Worcester Boiler-heat only-one of the best ? Export quality

[holty]

correct me if im wrong. in aussie your not allowed pipework externally.would that include condense pipe.also my sis who lives there says it a pain for tradesman from england as they dont recognise our qualifications, but prob wrong on that also.netherless cant wait for my hols out there. but considering my sis moans when its only about 20 degrees in winter.why the heating.

 

[mickyg]

in aussie your not allowed pipework externally.

don't really see that as a problem. We're about the only country in the world that stick pipes out of walls all over the shop.

 

[bengasman]

in aussie your not allowed pipework externally.

don't really see that as a problem. We're about the only country in the world that stick pipes out of walls all over the shop.

So it was a lot of plumbers then that voted ukip

 

[michael1000]

hi Holty-

correct me if im wrong. in aussie your not allowed pipework externally.would that include condense pipe.also my sis who lives there says it a pain for tradesman from england as they dont recognise our qualifications, but prob wrong on that also.netherless cant wait for my hols out there. but considering my sis moans when its only about 20 degrees in winter.why the heating

Each state of aussie different with regs, but all similar. Asking a plumber today he said pipework can be external if needed. Plenty of it on our house and some done recently. The English plumber we know had to do a refresher course some years ago when he first came over. A bit of negotiating with regulations and authorities etc, but went to trade School for a very brief time to learn gas regs mainly. Water connection rules, and rest he learnt on the job with a local plumber. But he said it was mainly the local gas regs they wanted him to learn. He finds it strange all our boilers, or majority are external. But weather is warm and there is plenty of room so people manily want them outdoors.
20 degrees, depends on what state you are. The north in winter darwin etc, 20, the Eastern States Tasmania and Victoria, 0 degrees for a two months depending on which part of that state again. And snow -3 degrees for 3 months in the Mountains of NSW and Victoria. So we need heating badly in certain areas. The same States had 46 celcius this year in summer with bushfires. Air conditioning is huge here as well, mainly split systems, and many plumbers now specialize in this. Great money if you go for it and usually a bit less messy. More ceiling work and external.

 

[michael1000]

mickyg-

still don't know why you don't look at the ATAG instead. Its a far superior product to the worcester, its very reliable, and they already supply Rinnai with rebadged boilers. So not only are the boilers better but they already have a well known brand name stuck on the front.

Re looking at ATAG today. They have a far better effeciency rating which makes us want the unit straight away, but others have said spares etc are a problem. Worchester has Bosch behind it who are big in Aussie.
Why dont more plumbers install and push ATAG in the UK if thats the best unit. Is it just price ? the difference in price does not seem to much but their effeciency rating is amazing. Do they do a heating only boiler,? as nearly all the boilers that are sold here just to do slab heating or panel heating, not to do hot water and panel.
thanks for the advice mickyg, as I say we will look into atag a lot harder today.

 

[mickyg]

Re looking at ATAG today. They have a far better effeciency rating which makes us want the unit straight away, but others have said spares etc are a problem. Worchester has Bosch behind it who are big in Aussie.
Why dont more plumbers install and push ATAG in the UK if thats the best unit. Is it just price ? the difference in price does not seem to much but their effeciency rating is amazing. Do they do a heating only boiler,? as nearly all the boilers that are sold here just to do slab heating or panel heating, not to do hot water and panel.
thanks for the advice mickyg, as I say we will look into atag a lot harder today.

As for spares, I don't know how easy it is to get hold of them, as I've never had to, I don't currently install or ever see an ATAG boiler, although I have looked into it and keeping options open..Maybe if you were importing large numbers you could get a base stock of parts to back them up? and yes the price is a major stumbling block. My current boiler of choice I can get on extremely good terms from merchants, and its a significant difference to equivalent ATAG. 99.999% of customer haven't heard of ATAG, so trying to convince them that its worth adding 25% on the bill could be tricky. I do want to install them, but its difficult to see a good economical reason at this time.

 

[michael1000]

Hi Agile,

I am sorry but you seem to be basing your views on what you can see without asking anyone.

If you ask any seller on Ebay then most will post to Aus if they get the best price that way. I agree they dont specifically say anything about Aus because there are hundreds of countries in the world.

Agile-you have to continually email these ebay sellers, we have been down this route a few times. 9 out of ten when contacted wont ship to aussie, not worth their time or hassle. Most will not post, I have done this. fair enough.

Based on what I have heard from plumbers who have gone to Aus, what I said about running your own business is correct.

Fair enough, I have answered this in a previous post. Each to their own re immigration. I can only go on the UK plumber and others we know experience.

If you want to sell boilers then you have to offer a warrantee and have engineers available to do the repairs. There is nothing clever in that !

Who do you imagine is making all this profit?

The deal would be with the manufacturer, not a retailer, we would be an agent. Far more profit and full warranty. Again not some reseller. Training is provided by the manufacturer to the people we send over to them. its a long term deal not some two year 50 boiler job.
Depends on what you call profit. If a boiler sells here now for $6000 aussie dollars that the UK sell for $1600 aussie dollars, do you think I can do better and make a profit. We think so. This is a sideline to other buisneeses we run. At worst lets say I sell 100 boilers the first year and make at worst $100,000, 100 x 1000 and remember this is a side Company along with others we run, is that not okay. And yes thats after running an office a and spares. Not to mention profit of service calls etc and installs.
Now you being in the trade could do far better than that.
now agile would you pick ATAG or Worchester CDI for an import ? which gives me least problems long term and is a great boiler ?

cheers michael

 

[bengasman]

The reason you won't find atag spares is that atag sell them to their "select dealers" and don't bother with stockists.
If I understood and remember correctly, their dealers are obliged to keep a certain quantity in stock and sell a minimum number of boilers a year.
You can download the terms and conditions from their website, but it is a bit like subbing for ****ish gas: "you do what we tell you, when we tell you, how we tell you, and if you don't, you get booted."
Nice boiler though, shame about the price tag and conditions.

 

[Agile]

I would be looking at a mainstream boiler like Vaillant which we prefer over Worcester. For a reliable but slightly cheaper boiler I would use the Biasi.

In my view you cannot do things as a very minor sideline.

You will need to sell about 1000 pa to make it worthwhile IF you are doing it properly with the correct backup and warrantee servicing.

Sime went bust in the UK because they only sold about 15,000 boilers a year and that was not enough to make a good profit for the private company which was doing it. The parent company took over the operation but was severely hampered because the old franchisee kept the telephone lines and web site.

The UK plumbers working in Aus is not an immigration problem its a regulation of the trade problem.

Tony