Boiler opinions

[Bendo]

Our old Ariston Eurocombi has sadly passed away, have got a couple of quotes to replace it and was wondering which of the following boilers would be better if anyone has any experience of them?

Ariston Aco combi 32 or

Vaillant ecomax 835 E

Thanks in advance.

 

[gazthepottertonengineer]

Vailant is by far a better boiler than Ariston rubbish

just my opinion mind

 

[Agile]

The Vaillant probably is a better boiler but its also probably more expensive too.

There seems to be a common misunderstanding of quotes by installers. The best installers will ask you a lot of questions to best assertain your needs and give you a selection of different boilers to choose from. Some may not ask many questions but look around and come to their own conclusion. If you have an old "J" reg car outside he may assume you want a cheap installation!

Any installer can install any boiler! Why dont you ask each installer for an alternative quote for the other boiler?

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The Vaillant probably is a better boiler but its also probably more expensive too. The Alpha although cheaper has a three year guarantee IF its serviced annually.

There seems to be a common misunderstanding of quotes by installers. The best installers will ask you a lot of questions to best assertain your needs and give you a selection of different boilers to choose from. Some may not ask many questions but look around and come to their own conclusion. If you have an old "J" reg car outside he may assume you want a cheap installation!

Any installer can install any boiler! Why dont you ask each installer for an alternative quote for the other boiler?



Tony Glazier

 

[ChrisR]

SOMe Aristons have a 5 year g'tee.

 

[Bendo]

Thanks for the replies.

The Arison in question does have a 5 year gaurentee, which is nice. Although if it's anything like the one it's going to replace, it will die after 7 or 8 years anyway, although that could have been our fault, it wasn't serviced anything like as often as it should have been... (lesson learn).

Have done a bit of googleing, the Ariston might be better for us as it's a fair bit smaller and ideally it will fit into the existing cupboard in the kitchen. Although if Aristons have a reputation for being rubbish, it may be worth avoiding it.

 

[Agile]

I would say that Aristons has a reputation for being good value for money at the lower end of the price range.

It is too early to say what the reliability of the condensing models is likely to be and we do not know what model you are considering.

The five years guarantee will give you some protection on your investment.

Whatever boiler you choose and there are about 20 to consider get three quotes for your preferred model.

I think that its important that the installer knows how to repair boilers not just "bang them on the wall".

Tony Glazier

 

[DP]

I would have to say the the Eurocombi is not a bad boiler as it uses standard components made from metal.

It is not the first time I have had a call for a quote for a replacement boiler when the existing boiler could be repaired. In fact a plumber (who is not clued up on how the boiler works), will tend to sell you a new boiler

If I had a Eurocombi, was not a heating engineer, I would be looking for one who could repair the boiler.

 

[Paul Barker]

It is not likely to have broiken down because you didn't have it serviced. Many parts wear out at that age regardless of how often the heat exchanger and burner have been cleaned. The parts which break are not the ones we can service. A service ensures the boiler is working within safe limits, but is no prevention of other parts wearing out.

Yes new Vaillant. My prefered make is

http://www.boulter-buderus.co.uk/site.home/203/m_id/204

When considering vaillant also consider Halstead who use the vaillant heat exchanger. AFAIK Halstead are actually manufactured in Britain, a rare thing.

 

[blahblah]

I think that its important that the installer knows how to repair boilers not just "bang them on the wall".

Why's that Tony? Especially (in this case) with a 2 or 5 year guarantee.
I hope you're not suggesting that someone who hasn't the experience of fault finding or chooses not to repair them is an inferior 'installer'. Whenever I go on manufacturer's courses I tend to find that most guys lean towards one side or the other. Did some work for one guy who was a BG breakdown bod- the one they called in when they couldn't work it out. Must have been worth a mint if he went self employed but he chose to go and fix trains instead. I would dearly have loved to have been able to tap into his knowledge.
As you may guess I do little repair work and I have the utmost respect for your obvious skill and experience, but 'bang them on the wall'. I don't think so!

 

[ollski]

SOMe Aristons have a 5 year g'tee.

Blimey might get 5 years out of it then , best to go part time at work though or give the breakdown engineer a spare set of keys to the house

 

[Bendo]

Thanks for the replies.

We actually phoned Ariston to get someone they recommend to look at the existing boiler having had a "cowboy" look at it previously who caused it start leaking and the heat excheanger is on it's way out apparently (not sure if thats expensive to replace?). Thought it was worthwhile getting someone who was familiar with Ariston stuff rather than risk a cowboy again.

Boiler is repairable, but will cost about £500, plus it's probably had about 200 spend on repairs in the past and according to the bloke ariston recommended, it's probably not worth repairing.

The Ariston one we are considering is a quote from him, so hopefully he should know what he's doing.

The bloke who quoted for a Vaillant, seemed to think that loads of pipework changes would need doing, involving pulling down the toung & groove ceiling and taking some floorboards up above. The one who quoted for the Arison said thats not needed though, so think the other feller may have been talking rubbish.

Will probably go for the Ariston, although if they are considered unreliable, then we won't. Decisions decisions.

Thanks again.

 

[Paul Barker]

Don't blame the fitter for causing leaks in your Ariston, that is the fault of the Eurocombi, inferior boilers of that ilk are a nightmare to us, we go near them and the fact we've had to do a job menas an unavoidable chain of events commences.

The best boilers are ones that each component part can be readily changed without disturbing other parts. Take my favourite Buderus you can change any part in 15 minutes without disturbing anything else, no part costs more than 125 pounds, you get 2 years manufacturers guarantee and 5 if you pay £90 for a combi £70 for a regular or system boiler. You won't need it. The manufacturers repair team are Worcester engineers because they are all part of the same group. From an engineers pointy of view these boilers are far better designed than Worcesters, they are an engineers boiler. I don't offer people a choice I offer them the only boiler I would fit at home.

If they come back to me and ask me to fit a different boiler of course I will, and frequently do, but while I@m there fitting their Vokeras and Ideals and Alphas, looking at the insides of them I'm thinking to myself what a shame for them 5 years down the line when they'll be blaming the poor fitter for causing leaks because he's the poor hapless guy that had the courage to start work on an uneconomic to repair error of modern manufacturing.

 

[Paul Barker]

Oops, one other thing, I find it hard to believe you trust the fitter who recommends the Ariston (when you are a victim of their track record) against the one who recommends the boiler which many would consider the best available today.

We don't make up work for ourselves pulling off your cladding to change pipework, we are inundated with work. All we want is a dead simple combi swap. If the man who suggestes Vaillant says your pipe work is sub standard it is sub standard. Get your house put in order and then decorate it again. You might find a more pleasant alternative to the cladding anyway.

Reminds me of a couple that wanted me to fix a few leaky rads. i noticed they had just had the whole house fitted head to toe with very expensive cream coloured carpet, yet not addressed the urgent need to replace all radiators. Rust in places I've never seen before on the whole lot of them.

I declined to do the job, why should I pussy foot around their fancy carpet, they'd be bound to sue me for the slightest discolouration. Every rad has to be changed.

 

[ollski]

The best boilers are ones that each component part can be readily changed without disturbing other parts. Take my favourite Buderus you can change any part in 15 minutes without disturbing anything else, no part costs more than 125 pounds, you get 2 years manufacturers guarantee and 5 if you pay £90 for a combi £70 for a regular or system boiler. You won't need it. The manufacturers repair team are Worcester engineers because they are all part of the same group. From an engineers pointy of view these boilers are far better designed than Worcesters, they are an engineers boiler.

I had one of the top Worcester men from Germany out with me recently to see what we saw and had to work on on a typical day and he was saying that the majority of stuff we have to work on wouldn't even be looked at by the german engineers....if it isn't easily accessible to work on it won't be. That is why they are going to great lengths to make the new worcesters even more accessible.

 

[Bendo]

We don't make up work for ourselves pulling off your cladding to change pipework, we are inundated with work. All we want is a dead simple combi swap. If the man who suggestes Vaillant says your pipe work is sub standard it is sub standard. Get your house put in order and then decorate it again. You might find a more pleasant alternative to the cladding anyway.

All the pipework / electrics / decoration was put in from scratch in 1998 and one would expect it to be fine.

The bloke who quoted for Vaillant never even looked at the pipework extensivly, he put the "disruption" down to the difference in condenser boilers.

That said, maybe some more quotes would be an idea.