which boiler

[Deleted member 261]

After having too many problems with new worcesters over the last six months I am changing manufacturers. I am doing courses on ATAG, Remeha, Viesseman; anyone got any experience with wolf or intergas. Does anyone have any other recommendations (Valliant - don’t go there... Turbomax) on any manufacturers that produce reliable boilers?
Thanks
Sus

 

[Deleted member 261]

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Just sorting out course dates at the moment. All the other courses I have been on were free apart from Honeywell (these were about 7 years ago). Viessmann and ATAG are free but Remeha want £40 for a half day course, they can shove it wont be fitting anymore of their boilers. Is it not a good idea to try and help people selling your boilers with some kind of incentive to take a day off i.e. loose a days earning plus fuel and then they want you to pay for the privilege. I phoned them three times trying to arrange a date to no avail and on the second email I got a response with the £40 offer.

I used to like Worcester because
a) Good product
b) They used to look after their installers i.e. getting all Bosch stuff at half price
c) Reps visiting looking for feedback etc
But no one bothers anymore haven’t seen a rep for about four years now. With the amount of faults I have been getting they are not developing their new boilers correctly the odd fault in a boiler is acceptable but every single boiler in the last six months has had a problem leading to customers without heat from a boiler I recommended. Then when you fill out a guarantee card either Corgi (they claim its not them) or Worcester sell the details to British Gas so I could loose future business. I would never trust Worcester again. While I am ranting Bosch stuff in general is pants, faults with everything cooker hoods, ovens and tools I am switching over to Hilti tools and Miele stuff for kitchens I did my mums house up about 15 years ago its all bosch and everything still works sorry for the cliché but they don’t make um like they used to.

 

[Jay_1981]

vailant and gloworm design are near identical heat engines, but build quality shines through on vailant. (crappy glow worm keeps me in a job)
Ideal crap I permanantly keep a set of pcbs on van as that is prob 70% of time,
worcester have fallen in my opinion, they are a swine to strip and the junior model is a bag of crap always locking out for ignition faults (note frozen condensate appears as an ignition fault just incase anyone was coming across it in cold snap)
Not really seen any of the alphas with the new warranty but would like to
Potterton and baxi are ok nothing special the new solo has a fault on the ignition arcing to the combustion door but other than that the baxi's are ok
overall I like vailant best which is what i will replace my own with in summer, easy to service install repair and most important in my opinion parts are very easily obtainable due to vailant trying to make generic parts to fit the entire range. just don't tie yourself in to their ebus control system, stick with what works.

 

[REDSAW]

sod it, ive just done me-self a worster 28i junior. thanks mate!!!!!

 

[Deleted member 261]

Viessmann I have had no trouble with until yesterday house was empty over the cold snap and when the customer got home they found that the boiler was not working (vitdens100) diagnosed it back to the gas valve heated it up and gave it a tap and it was working fine. Fitted 10+ of these over the last 5 years and all good as gold. Remeha same sort of thing actually recommended by a Belgian diplomat whose dad was a plumber/H.E. and never had any call backs on 6 Remehas (2 system 5 combis) but I have been informed Atag are the dog’s only ever seen 1 and it was a problem with the Drayton RF. Worcester have been getting worse and worse. The big first gen green stars are the best fitted loads of them (30ish) only problems are with the top of the range ones the display goes. Im going on the ATAG course tomorrow so ill se how I get on. The Bandq biasis are ok fitted some in a block of flats (4and a half years ago) and only had a couple of blocked venturis. Ideally I want the boilers I recommend to last forever I don’t advertise and my customers do my advertising for me which I think is the best was as you don’t then have a problem with pricing, I usually have the job before I quote. Things are changing slowly though as the general consensus 'what is the cheapest option' and with the internet people think if they spend half an hour in Google they are experts in plumbing as many have you have probably found these type of customers tell you what to do and buy all the things they think are relevant before finding someone to fit it. A guy at the weekend had bought a big Valliant combi (37kw) to supply three bathrooms and two cloakrooms and wanted to pay £200 for the install as that’s what was quoted in the spons price guide he bought. Hehe

 

[Deleted member 261]

I Learned from bazooka joe very informative literature.

 

[Deleted member 261]

LOL google it did you?
I was self taught. In the begining its about confidence. The best way to learn (If I could go back) is with someone who knows what they are doing. manufacturer courses are to familiarise yourself with the boiler. I find the hardest part of boiler repairs is the removing the covers. They keep changing the dam things or they have been on so long they don't want to come off or they use the wrong materials (Vallient) or once found one glued on. If i had the choice i would learn with someone. If not go on the boiler breakdown courses. The best book is the vipergas book all the other ones i have seen are pants. Download all the installation servicing manuals from the manufacturers websites and store them on a laptop about your person. With the new CPU pcbs you cannot fault find without a manual. up side is you can diagnose most of the problems quicker. eg flashing G5 fault on the display look it up and its a PCB fault but about 10% of the time it not what they say it is. when you do fault finding you do not assume anything eg check for gas, power, heat demand etc. You will never know everything about boilers especially as the manufacturers keep on changing the goal posts, you just get more comfortable with them.[DLMURL="http://www.centralheating.co.uk/index/fuseaction/directory.memberList/con_id/5367"]Heating and Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC)[/DLMURL]
get a list of the sedbuc website and contact the rest.

 

[GPS164]

I fit Baxi/Potterton as standard, straightforward and reliable boilers plus I get a good price on them so can price keenly and win the job. Havent had a problem in a year, the only problem I have had min has been a faulty fuse...not a biggy.

Plus theres good money in boiler repairs, I know a lad who specialises in it and he charges £80 labour per repair and always has two a day, he drops the kids at school at 9 then picks then up at half past 3 and has brought in £160 in the meantime....easy life!

 

[Deleted member 261]

Went to the ATAG course today and it seems they deserve their reputation. Definitely going to be fitting them from now on. A lot of thought has gone into these boilers and they seem bullet proof. I can recommend the course whole heartedly.

 

[Deleted member 261]

i emailed intergas in january and febuary to ask for details of any courses and still had no reply. Not a good advert for your customer support.

 

[intergasman]

Hi Susmil, I don't know if you have recieved a call back from Intergas about Training, if not please contact me, [email protected]. Regards Mark