I thinking of replacing my old boiler with a condensing combi probally a baxi potterton as they seem to well regarded. The current boiler is floor mounted in the utility room so would probally put it in the same location unless otherwise advised.The only other place it could be fitted would be in the airing cupboard upstair where the copper tank lives at the moment. The house is a large 3 bed semi with 9 large old double radiators, these will be replaced one by one as I redecorate with more efficient modern rads. I'm also considering fitting underfloor heating to the kitchen and bathroom. The kitchen rad would either be down sized or removed and the bathroom rad would be replaced with towel rad. The only other consideration would be the thermostatic shower. Now you have the info which model would you recommend and are there any pitfalls to look out for.
Boiler recommendation
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Tony
Why not combi boilers(condensing) I thought they were the most efficient and everyone I speak to says need to get a combi. Why not ufh in the bathroom and kitchen the only reason I said that is because ceramics is cold underfoot and nobody seems to be able to provide me with running costs of electric ufh and as we all know gas is the cheaper option. As for baxi potterton I recently read a which magazine article and they came out best buy. Please enlighten me.
Why not combi boilers(condensing) I thought they were the most efficient and everyone I speak to says need to get a combi. Why not ufh in the bathroom and kitchen the only reason I said that is because ceramics is cold underfoot and nobody seems to be able to provide me with running costs of electric ufh and as we all know gas is the cheaper option. As for baxi potterton I recently read a which magazine article and they came out best buy. Please enlighten me.
Why not Baxi Potterton?
If you have read Which? magazine thoroughly then I imagine you also bought their best buy car, washing machine etc. Or did you look at their car recommendation and say 'you must be kidding?'
Another respondent here in the trade (not sure which thread) pointed out that two identical but different badged boilers managed to achieve wildly different Which? ratings.
Agile, along with many of us, sees a massive amount of boilers and can give you a much better appreciation of what lasts than someone with a very limited amount of time, limited budget and 20 boilers to write up.
Personally, I would not have a boiler installed by a company that has sent out endless mailshots, offering 'free' inducements and peel off raffle type labels.
Neither would you I expect; but strangely you would treat Which? advice as gospel.
Our view on Which? boiler is the same as Agile's, however we do not share his dislike of combination units.
If you have read Which? magazine thoroughly then I imagine you also bought their best buy car, washing machine etc. Or did you look at their car recommendation and say 'you must be kidding?'
Another respondent here in the trade (not sure which thread) pointed out that two identical but different badged boilers managed to achieve wildly different Which? ratings.
Agile, along with many of us, sees a massive amount of boilers and can give you a much better appreciation of what lasts than someone with a very limited amount of time, limited budget and 20 boilers to write up.
Personally, I would not have a boiler installed by a company that has sent out endless mailshots, offering 'free' inducements and peel off raffle type labels.
Neither would you I expect; but strangely you would treat Which? advice as gospel.
Our view on Which? boiler is the same as Agile's, however we do not share his dislike of combination units.
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i fit baxi , after going around the houses with other boilers.i dont get any call backs with them and the hot water on the 30 kw seems to please all customers , even the ones converted from stored hot water systems.
simond
No I rarely read Which! a workmate subscribes and I borrowed his copy for some unbiased guidance, don't make assumptions
15 minutes to fill a bath, that must surely depend on size of bath,water flow rate,hot water temp etc.
So for someone who has never bought a boiler before and was looking to benefit from experience, let me word the question differently.The first thing I look for when buying appliances etc is quality closely followed by reliability then running costs, aftersales etc however I'm also a sucker for big name brands such as bosch,neff,sony etc. So based on that if you experienced heating engineers/plumbers had to go out and buy a new boiler what would you go for and why!.
No I rarely read Which! a workmate subscribes and I borrowed his copy for some unbiased guidance, don't make assumptions
15 minutes to fill a bath, that must surely depend on size of bath,water flow rate,hot water temp etc.
So for someone who has never bought a boiler before and was looking to benefit from experience, let me word the question differently.The first thing I look for when buying appliances etc is quality closely followed by reliability then running costs, aftersales etc however I'm also a sucker for big name brands such as bosch,neff,sony etc. So based on that if you experienced heating engineers/plumbers had to go out and buy a new boiler what would you go for and why!.
Perhaps 10 or 20 years ago a brand name could be trusted. I can guarantee your Bosch/Neff gas hob will be 90% Italian. The only thing German is the top/bottom pressings and the name badge. The Germans are trading off a long lost reputation of quality.
There are a few multi-national companies within the the heating industry that own several brand names each. eg Baxi who own Potterton, Vaillant who own Glowworm, Saunier Duvall, etc.
Since the Italians got in on the white goods market quality has pretty much dissapeared. Boilers are sold at rock bottom prices with abysmal build quality and full of design faults. The profit is made on the extortionate cost of spares.
Personally I don't think there are any really well designed and manufactured boilers produced nowdays (there are a few exeptions but they are not generally available). Nothing is really designed to cope with our older heatings systems and general poor installation and servicing.
The only boiler with real long term reliablity would be a back boiler and a coal fire.
There are a few multi-national companies within the the heating industry that own several brand names each. eg Baxi who own Potterton, Vaillant who own Glowworm, Saunier Duvall, etc.
Since the Italians got in on the white goods market quality has pretty much dissapeared. Boilers are sold at rock bottom prices with abysmal build quality and full of design faults. The profit is made on the extortionate cost of spares.
Personally I don't think there are any really well designed and manufactured boilers produced nowdays (there are a few exeptions but they are not generally available). Nothing is really designed to cope with our older heatings systems and general poor installation and servicing.
The only boiler with real long term reliablity would be a back boiler and a coal fire.
Sure it does; 8 litres per minute and a 120 litre bath is 15 minutes. Old style bath taps, gravity fed, would give you 20 litres/minute EACH.
Quality has been defined as "fitness for purpose". If you run a lot of baths, all common combis would be poor then. Important you get the specification right.
That's very dependent on the installation and the rest of the system.
As far as the boilers are concerned, we see that some get a bad name though most owners have no trouble at all. Few of the current designs have been around very long, so we're guessing to a large extent on a long range forecast.
i must say guys i went from an old cylinder full of scale with not much flow rate . to a combi it was great . i have no probs with two taps open , but i must say i dont have boiler hot water set high , and i run bath with just hot tap running . theres no point in putting boiling water in then cold is there ?. im sure my combi wont last as long as what was in house before ( a parkray) those were the days no gas bill,
You can't compare with a faulty system, wait intil the combi's full of scale !
A 24kW combi will give about 8 litres/min of water just hot enough to use for a bath in the winter when the incoming mains is cold. That's about a third to a quarter the rate you'd get out of a couple of taps for the same temp.
If you turn another hot tap on, obviously the hw is shared.
!A 24kW combi will give about 8 litres/min of water just hot enough to use for a bath in the winter when the incoming mains is cold. That's about a third to a quarter the rate you'd get out of a couple of taps for the same temp.
If you turn another hot tap on, obviously the hw is shared.
So the answer seems to be don't buy a combi if you're in a family house.
Got that - and I don't want a combi - but what should I get then? Aren't there any good boilers out there? I'm beginning to think I'd do better sticking with my 30year old one. It works!!
Got that - and I don't want a combi - but what should I get then? Aren't there any good boilers out there? I'm beginning to think I'd do better sticking with my 30year old one. It works!!
rikki just replace the boiler for a high effi one and keep the tank and all.
I'm looking into changing my old system to a condensing combi setup but only thinking of this because I might convert my loft later on, so the combi would get rid of all the tanks in the loft.
Reading up though I might just stick with the old system and up grade the boiler. I friend just had this done and it has saved him on the costly transfer from old to new system and his Gas bill has dropped.
I'm looking into changing my old system to a condensing combi setup but only thinking of this because I might convert my loft later on, so the combi would get rid of all the tanks in the loft.
Reading up though I might just stick with the old system and up grade the boiler. I friend just had this done and it has saved him on the costly transfer from old to new system and his Gas bill has dropped.
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