Vaillant vs. Baxi

[turbodeas]

Hi again all,

Thanks to my recent bad experiences with central heating, my whole family seems to think I've got a better clue than most about boilers and such...Little do they know about the diynot forum.....

Anyway, my parents have decided it's time to switch their fully pumped Glow worm Fuelsaver for something more modern, and have decided they'd like a combi system to lower the bills.

They live in a fairly standard 4 bed+garage semi with 11 rads. They only use hot water for washing up and baths at the moment, but are thinking about getting the bathroom re-done and would potentially like to ditch the electric shower and run it from the combi.

They've had two quotes of fairly similar value, one for a Vaillant Eco-Tec Plus 937, and one for a Baxi Duo-Tec HE A 28KW.

My question, and I'm aware this'll probably spark some debate, is which boiler will provide adequate heating and hot water for the house, and (assuming installed properly) last a reasonable lifetime for my parents.

Thanks everyone!

Chris.

PS. They are both trusted installers who have both had good word of mouth reports from previous customers.

 

[fitz1]

Theres about 400 quid difference in the price of those two boilers There is also a big difference in the outputs. Therefore , just on that basis i would have the vaillant. The vaillant is a better boiler anyway.P.S. I fit baxi and vaillant boilers.Baxi mid range prices and vaillant higher end prices.

 

[HarrogateGas]

The two boilers really cannot be compared as they are not alike.

The 937 looks like a washing machine hung on a wall and takes up about as much space, but the hot water performance is very impressive.

The Baxi is a standard combi which in my opinion is exceptionally well built and great value for money.

 

[David937]

Hi again all,

Thanks to my recent bad experiences with central heating, my whole family seems to think I've got a better clue than most about boilers and such...Little do they know about the diynot forum.....

Anyway, my parents have decided it's time to switch their fully pumped Glow worm Fuelsaver for something more modern, and have decided they'd like a combi system to lower the bills.

They live in a fairly standard 4 bed+garage semi with 11 rads. They only use hot water for washing up and baths at the moment, but are thinking about getting the bathroom re-done and would potentially like to ditch the electric shower and run it from the combi.

They've had two quotes of fairly similar value, one for a Vaillant Eco-Tec Plus 937, and one for a Baxi Duo-Tec HE A 28KW.

My question, and I'm aware this'll probably spark some debate, is which boiler will provide adequate heating and hot water for the house, and (assuming installed properly) last a reasonable lifetime for my parents.

Thanks everyone!

Chris.

PS. They are both trusted installers who have both had good word of mouth reports from previous customers.

We have the Vaillant ecoTEC+ 937 and it is impressive with it's great hot water performance, exceptionally quiet operation and solid build. It is a monster on the wall but if it's in a cupboard it shouldn't look to bad.

 

[mopezone]

Hmmm - seems a bit inconclusive?
Chris has got it slightly wrong - it's the Baxi 33 we're being recommended, and someone else suggests the Vaillant 37 - like for like?
And everybody seems to have a different view!

 

[gavinda]

poxi now have an awfull rep. not like the old days. vaillant now have the good rep.

 

[mikej2005]

As far as I'm aware, the Vaillant you mention has built-in hot water storage, whereas the Baxi does not - this probably accounts for the larger size of the Vaillant.

I've had a poor Baxi combi in the past and would never buy one again. As you say - everybody will have different experiences and therefore different preferences. If my only choice was the two you mention, then I'd go for the Vaillant.

For me, it was a toss-up between Vaillant and Worcester-Bosch - I went for the Worcester in the end, but I'm sure I would have been equally happy with the Vaillant.

Incidently - my WB 37CDi combi also has built-in hot water storage, but I never use it. I have some lengthy pipe-runs in my house and it makes no real difference for the time it takes for the hot water to get to the taps, so I'm happy to use less gas and live with the few extra seconds it takes.

 

[gavinda]

mike was posting from a householder pov. never claimed to be an expert.

i however work for bg .

sadly poxi have gone downhill sharply since they started on the condenser side of things. solo's and profile's were (are) great but since they merged they became a bit poo.

 

[ollski]

sadly poxi have gone downhill sharply since they started on the condenser side of things. solo's and profile's were (are) great but since they merged they became a bit poo.

My experience goes the other way to be honest, I have found the duo-tech to be a great boiler and nice and simple to install.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Baxi is a standard combi which in my opinion is exceptionally well built

Oh dear...

A question asked many times.... Very subjective, but with a consistent array of answers...

Baxi, Potterton, Heatline, Saunier, Vokera, Halstead, Ariston = Sh1t

Vaillant, Veissman, Atag, Worcester = Average


A stuck record I do not wish to sound lkie.

 

[gas4you]

I wouldn't agree with ATAG as average, I would put them at the top of any list

 

[mikej2005]

Post removed to avoid confusion

 

[namsag]

Fitted 42 baxi 105HE`s last year and had to call baxi to 1 . The board went with an unusual fault.

Have done roughly the same amount for the past 8 years and have had less than half a dozen warranty calls and as for long term reliabilty i have had a few boards go and 2 air pressure switches and 1 gas valve .

Done a few duo techs and found them to be a good boiler quiet in operation unlike a lot of band A boilers that sound like a jet taking off.

Do vaillants and worcester also but cannot for the life of me say yeah these are a better boiler and worth hundreds more. They have the same flow rates and when they break down are far more expensive and time consuming to fix.

Years ago yeah i would have recommended vaillants and thats all i fitted but not now and worcesters i just dont rate.

Everyone to there own.

But one thing i did learn with years of breakdown work Plumbers will believe any bit of bumf manufacturers say and we will get loads of weird and wonderful makes of boilers out there and in 5 years time nobody will touch them parts wont be avialable and the plumber will have moved onto the next dogs boll#xs that has appeared leaving poor old BG to take them onto contract cause no one will touch them

 

[Prof.plumb]

To be honest with you if your thinking of going down the vaillant route think about getting a glowworm it is basicaly a vaillant but cheaper. what i would say is gloworms and vaillants are better now they have overcome some of the issues they had when they first came out. such as the rubber burner seals leaking (now superceeded with graphite seals), the flue problems etc. To be honest i think its impossible to say one boiler is 'better' than another. its all down to luck with them. what i would say is that you need to be getting somthing suitable for your needs. If you have a lot of baths don't go smaler than 30kW for a combi.

 

[harrypotterton]

The Glow worm combi,s are a little bit different to the Vaillants.

They share same pumps and flow sensors but open vent boilers are 95% same.