Which Boiler?

[OliviaBenson]

Hi all,

I'd appreciate some advice. We live in a 3bed house with a bathroom upstairs and cloakroom downstairs. I should say its an older property and rather large as the downstairs has been extended into former outbuildings. Our boiler is 26 years old and costing us a fortune to heat the house with. It also has a hot water tank and we prefer instant hot water.

Anyway, so we are looking at either the Worcester Greenstar Classic 42CDi or Vaillant ecoTEC 838. Does anyone have any experience of these? Both have good reviews and are Which? best buys.

Its so complicated - any help will be appreciated. We had a Worcester in our last house which was great. I like it as its powerful as well. The Vaillant is slightly less powerful but it does state that it is good for older properties as it has a higher minimum heat output. The 7yr warranty is also tempting.

I think we are ok in having a combi boiler. We really want to get rid of the tank!! I have seen a Vaillant one with a tank inside the actual boiler (if I've got that right).

If you're still with me, any comments on this is welcome!

[OliviaBenson]

Thanks- will have a look. Plumber is coming out tomorrow to have a look. Thanks for all your help.

[takeaway2]

We've got a veismann boiler and it's really good!

[PigletJohn]

so have I, but they are not very common, so you need to be sure you have a good local Approved Installer who is experienced on them. I am near a small town, the local firm closed down and the nearest one is now in the next-but-one town.

Mine is not a combi, so it is a simpler appliance and has less to go wrong. I chose it because of the stainless steel heat exchanger which I believe will have a long life, and opinions by trade contacts.

Spelled Viessmann.

[OliviaBenson]

Sooooo, plumber came around last night. He thinks the steel pipes might be furred up from the inside which might be affecting pressure. He is going to check the pressure from the feed into the house today.

He suggested a heat only system boiler with an unvented cylinder if it is a general pressure issue and not something going on in the house.

We shall see....

[PigletJohn]

heat only system boiler with an unvented cylinder
is a good modern solution, provided that you have a good flow of water into the house, which is mostly dependent on the incoming service pipe. It would be no good with your current weedy flow.

20 litres per minute is good.

12 litres per minute is not good, but is usually adequate unless you want to run two showers at the same time.

Note that I say flow which is not the same as pressure. You can get high pressure out of a hypodermic syringe but it would take weeks to fill a bath.