Which New Boiler Should I Choose?

[tafer2uk]

Hi

I'm after some advice please. I appreciate everybody will have there favourites and am open to suggestions.

I currently have a Heatline boiler that's faulty (leaking) and it's long since out of warranty. I have been quoted between £300-£400 to have it repaired, but to be honest it has been problematic from the start and has always been noisy. Hence I have decided to cut my losses and have a new boiler installed.

I have two local installers that have come recommended and had quotes from both.

One I think is a Halstead accredited installer and has recommended a Dimplex 30Kw combi boiler that comes with a 5 year guarantee. He has quoted £1450 all in for a straight swap including a powerflush.

Halstead Glen Dimplex boilers, heating and solar systems | Dimplex Combi Boiler

The other is a Baxi accredited installer and recommended a Baxi Platinum Combi HE 28Kw with a 5 year guarantee. He has quoted £1430 all in including a chemical flush and a magnaclean.

Baxi Platinum Combi HE A

They both have said they will fit any boiler I want, the above are just their recommendations.

I would therefore like advice on the following please;

Do the quotes seem reasonable? (They do to me)

What do people think of the boilers in question? (reliability, efficency, noise, features etc..)

Are the 5 year guarantees offered by both manufacturers equal? (i.e. do they include parts and labour?)

What are the respective companies customer service departments like? (For example I was put off Vailant due to the 60p p/m 0906 customer service number and tales of been on hold for 45 minutes at a time)


The following in order of priority are the most important factors to me when choosing the new boiler and am open to other recommendations.

1) Brand Reliability
2) Length & Quality of Warranty
3) Aftersales Service
4) Price
5) Quietness
6) Features
7) Ease of Use

Thanks for any help you may be able to offer & sorry for all the questions but I'm trying to avoid another lemon like the Heatline boiler.

 

[prs1]

Baxi is agood all round boiler (mid priced), 5yr parts and labour,10 yr on heat ex. parts are readily available and not bad to work on.
Halstead are reponsible for wickes own boiler as well as plenty other 5hit boxes avoid like plauge.
veissmann are a quality boiler for price.
Atag supposed to be very good so i hear
glowworm ultracom.
Hope this helps
paul

 

[tafer2uk]

Thanks for your comments Paul.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

baxi platinum/duotec,main 30 he or potterton performa[both same combi]all good boilers ferroli,heatline,ideal=crap anything french much worse

god i have just seen a halstead/glen dimplex in there my local pts has one on display it looks utter crap tons of plastic and hard to work on avoid big style

 

[tafer2uk]

Thanks Mark

A question for both yourself and Paul in your opinion re the Baxi, is it worth paying extra for the platinum over the duotec?

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

yes but your paying for the extra 3 year warranty internerly they are both the same, just different badge on the front

 

[tafer2uk]

Thanks again Paul. What do you think of the price quoted? Also would the chemical flush be ok? All the radiators in the house are les than 5 years old.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

what do you mean by chemical flush?theres 2 ways to descale power flushing or manual chemical flushing which in my experience is more through if the baxi guy is flushing propaly this is your best deal better boiler[buy far!]and a proper de-scale

 

[prs1]

to me the differance between the baxi duotech 2yr pts & lab or the platinum with 5 yrs is about £200 quid
boiler has to be serviced every 12mth for warenty to stand.
Cheaper gettin 5yrs now than extending after 2yrs-
Most boilers are reliable,but people being what we are trying to save the pennies sometimes doesnt help.Most problems are cause through poor installation mainly dirty systems etc.
Power flushing a system can take a day in its self.(this is usually were corners are cut when people quote low to get the work) wrong i know!
Employ some one known for doing a proper job,and you should be ok

 

[tafer2uk]

To be honest I'm not sure, but the chap who is the Baxi installer seemed to suggest that because the syatem was relatively new that a chemical flush would suffice. I mentioned we'd had a quote that recommended a power flush. Just assumed a chemical flush must be not as good/thorough as a power flush. I guess I want to cover all bases and don't want Baxi refusing to honour the warranty because the correct flush wasn't done.

Thanks Paul, never used either plumber, just going on recommendations. Hopefully they will be good at what they do.

 

[prs1]

price about right
insist on power flush and make sure each radiator will be flushed indepedantly
not just once round full system
this is what will save future problems

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

To be honest I'm not sure, but the chap who is the Baxi installer seemed to suggest that because the syatem was relatively new that a chemical flush would suffice. I mentioned we'd had a quote that recommended a power flush. Just assumed a chemical flush must be not as good/thorough as a power flush. I guess I want to cover all bases and don't want Baxi refusing to honour the warranty because the correct flush wasn't done.

Thanks Paul, never used either plumber, just going on recommendations. Hopefully they will be good at what they do.

ask pointed questions, 1 is a heavy duty sludge remover going in for a minimum of 30 hours 2 are all the rads coming off and being flushed out with a hose pipe till clear?3is all pip[e work being flushed 4 is a quality inhibitor being added like sentinel x 100 or fernox protector? this is a proper flush and can take a full day

 

[prs1]

only time i would chem flush only is on a complete new system
new boiler,rads and pipework.
also baxi time clock is basic
pay an xtra 100 quid and get a honeywell pogrammable room stat fitted
to give u the xtra controllability

 

[migoplumber]

fed up with hearing about five year guarantee's new thread started on subject

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

only time i would chem flush only is on a complete new system
new boiler,rads and pipework.
also baxi time clock is basic
pay an xtra 100 quid and get a honeywell pogrammable room stat fitted
to give u the xtra controllability

yes the clock is basic,honeywell cronotherm rf programmable is good,just to be clear chemical flushing is not the same as manual flushing,manual flushing is much harder and more labour intensive than power flushing but arguably the better job

 

[tafer2uk]

Thanks guys, looks like I'm going to go down the Baxi route with the 5yr warranty. If the guy is an approved installer (not entirely sure what this means but he went on about how he has done all their training courses etc...) Should I be able to trust him to do the appropriate flush? Because he's an accredited installer will this mean Baxi will trust him too?

Sorry if this sounds daft but I'm guessing I'm going to have to trust him to some degree as I wouldn't know the difference between the types of flushes.

fed up with hearing about five year guarantee's new thread started on subject

????

Are you suggesting they aren't worth the paper they are written on?

 

[prs1]

he should know their products well and as long as your system is clean u should be ok
good luck

 

[migoplumber]

nope not suggesting that at all - just wouldnt choose a different boiler because of it. thread opened and read it in a couple of days to see how the warrantys really work. as for registered installer for boilers - obtained by visiting manufacturer for a couple of days, learning about the boilers, plenty of brews and bacon sarny's - imho publicity stunt/just something to add to your portfolio. sorry lads !
yes you learn in depth? about their boilers, but very selective in boiler training

 

[tafer2uk]

nope not suggesting that at all - just wouldnt choose a different boiler because of it. thread opened and read it in a couple of days to see how the warrantys really work. as for registered installer for boilers - obtained by visiting manufacturer for a couple of days, learning about the boilers, plenty of brews and bacon sarny's - imho publicity stunt/just something to add to your portfolio. sorry lads !
yes you learn in depth? about their boilers, but very selective in boiler training

Thanks

 

[rob jefkins]

Bit like the British gas warranties then!!!!
A power flush is the best route but pricier than just a chemical flush. I personally do a chemical flush through and have had no problems on any installs before or after.
Some manufacturers such as Baxi may recommend a suitable way to validate there guarantee. Just check the small print and don't get sucked in by sales overpriced pitches. Good luck

 

[tafer2uk]

Thanks for all the replys guys.

 

[cobanne7]

Hi - My advice to anyone would be not to buy a Potterton boiler. Disgraceful record on performance and after sales. Diagnosis difficult which incurs considerable costs as a process of elimination is pursued.

 

[matty]

Yeah, we had problems with a Potterton in our last house -- until we had the circuit board replaced. On the other hand, they are cheap, so that's what you expect. Far less excusable was the lousy support we got from Atag when their "top of the range" boiler started misbehaving after less than 2 years. We had endless theories from several heating engineers, all wanting to blame any other aspect of our heating system than the "wonderful" (and very expensive) Atag boiler. Of course, as soon as we replaced it with a Viessmann, everything worked fine. In short, I'd go with the German make over the Dutch one.

 

[sparra1100]

yep as gasman says baxi/potterton all day long cheap on parts just incase your unlucky ive fiited them for ages never have very many problems and they come out the next day usually if baxi accredited installer ,baxi platinum ,baxi duo-tec potterton heatmax ,potterton gold all the same boiler