Gas Boiler Recommendations?

IC3 said:
I spoke to the guy who will be doing the boiler switch along with some maintenance work and he said the weather compensation sensor is useless, he suggested a indoor controller with a temp sensor would work better. Not sure if that's what OpenTherm refers to? I need to read up on it to educate myself...
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No opentherm is a communication protocol between the boiler and thermostat. Rather than simply among the boiler to be on or off it can ask for a specific flow temperature with the aim to run more efficiently.

Rather than cycle on and off constantly at 60c it will stay on at 25c for instance. You don't get spikes in room temperature either.
Your boiler and your there need to support it.

If an engineer doesn't know what OpenTherm is at this point (it's nothing new) id suggest they're a bit rubbish.
 
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We have Vaillant ECO tec combi and it is 15 years old now, the only problem we have is the expansion vessel inside the boiler is too small and failed many times in the first 5 years. When that fails it cause all sorts of issue inc pressure switch , leaks, safety valve etc , we installed an external expansion vessel and nothing wrong with it anymore.
 
robj20 said:
Forget weather compensation, you want OpenTherm.
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This, I think it would be foolish these days to have a boiler fitted that could only be controlled by an off/on signal! Not sure if the vitodens 050-w has it, I have a vitodens 100w and it is a bit of a strange situation with that one, it doesn't appear to have it, but you can buy a cable that goes onto one of the headers on the board and gives you OT, but for some reson they never put terminals on the PCB for it
 
Weather compensation allows the flow temp to adjust automatically taking into account the outside temperature it's not a on/off signal, OpenTherm is an open standard protocol that can offer the same control.

I've got weather compensation with Vaillant controls, it works great without the need of OpenTherm. I can add a board to allow it to be controlled by OpenTherm but I wouldn't gain anything extra for my setup.

For the most efficient setup you want a boiler that isn't cycling and can run in condensation mode all the time with as low as possible return temp.
 
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Reppyboyo said:
Need my boiler replacing soon as well, how did everyone get theirs ordered/fitted?

Though a local trader, one of the online ones or such?
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The guy who will be doing all the external and internal new installation told me, he doesn't make profit from the boiler and it'll be £200 cheaper to buy online, he's happy to go buy it without charging extra. He seems like an honest guy, he knows the work will be done for an elderly person that isn't made out of money.

I did a bit of research and went for a reputable shop that had a good price and decent customer service along with good presence on the market. Same principal I follow for any purchase I make outside the known sites like bay or rainforest.
 
I’ve owned 3 different combi boilers
Revenheat cheapo - only thing that ever broke were some cheap sensors
Valiant - broke down twice in 3 years the second fault flooded the bathroom and ruined the floor
Worcester - broke down within a month of the initial warranty expiring needed most of the boiler replacing

The moral of this story, they are all utter rubbish built down to a price and not designed to last and buying an expensive one is no guarantee of a trouble free life.
 
a1ex2001 said:
I’ve owned 3 different combi boilers
Revenheat cheapo - only thing that ever broke were some cheap sensors
Valiant - broke down twice in 3 years the second fault flooded the bathroom and ruined the floor
Worcester - broke down within a month of the initial warranty expiring needed most of the boiler replacing

The moral of this story, they are all utter rubbish built down to a price and not designed to last and buying an expensive one is no guarantee of a trouble free life.
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By all accounts ravenheat are considered a good option by some installers. I know of a guy that swears by them and hates Worcester and refuses to fit them.

Imtergas is a good boiler, I've got one, the pump did fail (not so much as fail but got noisy) but was replaced under warranty with zero hassle. The pump is made and supplied by wilo though so probably can't complain that it's an imtergas fault. The imtergas only has a couple of moving parts though unlike a lot of combi boilers so it's supposed to be more reliable. They do need good servicing though as the heat exchanger needs to be removed and cleaned every couple of years
 
robj20 said:
Forget weather compensation, you want OpenTherm.
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Adam_151 said:
This, I think it would be foolish these days to have a boiler fitted that could only be controlled by an off/on signal! Not sure if the vitodens 050-w has it, I have a vitodens 100w and it is a bit of a strange situation with that one, it doesn't appear to have it, but you can buy a cable that goes onto one of the headers on the board and gives you OT, but for some reson they never put terminals on the PCB for it
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Wrong there lads, WC isn't on/off, please go do a little research on how it works ;)

WC and the boiler manufacturer controls is what you want to use, not all this 3rd party Nest/Tado malarky.

Viessmann are great due to their boilers modulating incredibly low and combined with an external WC sensor, will give you the best efficiency when running your heating. Vaillant do similar.
 
-Ad- said:
Wrong there lads, WC isn't on/off, please go do a little research on how it works ;)

WC and the boiler manufacturer controls is what you want to use, not all this 3rd party Nest/Tado malarky.

Viessmann are great due to their boilers modulating incredibly low and combined with an external WC sensor, will give you the best efficiency when running your heating. Vaillant do similar.
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Malarky. Lol
My Evohome has been absolutely faultless and easily paid for itself.
The thing WC can't do is compensate for individual rooms and conditions.
OpenTherm plus a smart thermostat is miles better than WC.
 
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You balance the radiators for that but I get there can be some need for room level control if you have one person in a large house. If you have a reasonably busy house with kids(who don't close doors!) then weather comp was better in my experience. I've had a Tado system, a viessmann gas boiler on weather comp and a vaillant heat pump on weather comp.
 
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SpeedFreak said:
You balance the radiators for that but I get there can be some need for room level control if you have one person in a large house. If you have a reasonably busy house with kids(who don't close doors!) then weather comp was better in my experience. I've had a Tado system, a viessmann gas boiler on weather comp and a vaillant heat pump on weather comp.
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Different rooms require a different amount of time to warm up so they come on when they need to not all at once. No need to balance radiators either and in fact it's a futile task with a full smart system.
Even with kids, I don't need the dining room heating at 10pm, but do want the Livingroom heated along with the bedrooms.

Each to their own I guess, certainly more than one way to aim for an efficient system all depends how far you want to go.
 
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Going to bin all my smart Trvs I think. Will see how this winter goes but always on with 55 Deg flow temp was dirt cheap last year. All rads open
 
Happy with just using standard TRVs. Most of them at 4 is around 20/21 which is fine for most.

Rooms you don’t use much, set them to 2/3.
 
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-Ad- said:
Wrong there lads, WC isn't on/off, please go do a little research on how it works ;)

WC and the boiler manufacturer controls is what you want to use, not all this 3rd party Nest/Tado malarky.

Viessmann are great due to their boilers modulating incredibly low and combined with an external WC sensor, will give you the best efficiency when running your heating. Vaillant do similar.
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One isn't better than the other

Something like the evohome has cold weather boost and warm weather saver and opentherm which work together, and work very well.

What controls one goes for should be entirely on what their requirements are. Do they want control of multiple rooms, or are they happy with just a single point in the home. Do they want it wireless etc etc etc
 
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