New boiler.... talk to me!

[MaxP779]

So im looking to get a new boiler, a combi. I live in a 2 bedroom semi detached house, it is 60m squared and built in 1997, it currently has a regular boiler (POS potterton suprima that locks out, it is the original boiler the house was built with) so the system consists of the boiler, the cold water tank in the loft and a hot water tank in the bathroom cupboard.

My questions:

- What will happen to the cold + hot water tanks if a combi is put in? They are taken out right? Cold water will come from the mains and hot water directly from the boiler?

- What is a decent make/model of boiler for a house this size? Ive been looking at Worcester bosch 28i junior but this isnt a graphics card or CPU so im completely out of my element in picking one.

- Is British gas worth dealing with at all? I saw another thread where they were trying to charge some guy 4k, when the work could be done for 2k.

- How does this work, do i buy the boiler then get someone else to install it or do i buy from the installer etc... does it just depend?

 

[Hyburnate]

I'm not completely up to scratch with things like this, however there are a few whom are... Your cold water and hot water tanks are removed however you will probably want to make sure they'll do this (100% certain about hot water less so about cold).

Get quotes for the work from several different people including you buying the boiler yourself and them fitting it and also them buying and fitting.

 

[justalex81]

i don't think british gas do anything for less than 4k. Worcester Bosch aren't bad boilers. For me they're middle of the road. I prefer the vaillant ecotec plus range but they're more expensive.

Worth bearing in mind that if you want to remove the cylinder and tank in the loft, you need to ensure you have adequate pressure and flow from your incoming cold water main. Make sure anyone who comes to give you a quote does this. You want to be aiming for 21 litres per minute.

Also worth noting is the amount of hot water the boiler can give you. An average 24kw combi will give you in the region of 10 litres of hot water per minute. If you have a lot of baths then you may want to consider a higher output boiler that gives you more hot water flow. For example you can get up to 15 litres per minute from a vaillant 37kw boiler.

In any circumstances you need to be sure your gas supply is adequately sized for the new boiler. Any engineer who quotes should be able to work this out. You may need to run a new gas supply to the boiler from the meter.

 

[MaxP779]

Im pretty sure the pressure is fine here but yeah ill definitely make sure that's checked.

If i were to buy a boiler myself what else does it need? Im guessing it needs more accessories in order to work, not sure though.

 

[~Divine~Wind~]

Id say bare minimum, boiler, wireless controller, magnetic filter.

WB good make see Vaillant mentioned a lot too.
Get quotes from a few local indies, make sure theyre accredited installers of whichever brand boiler you get, means more warranty

WB have a tool on their site where you put your details in and it will identify local accredited installers for you

 

[Orionaut]

Hmm, Unless Potterton have gone seriously down hill in recent years, a 1997 model would be barely run in.

Are you sure you don't want to just get it fixed?

A "Fixed" 1997 Potterton would probably last longer (Subject to my earlier question) than any "new" replacement and the claimed "Savings" from using a more modern "High efficiency" boiler are limited at best in practice, especially for a small property

 

[MaxP779]

Hmm, Unless Potterton have gone seriously down hill in recent years, a 1997 model would be barely run in.

Are you sure you don't want to just get it fixed?

A "Fixed" 1997 Potterton would probably last longer (Subject to my earlier question) than any "new" replacement and the claimed "Savings" from using a more modern "High efficiency" boiler are limited at best in practice, especially for a small property

Yeah pretty sure. Ive googled this lockout problem quite a bit and its common with potterons of that era. The issue is the PCB, the old PCB causes this because its crap or flawed somehow, the newer PCB's are hit and miss and ive seen posts where they solved the problem only for it to return a year or so later. The PCB is expensive to replace as well, im likely best just replacing the whole thing, i would prefer to get rid of the hot/cold tanks anyways, a single point of failure (a combi boiler) is likely better than 3 potential points of failure (the two tanks and the regular boiler).

Id say bare minimum, boiler, wireless controller, magnetic filter.

WB good make see Vaillant mentioned a lot too.
Get quotes from a few local indies, make sure theyre accredited installers of whichever brand boiler you get, means more warranty

WB have a tool on their site where you put your details in and it will identify local accredited installers for you

Ah thanks! Seems there's a few accredited installers nearby

Is the "wireless controller" the programmer and a thermostat? I was looking at the DT20 programmer and i wasent gonna bother with a thermostat because well... what are they for anyway? Cant the temperature be set on the programmer or the boiler itself?