Combi Boiler

beachBOYken · 12 Jan 2019 at 17:11

Hi

We are looking at replacing our boiler in the kitchen later in the year to a combi boiler, just wondered what makes and models are recommend to look at?

Thanks

robfosters · 12 Jan 2019 at 17:21

Vaillant eco tech pro according to my gas engineer brother.

robj20 · 12 Jan 2019 at 17:26

You will get so many answers to this.

Better to find a good local installer and go with what they use and are familiar with.
Most good brand come with at least 10 years warranty now.

beachBOYken · 12 Jan 2019 at 17:37

robfosters said:
Vaillant eco tech pro according to my gas engineer brother.

robj20 said:
You will get so many answers to this.

Better to find a good local installer and go with what they use and are familiar with.
Most good brand come with at least 10 years warranty now.

Im thinking Vaillant or Ideal as I have installers near me.

Vailliant Eco-tec plus combi, looks ok.

Unsure on what flow rate I should be looking at?

robfosters · 12 Jan 2019 at 17:40

beachBOYken said:
Im thinking Vaillant or Ideal as I have installers near me.

Unsure on what flow rate I should be looking at?

How big is your house?

beachBOYken · 12 Jan 2019 at 17:41

robfosters said:
How big is your house?

Medium semi detached, have about 10 radiators.

robfosters · 12 Jan 2019 at 17:44

beachBOYken said:
Medium semi detached, have about 10 radiators.

Brother says flow rate depends on your incoming flow rate. Do you know what that Is?

Power wise, he says you need a 30kW boiler. That will do 10-12 rads and a couple of bathrooms easily.

beachBOYken · 12 Jan 2019 at 17:48

robfosters said:
Brother says flow rate depends on your incoming flow rate. Do you know what that Is?

Power wise, he says you need a 30kW boiler. That will do 10-12 rads and a couple of bathrooms easily.

No idea, will have to see if i can find out.

Thanks anyway, not looking to do it yet but just wanted an idea on what to look at.

robj20 · 12 Jan 2019 at 18:35

robfosters said:
Brother says flow rate depends on your incoming flow rate. Do you know what that Is?

Power wise, he says you need a 30kW boiler. That will do 10-12 rads and a couple of bathrooms easily.

You don't rate a combi on heading output as they are hugely over powered for this.
You rate then purely on DHW output. Bigger is better really. 30kw generally a good size though.

Hedge · 12 Jan 2019 at 23:27

Id personally go veismann if I was buying again. My Worcester boiler isn't as good as people make out.

a1ex2001 · 13 Jan 2019 at 08:12

Hedge said:
Id personally go veismann if I was buying again. My Worcester boiler isn't as good as people make out.

Worcester have a very good marketing department and interestingly target most of there budget directly at the consumer unlike the other brands who target the installers. All the big brands are much or a muchness and even the cheaper ones are not that bad these days my cheap ravengeat lasted over decade without serious issues and was only replaced as we were moving it for an extension!

FISHGUTS · 13 Jan 2019 at 08:27

In my own house I have a vailant. The house i'm doing up to sell I've just bought an ideal logic max(10 year warranty)

beachBOYken · 4 Feb 2019 at 11:12

I have narrowed my search down to 2 combi boilers, although need to be sure they will be fine for the house.

Vaillant ecoTEC plus (35kw 14.3 flow)

Vaillant exclusive with green IQ (35kw 14.5)

Did look at Veissmann, but not sure how easy it would be to get repairs/spares, Vaillant seem to be easier to get from local boiler shops as well as repairs.

As for the above boilers, the green IQ one looks interesting, anyone got that ?

Next step is to go to a local boiler shops to get quotes and make sure the above boilers are ideal for our requirements.

robj20 · 4 Feb 2019 at 12:22

What extra requirements do you have?

If all you want is hot water and heating it will be fine.

I narrowed mine down as i wanted specific things.
-Opentherm
-Large modulation for the heating
-Stainless exchange
-Metal valves not plastic
-Long warranty

beachBOYken · 4 Feb 2019 at 13:11

robj20 said:
What extra requirements do you have?

If all you want is hot water and heating it will be fine.

I narrowed mine down as i wanted specific things.
-Opentherm
-Large modulation for the heating
-Stainless exchange
-Metal valves not plastic
-Long warranty

Didn't meant to say requirements, just that the boiler is sufficient for the house.

Do want a long warranty though, i believe the Vaillant is 7yrs when installed by an advance Vaillant engineer and 10yrs with a protection kit.

Syla5 · 4 Feb 2019 at 14:08

Worcester Bosch, unless they have gone downhill since mine was fitted 6 years ago. Similar sized property to you as well.

Regardless of what you go with my advice would be to spec up. You should only plan to fit a boiler once every 15 years or more so if you plan on staying put, a couple of hundred £ extra is well spent for something that can do a better job.

lookitsjonno · 4 Feb 2019 at 14:29

Last 2 properties 10y+ I've had Bosch, no issues. Just make sure they are serviced annually to maintain warranty.

Steampunk · 4 Feb 2019 at 15:25

I've had good experiences with Vaillant Ecotec, but make sure you have it set up with the right heat output for your house. I get mine regularly serviced, and the engineers are always surprised by how efficiently it's still running years later. Chatting to one of the engineers this year, he said that the Vaillant's are much easier to work on, meaning that if you do need something fixing in the future, you're not paying extra man hours because other makes are a pain to work on.

beachBOYken · 4 Feb 2019 at 19:12

Steampunk said:
I've had good experiences with Vaillant Ecotec, but make sure you have it set up with the right heat output for your house. I get mine regularly serviced, and the engineers are always surprised by how efficiently it's still running years later. Chatting to one of the engineers this year, he said that the Vaillant's are much easier to work on, meaning that if you do need something fixing in the future, you're not paying extra man hours because other makes are a pain to work on.

Good to hear, pretty sure we will go with a Vaillant, currently have an Ideal which is a standard boiler with the separate cold and hot water tanks in loft and airing cupboard.

But we want to do away with all that and go combi.

jpaul · 4 Feb 2019 at 21:34

I've not seen a cost break-down of the wasted energy/resources in purely-combi setups,
via a permanently on pre-heat mechanism or wasted water and energy meeting occasional demands, but, compared to joint combi/pressurized-hot-tank solution I had in last property, every time I use the dam system it's the main thought.
....Have an Ideal combi.