Ariston Genus HE 30 or Vaillant 831

[liquidcool]

Hey All,

New to the forum here so be gentle.

I have been looking at getting my boiler replaced, and been trawiling all over the web to find out what boiler I should be looking at.

I want one that has a full digital 7 day timer on the front of the unit, decent flow rate of about 12l/min and up and around 30Kw / 100000BTU's.

I had a look at the Which? guide and one of the boilers they recommended was the Ariston Genus HE range (I am looking at the HE 30 Model - It ticked all the boxes to what I wanted). Reviews don't say that people have had problems (or at least not as many as other boilers). Also it seems to now come with 5 year guarantee (Where most come with 2 and maybe 3).

Then I got a whole lot of heating guys to quote me on the installation, and most of them are quoting for Vaillant 831 boilers. Now looking at the reviews over the web, people don't seem to rate that all well.

So I am very torn and would like some help in making my mind up.

Thanks in advance

 

[Corgigrouch]

Vaillant......

 

[Agile]

Viessmann have a five year warrantee when fitted by an approved installer and they are now quite reliable too.

You cannot judge a boiler reliability by the number of posts on here because it depends on the numbers fitted.

Tony

 

[liquidcool]

Thanks Tony,

Was not looking just on the posts here. Just posts on review sites, other forums etc .... One of my work colleagues made a comment that if you if you get a good boiler you won't really see many posts on the internet about them, because people have them installed and forget about them (maybe rings a little truth)... but then again probably not many installed

One guy offered me a veissmann, and he was an approved installer, but something didn't sound right.

He mentioned that VAT is only 5% if I get the power flush and TRVs with the a Veissmann. To me that does not sound right.

 

[Agile]

The Which Report research is seriously flawed because it relies on its own members experiences who are ABC owner occupiers who dont mind paying more to get the best. Many have insurance cover on their boilers.

It ignores what we have to deal with which are cheap boilers, badly fitted in rented and cheap properties.

I am sorry you did not like man who quoted for the Viessmann. Many installers dont express themselves clearly. VAT is only 5% on energy effiency improving items like TRVs and programmable stats ( but not boilers though ).

But suggesting that power flushing is optional is rather questionable. All installers must fit a boiler on a clean system and the cost of doing that should be included in their quotation AND they should fully guarantee against any problems caused by dirt.

It does rather concern me that you are wasting so many installers time getting multiple quotes when only one is ever going to get the job. I dont visit to give free advice but instead I give budgetary prices over the phone. Past experience has shown that they want me to spend an hour or two giving free advice to specify a system and then get the work done by someone cheaper!

Tony

 

[Happyplumber]

The genus is an industry standard boiler utilising the ginnoni heat exchanger and standard aquablock,It does have timer built into it and the warranty is 5 years installed by approved heating company

we have installed numerous amounts of these boilers alot of them cam of the back of the which report voting it boiler of the year,excellent reliable piece of kit and brilliant back up service from Ariston,who dont operate a premium number service ,so if you ever do need to get in touch with them ,it wont cost you an arm and a leg!

The reason why its quiet on forums about these boilers is because they are good buts of kit and reliable and once fitted almost forgotten ,unlike some whch have plenty written about them,unfortunately most of it not for good reasons

 

[liquidcool]

Tony, I actually take offence to you saying I am wasting their time.

I have had 4 installers come in all with wide variances in pricing (almost a £1000 difference) and quoting the same thing. Same boiler, same magni cleaners, same installation. I want to find the installer that is going to give me a good price (not necessarily the cheapest) and who I think I can trust. Would you trust some greasy installer who has a whiff of alcohol on his breath when he comes past to give you a quote at 10AM!!! (And that was one of them)

I am definitely not going to take the first quote that comes through the door..... If that was the case I would have gone for the British Gas quote of £4500 with some rubbish small Worcester Bosch Boiler at twice the price that I could by it myself for ....

 

[Happyplumber]

it is your perogative to take the quote you want,yes there will be some who can come in very cheap by cutting corners or omitting certain parts of the job

The most important thing is the system is installed on meticulously clean system and a filter such as the spirovent or magnaclean are installed as standard shows the installer is conscientious.

I totally agree with you about the alchoholic coming to your house,i would not have bothered even letting him through the door,personal hygiene and appearance are very important if one cant even look after themselves how will they look after the customers property

 

[Agile]

I fully agree that you need to find somebody who is likely to be trustworthy and charge a reasonable price.

Everyone should know that British Gas are going to be very expensive. It may amuse you to see just how much but unlikely that you would ever accept their quote so thats wasting both your time and theirs.

Knowing what I know about our industry, I could easily weed out the no hopes in a few minutes on the telephone. Many just by how they speak! Its easy to ask what they would expect to charge for installing the Genus for example. They might try to suggest different boilers but it would at least get an idea of how much they charge as well as their knowledge of the industry.

The one who comes at 10 am sounds as if he has nothing to do and may be desperate for work.

Most householders ignore the best installers because they are booked up well in advance as they have a good reputation and instead go for the alcoholic one because he can start the same day!

Tony

 

[Happyplumber]

or some householders even go for very good blaggers some who haunt these websites slagging off other professionals ,who maybe not be very eloquent ,but are excellent at the job and carry it out tirelessly

 

[liquidcool]

I guess maybe we have gone a little off topic, but happyplumber, did you also install the vaillants ? and if you did, do you think the ariston is better seeing that you have done a number of these ?

 

[Happyplumber]

I have installed many boilers ,including the vaillant and the veissmann .I am also approved by all three so to me it doesn't matter which one the customer asks for i can provide a long term warranty

we also do quite a few solar installs and on these we chose Ariston because of the excellent boiler and tank package and the ease of the solar panels


So if you are asking me would i advise you to install the Ariston the answer would be yes whole heartedly

 

[liquidcool]

Happyplumber,

Looking at the Ariston site it does not say you need to have an approved fitter to get the 5 year guarantee. It says it comes now as standard. I know Veissmann you have to ....

So on with what you are saying, over the 3 you are approved for you would say the Ariston is the better boiler ?