I think the plumber said there is a permanent live to the boiler / the manifolds are not switched to the boiler. The manifolds call for heat when needed and they pump the water through the underfloor heating system. All i know is it works and the boiler intermittently fires up even when the stats are up to temperature. (i hope this is clear)

My plumber has suggest a Vaillant boiler but is also happy for someone else to fit a replacement as he is booked for the next two weeks.

My father in law had a Pro Combi Exclusive 30 installed about five months ago and is pleased with it. However his view is it was cheap, about £500, and he doesn't expect a boiler to last more than 7 or 8 years.

Looking for a recommendation that will best suit my current set up and run as it is wired and plumbed in now. Messing about with the electrics in a major way is really not an option.

Thanks and sorry if I have rambled....

 

[bucksplumber]

In this setup I would recommend a 24kw glow worm flexicom, and if possible installed by a glow worm approved installer as this extends the warranty from 2 years to 5. However if your set on the vailant I wouldn't argue with that as vailant and glow worm are essentially the same boilers.

With regards to the wiring, the boiler shouldn't be on constant as this is very inefficient. Do you have separate room stats for each zone?

when you wire underfloor heating in you need to take the call to the boiler from the room stat so when it calls for heat it turns the boiler on and when satisfied it shuts off, however it seems that this has been bypassed somehow?

Generally to rectify electrics associated with heating its not a major job! most plumbers who install boilers should be able to wire them with ease.

 

[swanny65]

Hi

Thanks for the reply.

Regarding the thermostats. I think this what happens. They are wired into a control box near each manifold, when there is a call for heat the sunvic value opens and the manifold pumps starts pumping. The water circulates lower the temperature at the boiler and the boiler fires up.

The bizarre thing is the system doesn't seem inefficient and my gas bills are less than my in laws who have a much smaller property with a modern boiler.

I recall when the house was build the plumber and electrician disagreeing about the way to set up the heating (this must be what they disagreed with). I used a different plumber and electrician on the extension and this plumber says the first electrician has wired it wrongly. In fact he told the electrician to wire in a supply from extension to boiler that was not needed!!!

 

[easyas123Viessmann]

Look at the Vaillant a whole lot more boiler.

 

[mickyg]

Look at weather compensation as the way off the future. Viessmann Vitodens 200 is the best boiler available in the UK. Fitted with weather compensated controls it's the rolls Royce of boilers. A little more expensive than the Vaillant but a whole lot more boiler.

do you work for viessmann? or have you just put on your blinkers and all your eggs in one basket?

 

[swanny65]

Hi
Now very short on time as the boiler is leaking constantly this morning. Several plumbers were too busy to even come and look until after Christmas....

Someone did manage to have a look at it late yesterday but the leak stopped lunchtime!! IMO he did as much as he could and left it for me to see what happened today. No one else except British Gas, who's engineer quoted £3000.00 over the phone but did give some helpful information, were interested or returned my calls.

As mentioned, this morning, the boiler has dripping all the time. Replacing the heat exchanger at £350.00 + labour, doesn't seem to be an option as the boiler has done well to last this long.

The problem i have is the plumber only installs Worcester Bosch boilers, which i wouldn't have a problem with but I have a water softener and i can not easily get a fresh water supplier to the boiler location. However it will have a 7 year guarantee.

Good idea or not

 

[easyas123Viessmann]

I may as well work for them. I fit lots of there boilers. Been to the factory in Germany worked for them as a contractor for some years. When another manufacturer with such great technology comes to the UK Buderus for example I will fit there boilers too. Fit some Coolants but their weather compensation doesn't work to well. I never fit 'bish bash botch' like many so called engineers. 'Botch' bought Buderus and stopped them from supplying domestic boilers into the UK.

 

[mickyg]

'Botch' bought Buderus and stopped them from supplying domestic boilers into the UK.

good job an all they were sh1te ! There's a couple of guys on this forum who had the misfortune of fitting them.
I respect your enthusiasm and loyalty, but you will find alot of people have been burnt by viessmann for one reason or another and they have lost alot of installers. The early 100s were a mess. Ive heard alot of bad stories about their warranty backup and getting parts. Someone on this forum had 2 of their customers waiting 3 weeks for a part, even though it was a manufacturing defect.
They must have the most expensive parts of any manufacturer in the UK. £40 for an ntc, and close to £300 for a pcb for a 100 series. Not impressed at all.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I don't have anything against Viessmann apart from the awkward dial twisting to set parameters.

But between this Easy person, and that twonk mysteryman I am leaning further from them than I might otherwise.

Its silly to only have one product in your arsenal.

 

[ALEC1]

How the cylinder is piped up determines whether I use Viessmann or Vaillant....viessmann is a good 4 pipe boiler but if the motorised valves are not near the boiler then it has to be a vaillant with the vr65..

both are excellent, I have to admit...but only worth doing with compensation controls...

otherwise go for the cheapest and simplest and be resigned to change the boiler in 5-6 years...

 

[easyas123Viessmann]

I think some manufactures would be fearful if some installers didn't fit their products it could lead to the boiler being blamed for there inferior work. Mystery man is one of the most outstanding engineers on this forum. Notice how I differentiate between installers and engineers.

 

[picasso]

. Mystery man is one of the most outstanding engineers on this forum..

Its the way you tell em, you just crack me up

 

[Dan Robinson]

You gotta laugh.

 

[mickyg]

Mystery man is one of the most outstanding engineers on this forum. Notice how I differentiate between installers and engineers.

If you had any credibility you would have just lost it. I wonder if Viessmann watch this forum and realise how much damage is being done?

 

[gaswizzard]

Mystery man is one of the most outstanding engineers on this forum. .

Expect a bill to Viessman for soaking another keyboard.