Recommendations for a new boiler

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Hi all,

As the title really, I'm looking for recommendations for a new combi boiler to replace my aged and starting to fail Ariston Microgenus, which has been reasonably reliable despite the normally negative reviews those things get.

The only space it can go is in a cupboard so whatever replaces it can be no deeper than 340mm.

I had been considering a Vokera Vision and have found an installer locally who only installs and maintains that brand who has plenty of positive feedback from previous customers but a lot of the reviews of the boiler itself are generally negative. Alternatively I had thought either Baxi, Potterton or Glow-worm.

The existing unit has a 23kW capacity which has been adequate for our 3 bedrooms and one bathroom (although filling the bath can be bit slow).

Would welcome any recommendations or views (good or bad) :)

Thanks
 
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Intergas ECO RF 24 for a straight(ish) swap. 10 year warranty, wireless controller or the possibility of Internet connectivity, only 240mm deep and only 4 moving parts which is far fewer than any other combi on the market. Fabulous boiler with very solid build quality that will far outlast pretty much anything else out there
 
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Thanks all for your responses, I had looked at the Glow worm website but couldn't decide on a particular model but I'll check out that one.

Will also check out Intergas, hadn't heard of them until yesterday on another forum!

Been giving it a bit more thought and might actually consider moving it to the loft which would mean extending the gas, cold supply, DHW and CH flow and return up through the bedroom above and across to the highest point (approx. 3m vertically and the same horizontally) which would remove the size restrictions but ultimately will depend on cost.

Mark
 
Is your loft converted or just a place you sling your unwanted junk ?

I'd say partially converted - it's floored, lined and insulated (by previous owner), has lights and power and is accessed by a ladder. We use it as a big cupboard.

I've been thinking it might be a good place for it as we'll be moving from an old boiler to a condensing model and there's access to the soil vent pipe up there whereas where the boiler currently is (by the front door) we'd need a soakaway but I'm not sure that would be allowed/advised as we're in clay soil and I'm unsure as to the location of buried services except that they're all in the front garden!
 
So, you consider the Vokera Vision recommended by a guy who fits nothing else and he has no problems but because people you don't know have alleged problems with the boiler installed by installers you don't know you'll look elsewhere?

That Vokera platform has been out nearly 7 years now, the waterblock (the bottom part) nearly 10. After this time the company are happy to give it 5, 7 or 10 years warranty depending on the spec and current promotions. If it's going in a loft you can plug in the BeSMART which gives you complete remote control of the boiler for around £125, including remote alarm notifications and reset of the boiler. Just about the only thing at the moment you can't do remotely is monitor system pressure, you'd need a higher spec model for that and remote filling. It's available in 25 or 30KW versions. Although it's competitively priced do not buy a boiler only on price.

Fans of the Intergas often display a tendency to exaggerate; far fewer moving parts in the boiler actually computes to 1, the diverter valve. The valve is necessary for positive control of the domestic hot water temperature and reduces the chance of a slug of very hot water when opening a tap if the boiler has been supplying central heating at a high temperature which can happen with the Intergas. Of course that can be mitigated by running the boiler cool continually when supplying water for the central heating. If you are in a hard water area the 12mm domestic hot water pipe diameter requires good anti-scale protection device. Less is more is the company slogan which is a puzzle as to why it costs more than many boilers providing more for less.

The next Intergas model is 122% efficient I'm led to believe and they've made 2 million heat exchangers each with at least 20 joints in each yet have never had a single failure; pretty interesting claims.

Atag; stainless steel heat exchanger, very tough but with 2metres of thin rubber gasket at each header end.

If you have good pressure and flow rate from the cold main into the house then a higher output boiler would reduce the time filling a bath but pointless if your mains isn't up to supplying what the boiler can produce, outputs of up to 42KW are available.

There are no perfect boilers, just find an installer you feel comfortable with and who is recommended to you because of his reputation and go with what he suggests.

I work for Vokera BTW.
 
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2 million heat exchangers each with at least 20 joints in each yet have never had a single failure;
Excellent quality control procedures in place.....

It also has a large thermal mass of aluminium which has to be heated before the water leaving the boiler starts to heat up. From cold this is a few seconds of gas burning and still cold water leaving the boiler. And then the heat stored in the aluminium is wasted if no more hot water is drawn for a few hours. ( a little bird tells me that the heater exchanger in boilers sold in Holland have insulation added around the heat exchanger to reduce the heat wasted as the aluminium cools down slower. ) Difficult to see how it achieves more than 100% efficiency.
 

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