Keston 25 - looking to replace

[FieryJack]

I've had a Keston 25 for 4 years to provide water/heating to a 3-storey, 4-bed, London town-house. The boiler has been serviced annually but still seems to go wrong about 6 months after its service. I'm getting hacked off with this level of reliability.

Tonight another fault has developed, caused by, according to the Engineer's Fault Display Table, a flow overheat. Resetting the boiler on / off has made no difference, which makes me think the electronics are at fault.

I'm wondering if it's now time to cut my losses, dispense with this boiler and go for a better alternative. The question is, which one and who can I use to provide a reliable fitting service? The engineer I've used previously is ok but lives 70 miles away and isn't usually available for a couple of weeks.

Now I'm not desperate as we have immersion backup for water, electric under-floor heating in 2 rooms and it's April and not particularly cold. However, I am looking to get a solution reasonably pronto. If anyone wants to offer advice, lives not too far from Acton (west London) and is interested in doing some work, please leave a note here.

regards,

Julian

 

[Agile]

This has proved a very unreliable model! Spares are only normally available from Keston which makes any repair a two visit job.

Nevertheless its only four years old and you should expect to get it to last 8-10 years.

The obvious answer is to get a British Gas fixed price repair/service contract and give them the headaches!

How could an engineer economically do repairs for you if he has to travel 70 miles each way?

Tony

 

[htgeng]

The obvious answer is to get a British Gas fixed price repair/service contract and give them the headaches!
Tony

Sorry tony but in this case I think thats a hiding to nothing. Id be surprised if BG are accepting any Keston boilers. I know of two cases where BG were on the job and had replaced almost every conceivable part and still faults appear. A 130 was giving the users grief so much that I am replacing it with an Atag.

To the OP, if you want a reliable boiler have a look at Atag boilers. Im not sure who installs them down your way but if you call them up they should be able to help

 

[simond]

Bin the Keston, they are not worth the grief. It will never be reliable.

 

[FieryJack]

Thanks for the comments.

I now need to talk to a builder to find out if it's possible to get 80mm flues installed without ripping up the kitchen floor, which is not a viable option.

If I am stuck with 50mm flues are there any other options to Keston? I see Keston has a Qudos boiler to replace the 25 model I have now, but can't say I'm convinced about Keston, esp. after reading the comments on this forum.

 

[Agile]

I now need to talk to a builder to find out if it's possible to get 80mm flues installed without ripping up the kitchen floor, which is not a viable option.

I would say that a builder is the last person you need to talk to about a new boiler.

A good gas safe registered installer will have experience of solving difficult flueing problems.

Tony

 

[FieryJack]

ok, any gas engineers in the proximity of Acton, West London interested in replacing a Keston 25 boiler?

As per Tony's advice, I would prefer someone who is competent, registered, not phased by potential flueing issues and can recommend / install something more reliable than a Keston 25, ideally a boiler which won't cost an arm and leg to service and is unlikely to go pop 3 days after warranty expires.