Alpha, Valliant or Viesseman

[Balenza]

Doitall wrote

As for the idiot that reckons aly heat exchangers are better

Just stating my findings that all.
Have a look at the design Atmos use.
The current design has been manufactured since 1995 and not one failure in over 300,000 heat exchangers.
Now who's the idiot crapitall ?.
Go back to swinging on your stilsons you great ape.

 

[JohnD]

Well ever since Ivy Hodge put the kettle on and killed three people...

Not really Ivy's fault. Had the building been assembed with mortar instead of rolled-up newspaper, it might not have collapsed so easily.

 

[Gasguru]

New regs coming soon will make this scenario almost impossible - FSD's on all cooker/hob burners for flats.

 

[sanj.varah]

I would pick the Viessmann any day of the week over anything else. PTS plumbing stock them and the spares too.

they've had steamer boilers in germany for ages and people over there generally have either vaillant/Viessmann or MAN Heiztechnik.

 

[Gasguru]

I'd take "Made in Germany" with a pinch of salt - often boilers are modified or specifically designed for the UK market ie perhaps assembled in cheaper labour markets (Poland) or re-engineered with cheaper parts and manufacturing. You will find customers pay considerably more for boilers in Germany but the UK is accustomed to paying as little as possible for thier heating.

Some Bosch products are 90% Italian inside.

 

[Agile]

I thought you needed to check their list of trained installers? There are only two within 20 miles of my small town. Must be tricky when one of them goes on hols. It seemed to me that they did not have much market penetration so there will not be many people experienced on them.

The warranty repairs are done by their specific Service Agents who have their own complete kit of parts for the current boilers.

The trained installers are only those who have been on their course but they are not their Agents and dont have the parts. They might be asked if there was a problem and an Agent could not get there but would not have the bits to repair. They might well be installers rather than repairers too.

Tony

 

[namsag]

Viessmans where the same price as baxi`s at PTS and the one one display looked quiet simple and came apart in minutes

 

[JohnD]

...The warranty repairs are done by their specific Service Agents who have their own complete kit of parts for the current boilers...

I didn't see Service Agents mentioned on their website... any idea how thin they're spread?

 

[nickso]

...The warranty repairs are done by their specific Service Agents who have their own complete kit of parts for the current boilers...

I didn't see Service Agents mentioned on their website... any idea how thin they're spread?

quite thin....i only found 5 or 6

 

[JohnD]

so the nearest one to me probably covers Cornwall to Kent. And South Wales. And maybe Suffolk.

Perhaps they don't break down often.

 

[gas4you]

From the colour of their local sales rep I bet they have one in India to cover UK

 

[MattChan]

Thanks for the replies guys!

So is there any chance that any of these will will be able to use the existing pre cast concrete block flue that goes up through the wall and out the roof?

Just been and had a look in the meter box out the front... The last bit of pipe coming out of the meter and disappearing into the wall appears to be 22mm no idea how far that goes though! The next time its visible is where the two 15mm tails pop up out of the screed in the kitchen some 8m or so away.

 

[giblets]

So is there any chance that any of these will will be able to use the existing pre cast concrete block flue that goes up through the wall and out the roof?

In a word - No.

 

[ChrisR]

22mm no idea how far that goes though! .... 15mm tails pop up out of the screed in the kitchen some 8m or so away

Probably ok for a 40,000Btu/hr boiler, depending what else there is.

 

[MattChan]

After a couple of months without the boiler i've finally managed to get the peops round for some quotes...

Both include
* Moving the boiler from the kitchen to the new airing cupboard upstairs
* Flushing the system
* 15m of new gas supply pipe
* Moving the timing controls
* Moving the pump and valve from the old airing cupboard to the new one
* Installing new vertical flue through the roof
* All copper pipe work
* Removal of waste from site.
* New Valve

The new airing cupboard is quite small and both people have said it narrows their choice of boiler.

First quote is a Baxi Solo 15HE £2550
Second quote is an Alpha CD13R £1950

Both guys are Corgi reg'd and from speaking to them before the quotes arrived I was more tempted by the Alpha guy who is also the Alpha area service agent.

Is the Alpha shocking and the Baxi worth an extra 600 notes?