Which boiler is best for me, WB?

[woody-uk]

Hi to all again

To keep thing simple I have started a new thread on this.

Im looking for a reliable high quality combi that has been tried & tested. Quiet & fast in operation. I have done some looking around & came up with WB.

I am considering a WB CDi40 Combi

How good are they?
What are the alternatives?
Price not important with in reason.

The system is new 3 years ago & is configerd over 3 levels with combi boiler in the center to give the shortest DHW runs. Equivalent to 20 single rads Fully TRVs. Digi prog stat. 1 Bathroom/shower & 2 ensuits with showers, 1 of which is Electric shower as a safety against boiler failer (very usefull too!!!) Loads of insolation up to current biuld regs or better.


All though the place is quite big only 2 of us live there. No kids! Needed the extra space for my office & her office which leaves us with 1/2 spare rooms. Jobs means theres no 9 to 5 but can be any time any where & not local. This means after a long job (days/weeks). We usualy dont get back till stupid O clock & we dont want to wait 2 hours or more for the water to heat up before a shower & much needed bed. Theres also no need to keep a tank piping hot when we are not around.

Spare rooms are for family & freinds sometimes.

We & installer decided a big combi should do what we ask of it. The other option was to fit 2 smaller combi units & split the system. Its a bit difficult & expensive to change to a none combi system now. We also much prefer the instant hot water thing & it dosent run out.

Which makes & models do you think would be best? Differant installers have differant iders for differant reasons. I realy like the ider of the inteligant progers that considers outside temps & adjusts flow temp to suit. Does that work with a combi?


W

 

[ACOperson]

Hello again

The 40 CDI is very good. Its very quiet if the cover is correctly fitted (to some this is not easy, even to a WB breakdown engineer I once met!).

Just ensure that you have large enough gas pipework for the installation (it may need 28mm to very close to the boiler). Your heating engineer should be able to work this out for you.

Not sure about the weather compensation controls, I think that WB may offer them but in general they are still not commonplace. I might be getting this confused with Glow-Worm though. They are a good idea...

 

[woody-uk]

Hello again

The 40 CDI is very good. Its very quiet if the cover is correctly fitted (to some this is not easy, even to a WB breakdown engineer I once met!).

Just ensure that you have large enough gas pipework for the installation (it may need 28mm to very close to the boiler). Your heating engineer should be able to work this out for you.

Not sure about the weather compensation controls, I think that WB may offer them but in general they are still not commonplace. I might be getting this confused with Glow-Worm though. They are a good idea...

Hiya. Thanks for the info, sounds good.

Can I ask others on the site if we are all in agreement? That would give me grate confidance. I have made one mistake, Im not planning on duplicating it. Strange that we spend £1000+ in blind faith as we cant road test a boiler in operation!!!

W

 

[htgeng]

I have made one mistake, Im not planning on duplicating it. Strange that we spend £1000+ in blind faith as we cant road test a boiler in operation!!!

I totally agree with you. You can go on many review websites and get opinions about white goods but nothing about boilers. I always tell people I quote for that they are more than welcome to speak to my previous customers for such opinions!

 

[woody-uk]

I have made one mistake, Im not planning on duplicating it. Strange that we spend £1000+ in blind faith as we cant road test a boiler in operation!!!

I totally agree with you. You can go on many review websites and get opinions about white goods but nothing about boilers. I always tell people I quote for that they are more than welcome to speak to my previous customers for such opinions!

Thats a good ider. I have asked around & asked large installers like Swale & guess what. No one has installed a WB CDi40 Combi. Im a little amazed, not even one!!! Called WB Got a demo in Rochester @ there training fasility but its not a 40!!! Dont have one only got the 35. The 40 dosent seem to be a popula unit but that could be down to the price?

w

 

[ACOperson]

Yes, its a combination of the price and the fact that most people who want a 40kw boiler would use a smaller boiler and an unvented cylinder.

I've fitted one and it is very good. Any of the boilers in the CDI range from 28 upwards are almost the same so any opinions on the 35 and 40 are pretty much interchangeable.

 

[htgeng]

All though the place is quite big only 2 of us live there. No kids! Needed the extra space for my office & her office which leaves us with 1/2 spare rooms. Jobs means theres no 9 to 5 but can be any time any where & not local. This means after a long job (days/weeks). We usualy dont get back till stupid O clock & we dont want to wait 2 hours or more for the water to heat up before a shower & much needed bed. Theres also no need to keep a tank piping hot when we are not around.

A stored hot water system would be much more economical to run and it would mean you don't need a whacking great 40kw boiler, which is unlikely to modulate down to a few kw for the radiators.

If you are averse to thought of cylinder because of the thought of wasting energy keeping a tank piping hot, then you should look at the specifications. A high recovery cylinder will heat up within 15 mins and will only leak a few kw of heat a day.

Remember, everytime you turn on the hot tap, that big ol' boiler will fire up. It can be very wasteful use of gas when you look at it over a year.

Its a bit difficult & expensive to change to a none combi system now.
W

Is that due to lack of space to site a cylinder?

We also much prefer the instant hot water thing & it dosent run out.
W

Neither does a stored hot water system if its a high recovery cylinder.

Costwise, please let us know your budget for this system and we can advise if its realistic to get a better system with a longer lifespan.

 

[woody-uk]

Thanks for the advice guys.

Its all ways going to be a compromise. Iv had very good reports on the WB CDi range from many peaple. Good news I think.

I dont have any space for a HW Cyl now. Its also a bummer to rip everything out again. I have just had it all put back & finished. The other half would be how should I put it. "Noisey"! A man has gota know his limitations

Good advice from everyone. Thank you all so much.

W

 

[croydoncorgi]

There may be few of these installed but they DO exist. I saw one only a couple of weeks back when I opened a box supposed to contain a 30Kw conventional condensing boiler and there was a 40Kw combi!!! Imagine the consternation, especially with the previous (hopelessly broken) boiler already lying on the ground outside!

I can vouch for WB's response - they moved very quickly and efficiently to re-ship the right boiler (and get back their very expensive combi!). (I suppose if I'd had the time and a lack of moral sense, I'd have kept it - after all it was a lot more expensive than the one ordered.)

There is a reason for this digression: point is that most of the larger WB Greenstar models share a large precentage of parts. And the wider experience of 30 and 40Kw Greenstar combis and conventional boilers seems to be mostly positive.