Recommend a combi boiler

[bruce1530]

I had a WB one fitted by a guy who is a self employed British Gas subcontractor - for just over half the price British Gas quoted for the same boiler, installed by the same guy!

His advice - get a Greenstar, one size up from the size you think you’ll need. It makes no difference to your central heating, but gives you more hot water flow.

 

[AndyRM]

A good friend of mine is a gas engineer, he recommends and fits Intergas boilers. He says they are simple and efficient. Simple means less to go wrong.

My plumber mate agrees.

 

[tony111]

If you need to fill a bath, then go for a minimum 28kw or above to get a flow rate of hot water you can live with. 24kw is ok if your property does'nt have a bath.

 

[colly]

Had an Alpha Combi boiler fitted 8/9 years ago. Not missed a beat in all that time. Appears economical in comparison to our previous boiler which was central heating only.

That was made by......................................can't remember.

 

[colly]

I dont know what British gas charge to fit boilers but their boiler care plan with a yearly service thrown in is a no brainer .

British Gas quote 9 years ago £5200
Northern Power £3850
Local guy recommended byt two seperate sources £2450. and that included new radiator valves all through the house and a new radiator in the kitchen

 

[swee'pea99]

I'd never heard of Intergas, but googling threw up this, which seemed interesting and well-informed: https://local.which.co.uk/forum/thread?thread_id=5514

 

[JhnBssll]

Just a note - if you go for a Worcester Bosch greenstar I'd highly recommend you go for one of the compact versions. They're a newer slightly more efficient design and achieve a higher hot water flow rate than a 'standard' unit of equivalent output

I work for Bosch and got one on our staff discount scheme last year to replace an aging system boiler

 

[Elysian_Roads]

My tuppence worth......dont try and save a few bob only to think later "wish I had got the size up".

When we had to install a new GCH system replacing an economy seven set up, we went down the Worcester Bosch boiler route, installed by an independent plumber. Don't think it has given any problems in about six to seven years. The other thing we did was overspecced the size of the boiler as we were planning to extend that property and didn't want to have the demand problems mentioned if we added an extra bathroom / radiators.

 

[PaulSB]

I'm not sure what you mean by that, but I'd definitely recommend avoiding BG - and yearly service plans - like the plague.
.

Presuming you have a car you would service it regularly following the manufacturer’s guidelines?

As an aside I wondered why you are so vehemently against service plans? We have one with British Gas and it works very well. The annual boiler service is included plus emergency call out for plumbing, heating, electrics and water issues, all charges included. We pay +/- £170 for this - locally we would have to pay an independent plumber, if we could find a reliable one, £100+ for a boiler service.

At one service the BG engineer walked in to our porch, which opens, directly in to the kitchen. His first words were “I can smell gas” Totally unrelated to the boiler. Within an hour a full scale team arrived, dug up the back yard, fixed the issue. Next day the reinstatement team turned up. By the time they finished you couldn’t tell they had been.

On topic we have a Worcester Bosch fitted by BG. Superb boiler, very efficient. Excellent workmanship on the installation and very good service and attitude from the BG engineers who visit annually. No complaints.

Kicking BG with horror stories is just the same as BT. Large organisations do have issues. My experience of both is superb service from companies who recognised their old shortcomings and changed. Expensive? Yes. Reliable, quality service? Yes. You get what you pay for.

 

[gbb]

One thing I didn' realive following a conversation this morning...you can retain your hot water tank and run it on a combi boiler. Two guys at work have this system and the plus side is you have a more stable hot water supply. Do solving the one thing that has always put me off combos after hearing a good few people who are disappointed with their water temp.

 

[pplpilot]

I have intergas in the house, it feeds 16 radiators has done without a blip in 10 years, very few moving parts apparently. I have just fitted one in a rental property as the worcester in there was 8 years old and on the last 2 checks/services started needing parts so i've whipped it out.

 

[cisamcgu]

One thing I didn' realive following a conversation this morning...you can retain your hot water tank and run it on a combi boiler. Two guys at work have this system and the plus side is you have a more stable hot water supply. Do solving the one thing that has always put me off combos after hearing a good few people who are disappointed with their water temp.

We have a Baxi combi-boiler but also have a water tank in the loft. The water tank is, as far as the boiler is concerned, just a radiator. There is some sort of switching valve, and we have a boiler control that has two "channels". One is the house radiators, and one is the water tank. We heat the water tank each morning on a timer, and then we have hot water for showers at a lovely high pressure due to the head of water from the tank to the shower. We went this route due to a pathetic electric shower we had before.

 

[swee'pea99]

Presuming you have a car you would service it regularly following the manufacturer’s guidelines?

As an aside I wondered why you are so vehemently against service plans? We have one with British Gas and it works very well. The annual boiler service is included plus emergency call out for plumbing, heating, electrics and water issues, all charges included. We pay +/- £170 for this - locally we would have to pay an independent plumber, if we could find a reliable one, £100+ for a boiler service.

Kicking BG with horror stories is just the same as BT. Large organisations do have issues. My experience of both is superb service from companies who recognised their old shortcomings and changed. Expensive? Yes. Reliable, quality service? Yes. You get what you pay for.

Not always. As someone said upthread, BG is a bit like Halfords - you never know whether you'll get a good'un or a rotter. More importantly, I've read too many stories about BG turning up and sucking their teeth and persuading (particularly elderly) people that they'd be best off getting a (vastly overpriced) new boiler. RAC do the same thing with batteries. It's the kind of thing that gets 'high-performing' CEOs their eye-watering salaries & bonuses.

If it's worked for you and you're happy with it, good. I have to say, though, that I think annual services are a cash-generating hangover from the days of unreliable technology. These days things mostly work. It's why extended warranties are also a scam. I've probably had my boiler 15 years, and in that time I've paid out £140 for servicing. Over the same period, you've given BG over £2,500. Personally, I'd rather have the £2,360 in my pocket. But like I say, if you can afford it & it works for you, fine.

Oh, and I never service my car. My car's 21 years old and I get it fixed when it goes wrong. Generally costs me a couple of hundred quid a year. That works for me.

 

[AlanW]

Surely you need to understand two things first before you can make any sort of informed decision, flow and pressure? But note that you need to do these readings at peak times because trust me they can vary quite a lot, as I have discovered. Also, do a flow/pressure test on the bath taps as well as the downstairs one, as they are larger diameter outlet.

I am also on the hunt for a new boiler, and the Worcester Bosch HiFlow 440 is looking to be the favourite at the moment. But only because we have a) the space in which to install a large boiler b) the flow and pressure to get the best from it. My point that Im not 100% happy about is the possible need to increase the OD of gas supply pipe from the meter to the boiler, which is situated on the landing, dead central in the middle of the first floor. So pretty major rework required in order to upgrade that.

 

[MiK1138]

I'm amazed it's lasted that long. Vokera are hopeless!

used to work with Scottish Gas and that was the general concensus but we have had no bother with ours, i've lived there 15 years and in that time we have replaced a board and a thermocouple, but it is on the way out now