Favorite Boilers?

[tamz]

prefer the ideal e type or mk 1 mexico myself :smile:
Don't need to look at them for 10 years at a time. They just do what they say on the tin :lol:

 

[Ray Stafford]

If is my own house a baxi bramuda!

Actually in my house is a Radiant RBA-CS. Its one of only 5 in the country, and an absolutely brilliant boiler. (floor standing storage combi).

Way too expensive for general sale though.

 

[vern]

Ray...... City plumbing, Graham's and a few indies james Hargreaves etc round me won't touch ferrolli with a barge pole, too much installer hassle, non existent back up etc, I heard they were struggling as a company

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

What about the dreaded heat team everybody goes on about?

cant explain that theres a excellent rep in wales hes been with baxi for 40 years the heatteam guys Gareth and gary the head guy are mustard pat however is a door knob but does not play up on my jobs that said last had them out a year ago generally no issues with the HEA range

 

[Leo21]

Poterton profile would be my choice, even though I've got an S/E baxi solo. It's in the loft so no way to get it up there.

 

[Ray Stafford]

Ray...... City plumbing, Graham's and a few indies james Hargreaves etc round me won't touch ferrolli with a barge pole, too much installer hassle, non existent back up etc, I heard they were struggling as a company

The UK arm of ferroli has been bust more often than a jewish pork butcher, but the Italian parent is strong.

But outside the big 4 (WB, VG, BDR Thermea and Ideal) no-one has any significant volume in the UK any more. They are all just bit-players. Alpha, Vokera and Ariston in particular have all had moments in the past twenty years when they looked like they might break through, but could not sustain it.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

If is my own house a baxi bramuda!

Bermuda,still look after quite a few 552,s cut my teeth on them and the older 551,s

 

[vern]

The UK arm of ferroli has been bust more often than a jewish pork butcher, but the Italian parent is strong.

But outside the big 4 (WB, VG, BDR Thermea and Ideal) no-one has any significant volume in the UK any more. They are all just bit-players. Alpha, Vokera and Ariston in particular have all had moments in the past twenty years when they looked like they might break through, but could not sustain it.

Yeah I remember the vokera days, it was great when they were in Bradford, then the new MD moved it all to Scotland, parts everything, subbed out logistics it went off a cliff from there!

 

[Leo21]

Aristons and ferroli are hatefull products, who on earth would save them selves £200 to spend more when the guarantee runs out. Tbh all the new condensers look like flux capasitors to me, far to complex.

 

[tamz]

Actually in my house is a Radiant RBA-CS. Its one of only 5 in the country, and an absolutely brilliant boiler. (floor standing storage combi).

Way too expensive for general sale though.

I did a gas run in a research place for a big energy company last year and they had some stuff i couldn't figure out. No one in the place except some lass in an office. Boilers (or whatever they were, some looked like warm air units others i knew were chf units and a sterling engine) hooked up to computers and print outs.
I had to shut the gas down and said to the girl if it was ok. She said she didn't know but they were asleep in Korea so couldn't find out. I shut it down anyway and it must have been ok.
Probably some big changes on the way in the next few years.

Btw this is top secret :lol:

 

[smtplumbing]

ray ideal are going to do a 7 year deal shortly but wait and see what happens

 

[tamz]

Aristons and ferroli are hatefull products, who on earth would save them selves £200 to spend more when the guarantee runs out. Tbh all the new condensers look like flux capasitors to me, far to complex.

I've got an ariston something in my house. Don't know what because i've never seen it for about 7 years.
I saved myself the price of a boiler because i know the rep and he got me a freeby.
If it breaks down it is getting hauled out and a ???? whatever i can cadge put in its place.

I wouldn't fit one for a paying customer tho

 

[Ray Stafford]

Yeah I remember the vokera days, it was great when they were in Bradford, then the new MD moved it all to Scotland, parts everything, subbed out logistics it went off a cliff from there!

Vokera was brilliant when Claudio Guggiemucci owned it. His son Tony was on the road as a salesman and his daughter Marcella ran the office. If you went anywhere near his stand at a trade show, his voice would boom across the hall, and he would grab you with a hand like a JCB and not let you go until he had explained every last detail of his new boiler. A man who had a real passion for what he did.

It all went downhill after he sold it.

We had stocked Vokera since launch (probably 15 years) and then when the new management came in we got a letter saying "Dear Ray, we note that you don't sell 5000 boilers per year so we are shutting your account...you can still purchase the product through your local Grahams branch". Yeah, right.

Haven't sold one since.

 

[Rickster123]

Vokera was brilliant when Claudio Guggiemucci owned it. His son Tony was on the road as a salesman and his daughter Marcella ran the office. If you went anywhere near his stand at a trade show, his voice would boom across the hall, and he would grab you with a hand like a JCB and not let you go until he had explained every last detail of his new boiler. A man who had a real passion for what he did.

It all went downhill after he sold it.

We had stocked Vokera since launch (probably 15 years) and then when the new management came in we got a letter saying "Dear Ray, we note that you don't sell 5000 boilers per year so we are shutting your account...you can still purchase the product through your local Grahams branch". Yeah, right.

Haven't sold one since.

i didn't realise it worked like that. Surely they'd be better off if ou some some rather than none??

 

[Rickster123]

If you sold some. (Poxy iPad)

 

[Ray Stafford]

My radiant is nearly as old as you Tamz.

Just kidding - I think its about 15 yrs old now.

 

[Leo21]

i didn't realise it worked like that. Surely they'd be better off if ou some some rather than none??

Name one manufacturer that you know off! that dont think theyve got the best boiler ever and don't think they're royalty!

 

[vern]

Vokera was brilliant when Claudio Guggiemucci owned it. His son Tony was on the road as a salesman and his daughter Marcella ran the office. If you went anywhere near his stand at a trade show, his voice would boom across the hall, and he would grab you with a hand like a JCB and not let you go until he had explained every last detail of his new boiler. A man who had a real passion for what he did.

It all went downhill after he sold it.

We had stocked Vokera since launch (probably 15 years) and then when the new management came in we got a letter saying "Dear Ray, we note that you don't sell 5000 boilers per year so we are shutting your account...you can still purchase the product through your local Grahams branch". Yeah, right.

Haven't sold one since.

That's the baby Ray, I forgot who took over Steve? All the team was an bum, we had fitted hundreds of excels, and linea's supplied by a indie in Wakefield called Harry farrers, when the support stopped, we blew them in!

 

[Ray Stafford]

i didn't realise it worked like that. Surely they'd be better off if ou some some rather than none??

Different manufacturers work in different ways. For example, Worcester only have a handful of direct accounts - everyone else has to buy through a factor (basically, either TP or Wolseley).

Vaillant used to sell Heatline to anyone with a lock-up garage in pallets of 4, but to buy Vaillant brand you have to take lorry-loads. Others have different policies.

At that time, Vokera had landed the Grahams account on the promise that they could service all the independent merchants (what they call second-line merchants). Of course what actually happened is that all the indies told them to get stuffed.

 

[tamz]

Yeah I remember the vokera days, it was great when they were in Bradford, then the new MD moved it all to Scotland, parts everything, subbed out logistics it went off a cliff from there!

Up here in the 90's vokera was the major player by at least 3:1 over any other brand. That was down to there phone us by 10 and we'll be there that day policy. No one else came close.
Dispite the rep, they really had some decent boilers at the time tho and their guys on the phone in glasgow were shyt hot but took no prisoners with the hard of thinking.

 

[vern]

Then Graham's jumped in bed with Ideal and the Europa was born lol

Ray are all heatlines made by Vaillant?

 

[Rickster123]

Name one manufacturer that you know off! that dont think theyve got the best boiler ever and don't think they're royalty!

Biasi? I think they know they're gash.

 

[tamz]

Name one manufacturer that you know off! that dont think theyve got the best boiler ever and don't think they're royalty!

Its just a job to a salesman. They will talk up any pysh that pays the bills.

 

[vern]

Up here in the 90's vokera was the major player by at least 3:1 over any other brand. That was down to there phone us by 10 and we'll be there that day policy. No one else came close.
Dispite the rep, they really had some decent boilers at the time tho and their guys on the phone in glasgow were shyt hot but took no prisoners with the hard of thinking.

Yeah Bradford and Glasgow got amalgamated Tom with another depot from the South I think, new team came in and it's never been back, excel's Linea's, option's, compacts, we fitted hundreds!

 

[Leo21]

Biasi? I think they know they're gash.

Funny thing is whenever you attend one it was always fitted by the previous owners, even the customers are embarrassed that they've got one!