New oil bolier advice please! Urgent!!

[arty11001]

Hi guys,

The other day our oil burner boiler packed in. We are due to get a replacement fitted this week and we have been recommended a Worcester Camray 12/18 condensing utility boiler as it's going in a boiler room. Firstly are they any good?? Secondly, is it powerful enough? The guy who will be fitting it said he can do the next one up the 18/25 for another £150 as I was skeptical getting the bottom of the range as if i'm spending 2k to get it done, is it worth spending another £150 to get the next one up (thinking larger engine car = less stress). We have a 3 bedroom house and have 6 double rads and a hot water tank upstairs for the shower and hot water. We may extend in future, but probably only a small extension but this is by no means planned, certainly not for a few years yet anyway. So, basically, is the 12/18 enough, or are we better off going for the higher output and having plenty in reserve if we ever need more heat, or extend etc??

Any help very very welcome!!!

 

[Agile]

That does not work with boilers!

You need the smallest that will provide the heat needed.

The more the boiler is working the more efficient.

The efficiency rapidly falls with deep cycling.

Tony

 

[arty11001]

Ahhhh right! Dam!! Me and my big mouth! I said to him the other day that I would have preferred a less stressed one if there's chance of it being not quite enough and he's apparently ordered the bigger one! Doh!! Is this now totally unsuitable!? He did say that he can downscale it or something!? Is this going to be the wrong one now?

Arty

 

[gremlin16]

Firstly are they any good??

NO

We use to swear by WB oil boilers. Their standard efficient boilers were very reliable and easy to install and service.
Their latest condensing boilers have been a tw*t to install and with down firing burner are a sod to work on. Now we swear and turn air blue.


Two combi,s we fitted had to be virtually striper down to bare essentials due to so many joints leaking, really embarising when customer sees new boiler in bits.
Both had control box failures within first week and programmers have a mind of their own.

Now supplying and installing Grant boilers, better build quality and have had no problems whatsoever.
Easy install and servicing, and really helpful tech dept.

 

[arty11001]

Oh dear!!! Hope i've not been mislead then!!

To be honest he did mention a Grant one and he did say that Grant and Worcester were probably the best, but he did say the Grant one would be another week to get hold of and we are without hot water and heating and my wife is pregnant and due to give birth soon so didn't want to hang about! He said himself he preferred the Grants, but he did say the Worcester Bosch were just as good. Ours won't be a combi boiler also, so does this make it less complex to start with?

Hopefully, ours might be an exception to the rule and be reliable!?? Certainly hope so, as shelling out 2 grand right at the time we are going to 1 wage for 6 months wasn't the best timing for the other one to pack up!!

Arty

 

[Nixt]

The regular boiler will have far less water connection than the combi to worry about. Also the Camray does not have the down firing burner of the other Greenstar models. That said still agree with gremlin, HE models not as good as old Worcesters and Grant Vortex has been out longer and is more simple to work on. Baffles seem to wear easily on Grants but easily replaced.

 

[gremlin16]

My apology for adding to your dilemma.

Im not doubting your installer, but we can get Grant boilers within 24 hrs, and we live out in the sticks. (Try PTS)
Mind you if we stayed with WB oil boilers we would have a garage full of free Bosch power tools, and many irate customers.

If it was my boiler I would be a lot happier waiting a little longer for the Grant.

As I wrote earlier we use to fit WB oil boilers. Now I sleep easier and get less comebacks. bliss

 

[holty]

alls i can say is theres alot of oil installs were iam. and most installers choose grant, and me personally.worked on the new WB it drove me up the wall. also youll find grant cheaper.

 

[gremlin16]

Holty

Whilst your up the wall can you please help me down, been there to often now cant get down, all thanks to new WB's

 

[snb]

i fit both grant and worcester . Since they have changed to condensing their has been as many problems with both. But worcesters backup is much faster and more helpful.

Output wise you only need the smaller 12/18 for your house size.

They come set at 12kw which will still be powerful enough. If it was struggling then it can be re jetted to 18kw which would more than enough.

just ring your installer and get him to order the smaller. I can always get them the next day via grahams

 

[oilman]

i fit both grant and worcester . Since they have changed to condensing their has been as many problems with both. But worcesters backup is much faster and more helpful.

I do Grant guarantee repairs (as well as others). I usually get round the same day. How fast do you want?

 

[simond]

The Worcesters and Grants use very similar burner components.

When the Riello burner pumps started seizing up, it was Worcester that wrote to us saying there was a problem. Grant didn't, but we knew by the amount of their boilers of theirs we fitted that broke the drive dogs in 2007.

Worcester are giving 5yrs on site at the moment, which is really good for everyone. Apart from possibly Grant.

Don't get me wrong, Grant are good, but not as good as they could be. The new concentric flue liner is tasty.....haven't tried fitting it yet though.....

 

[arty11001]

Thanks everyone for their speedy responses to my mild panic of a situation!

Well, in the end our installer has fitted the Worcester Camray 18/25 and has downscaled the jets so that it isn't running at full capacity until we need it in future which i'm hoping will pay off as there's plenty left if we decide to extend, or have a conservatory and add another bathroom etc.

Due to the guy who last owned our house, there were certainly some eye opening errors on the previous install of the now scrapped boiler!! For both me and the plumber!! So, it's not quite finished yet, just a few things to sort before we have full control over heating and water separately from each other as at the moment it's just doing both at the same time. At least we've got hot water for now though!!

Apparently after sticking in the diagnostic probes and a little tweeking of the air and fuel inlets it is now running at 98.9% efficiency, so I was pretty impressed with that.

Cheers for all your help guys! I intend to try and understand this boiler so at least i'm more informed if anything happens in future!

Arty