Boiler replacement advice Vaillant or Potterton

Hello all,

Need some advice. My old Ravenheat CSI 85 combi has given up the ghost and I need a new replacement combi boiler. The original system including the Ravenheat boiler was installed 10 years ago.

I am looking for a replacement boiler around 24-28kW around the max price of £750 or thereabouts. I am looking for a decent guarantee and reliability.

I have been doing some research and have come up with either:-

a) Potterton Gold 24 HE (2yrs guarantee) ~ £662 inc VAT + flue + clock

b) Vaillant EcoTec Pro 24 (1 yr guarantee ) ~ £813 inc VAT + flue +clock

What are your views on which I should go for? Looking at the forums, it looks like the Vaillants have better reliability, but this model has only a 1yr wsarranty and costs £150 more than the Potterton. Are there any other alternatives I should consider?

Secondly, since the existing rads and piping are 10 years old what would be best way of installing a new boiler and what precautions should I take to make sure the boiler performs well and does not get sludged up from the old rads/piping?

Thanks

Sarah

Out of those two the Potterton every time for me.

But then in reality I would fit neither.

Have a look at the Atmos Inter 32

wouldnt touch a potterton/baxi if u gave it for free,warranty irrelevant as the problems with the potterton will more than likely start after two years.stick with vaillant their bullet proof since a few upgrades from older models.i cant remember a reliable boiler baxi/potti have made since the first combi instant

I'd go for the vaillant. modern pottertons tend to start falling apart after a few years because the build quality isn't particularly good

i've been having a look at other boilers, and I have searched for advice on these boilers, what are your views:-

Potterton Gold 24 HE £662 all in inc flue, clock (tried and tested design as has been around for a while and appears reliable from reviews)
2 years parts and labour and won Which Best Buy

Biasi ActivA £662 inc of flue, clock and vat for the 25kW
5 years parts and labour (not many reviews on here about it as it seems to be new - has anyone fitted/seen one and can comment on it?)

ProCombi A28HE £600
3 years parts and labour guarantee - made by ?Vokera
not many reviews on here about this either.

Please help, I am really confused. It's my fathers house and he's been without heating for 3 weeks. Want to get him the best system, hopefully before he gets pneumonia. It's reallly difficult sorting out which way to jump and which boiler to get!

Out of your options, the answer is still Vaillant.

As long as the system was maintained, and the correct concentration of corrosion inhibitor was added, there shouldn't be too much corrosion/sludge in a 10 yr old system.

Give it a flush out after new boiler is installed and consider having a magnetic filter (eg. Spirotech Magnabooster) fitted to catch any nasties.

Vaillant is not an option anymore as my fathers budget limits the boiler to max of around £700 so it has to be either potterton, biasi, or the pro combi. If anyone can give me any advice on which to choose between these three I would appreciate it.

does your budget include installlation??

Micky beat me to it.!

I have a total of around £1000. The original system was installed for free under the warmfront scheme. i was hoping to get another £300 from the warmfront scheme but this is not available at the moment, (will start again on an unkown date after 1 april 2011 according to the website). If I could get this £300 then my fathers budget for the boiler would be higher, but at present, £1000 is all we have to spend on the boiler replacement including the labour/materials, therefore boiler has to be max price of £750 inc VAT, clock and flue. I have got a gas safe engineer who will fit for £250.

sarahjones1975 said:

I have got a gas safe engineer who will fit for £250.

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bet that will be quality then. Are you buying ALL the materials? pipe, fittings, chemicals, consumables

yes, i have asked a few gas safe and the going rate for boiler replacement after they have had a look is around the £250 mark. I have had 4 quotes at £250, 2 at 350-375 and a few at 3550-1000.

It is a straight replacement, already have 22mm gas supply pipe and all previous work was well carried out, so shouldn't be too much to fit a replacement.

must be a geographical thing then ! Thats extremely cheap for a boiler change. I'd be worried about things being done right personally. Maybe its just the going rate in Leeds

sarahjones1975 said:

...It's my fathers house and he's been without heating for 3 weeks. Want to get him the best system...

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You either get him the best system, or the best price; the two are mutually exclusive.

Must be a lot of guys who are very short of work up there if they're quoting that low, don't go for the cheapest they may not do a very good job. Installation should include a chemical clean and flush of the system, followed by the adding of a corrosion inhibitor. If the existing system was installed properly 10 years ago there shouldn't be any corrosion in it, but if there is then I'd always recommend a Magnaclean be fitted to protect the boiler from the system. As you were given a bag of spanners by Warmfront (Ravenheap are not considered a good make by most installers) I would question whether they did the rest of your system properly...

Your budget, I'm afraid, is simply far too low to get a decent boiler installed well. £1500 is a more realistic figure. The choice of boiler is important, you can't polish a turd, but a bad installation can severely shorten the life of even the best boiler, so you would be better off in the long run paying a bit more now for a good boiler and good installation that will give less trouble later. Of the Potty Gold, the Biasi and the Vokera I'd just about say go for the Potty, but in reality I wouldn't touch any of them. Which? review new stuff they don't look at long-term reliability so they're not a good indicator with this kind of product.

I would recommend an Intergas Combi Compact HRE 28/24, good well-designed boilers and so few moving parts in relation to most other boilers out there that there's actually very little to go wrong with them, long-term reliability should be excellent. Five year warranty when installed by an approved installer, otherwise two years. It'll cost more then the Potty and the Italian rubbish though. Don't buy British and don't buy Italian when it comes to boilers.