New boiler help requested, valiant pro or 831/837 for 9 rads

[daved]

Hi all,

Having searched the forums but finding no similar scenario I'm hoping someone can help me in choosing the correct size/model boiler for my inlaws

They live in a fairly large semi, with 3 bedrooms, 2 downstairs rooms, 1 kitchen, 1 bathroom, 1 separate toilet and have a total of 9 rads all in all.

They have had a quote for a valiant ecotec pro 28 and have been told its the "latest model" and is the correct one for the size of the house and number of radiators.

As they have had nothing but problems with their existing system over the past few years I have had a look online for reviews and have seen some older posts suggesting the pro 28 is made for smaller houses and is bettered by the ecotec plus 831 or ecotec plus 873

I've gone to the valiant website with the above details and their product tool suggested an ecotec plus 837

For the Pro 28 my inlaws have been quoted a price of around 1700 fully installed (including flush and 5+ year parts and labour), which they seem happy with, but I'm wondering whether they should spend the extra and go for the Plus 831 or Plus 837

They are due to have this boiler fitted early next week as they are currently without any hot tap water, so any advice would be more than welcome! I think essentially i am asking a) is the pro 28 suitable for the above size house b) would the 831 or 837 be a better option c) should any of the 3 be avoided and d) roughly what kind of price difference would there be between the 3 models

I should mention that my mother-in-law has in mind that anything higher than the pro 28 will mean larger bills, is this correct or is the 831/837 more efficient in some way? I have absolutely no idea about any of this I have a non-combi boiler!!

Many thanks,

Dave

 

[sooey]

All of those boilers are more than big enough for the heating load. The bigger one will give better hot water.
The ecotec pro is just an ecotec plus with a few less frills. Virtually the same boiler inside, but as said the bigger sized boilers will be better for hot water, if they are happy with a normal shower and a not very quick filling bath the pro would be fine.
The bigger the boiler the better if the supply is up to it, but a bigger boiler won't cost more to run when on heating.

 

[daved]

Appreciate the quick reply Sooey, thanks

When you say "The ecotec pro is just an ecotec plus with a few less frills" is that true in terms of reliability also?

The older posts I saw seemed to indicate that the Pro 28 suffered from a few more breakdowns than the Plus 831, yet looking through the forums here I saw many posts indicating that the Plus 831 had some fairly common issues that the Plus 871 didn't. Only thing is that those posts are a few years old so I wasn't sure they were still applicable?

I guess price will have a bearing also given they are retired. Would they be looking at significant price increase to move to the Plus range for very little return? I should perhaps have mentioned that a big bug bear currently is that often someone is taking a shower at the same time that someone else is using the sink resulting in a cold shower. Is this likely to still be a problem regardless?

Cheers

Dave

 

[daved]

to clarify, that's shower upstairs in the bathroom at the same time as the sink downstairs in the kitchen is being used

 

[ALEC1]

the pro is a contract boiler..with lower quality components too...contract boilers go to local authorities and social house projects which have big budgets for maintenance...necesarily it would seem. It still comes with a 5 year guarantee from a vaillant registered installer.

more important is the control strategy you use...in large properties at that have a high occupancy rate you would do well to install the vrc 470....that optimises boiler efficiency...


and no a combi will never supply two hot taps at the same time unless flow regulators are fitted on all the outlets, the showers not too ambitious in flow rate...bath taps necessarily always up set flow rates, as you want to fill them quickly usually..

 

[muggles]

You'll struggle to get satisfactory performance from any comvi if you're trying to run two outlets at the sane time. The 837 would give the best performance in this instance but you may still be disappointed.

 

[D_Hailsham]

Which boiler do they have at the moment (make/model/kW)?

 

[daved]

thanks for all the replies,

it's mainly the shower that's used at the same time as the kitchen sink tap, rarely is the bath used. no flow regulators apparently.


would the vrc470 be applicable across all of the range
mentioned?

the one it's replacing is a baxi bahama 100 (over ten years old, which I didn't know until today - this probably explains the higher fault rate seen of late!)

is the general thinking that the pro 28 would be the sufficient option so long as it has the 5 year warranty?

is there a massive cost diffential?

 

[GasBod]

Why a vaillant? The diverter motor is placed in an astonishingly susceptible location regards leaks.

 

[daved]

hi gasbod, truth of the matter is that my in laws are currently without water, have got a quote that seems reasonable to them
for a valiant from a valiant installer
who is provided parts and labour for 5 years. they are happy with this and are ready to go. with that in mind, it's a much as I can do to say slow down and a second, look at the reviews and other valiant models - I think my suggesting a complete change of plan from a valiant will be a step too far hence my trying to work out whether there are real benefits to be had by spending what I understood from older reviews to be a few hundred quid more for a more reliable and better suited valiant model. hope that makes sense! I dont want them to spend money for money's sake but I also don't like the idea that they are banking on this warranty to resolve any future breakdowns. Undoubtedly there will be exclusions but they haven't been given anything in writing as yet outlining those.