Are Main boilers recommended?

[spaceman763]

Hi guys, needed some advice regarding a boiler installation I'm about to have done. I have a 3 bedroom, fairly sized terraced house with one bathroom and one shower room. My current Vaillant boiler is circa 20 years old and is costing me an arm and leg in repairs / uneconomical fuel bills.

Have had a couple of boiler installers round to advise on how I should proceed and both mentioned getting a system boiler with a tank. I have looked at the Main range of boilers and specifically the Main System 28 Eco. The price is relatively cheap compared to other brands. Is this indicative of quality and performance? Am I better off just paying more and going for a Vaillant or Worcester Bosch?

Regards

 

[twgas]

How many rads do you have, a 28kW boiler will run about 17 to 20 average sized radiators.

 

[spaceman763]

Just done a count and I have 13 radiators in total of which 3 are large and the rest medium to small sized.

 

[D_Hailsham]

Just done a count and I have 13 radiators in total of which 3 are large and the rest medium to small sized.

The number and size of rads is not important - assuming they heat the house OK at the moment.

You need to find out what size boiler is required to heat the house. You can do this by using the Boiler Size Calculator. I doubt if it will be anything like as large as 28kW

 

[spaceman763]

Cheers for the replies guys. Will have to take some measurements of the house before filling in the calculator.

How are Main branded boilers generally? I understand they are part of the Baxi group. I have tried to google Main boilers but because of the name have had trouble getting any useful info apart from the Main homepage at mainheating.co.uk.

Are there any reliability, high service cost etc issues I should be aware of before purchasing?

 

[simond]

All boilers are reasonably good nowadays.

Main are a Baxi Potterton brand aimed at social housing and budget trade customers, almost no marketing is aimed at householders. That is why you can find very little on the internet.

They major on being cheap, which is no doubt what kindled your interest.

Many of their models are similar to the Baxi Potty stuff although there is one Main model with an aluminium heat exchanger which is unique to the brand.

Baxi Pot are now owned by the company that owns Remeha Broag, since they were sold by BC Venture Capital Partners in Nov 2009. Baxi Pott have been a bit of a car crash financially over the last few years and BC were by some accounts pretty desparate to get rid, and were responsible for the ill fated Potty envoy, Baxi Barcelona condensers, and the watchdog star, the Suprima.

Arguably, you might be better looking at a Remeha Avanta system boiler, since they now run the shop. They are cheap also.

Personally not a great fan of any of them.

 

[mickyg]

what vaillant boiler have you got now?