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New gas combi boiler quote

Interesting. We took the middle of 3 quotes which was from British Gas. They did a real hash of it, coming back multiple times, moved it twice and destroyed a board once. A bloke from Worcester Bosch came for a look and was appalled. 2 years on we were still having issues with it and in the last decade it's suffered a few breakdowns. It's probably a decent boiler but they knacked it on initial install. I will probably have to change it soon so following this thread with interest.

I've installed probably, around 130 combis since about 2008, and you really can't knacker a boiler on install, a dodgy boiler is a dodgy boiler.

I installed a Sabre 35 HE (Vokera Compact) in my own house in 2006 and replaced it December 2020, the boiler was as good as gold for 14 years but it was just getting old and hot water was getting poor but I only spent about £100 on all of that time and it was rarely ever serviced, at the same time (2006) I installed the same boiler in my next door neighbour's and guys were never away from it, it was constantly breaking down and they eventually replaced it about three years ago.

Just your luck sometimes.

BG are notorious for over charging for work but sometimes they're exceptionally competitive and again that's just your luck/time of year etc.
 
Quote in for the 8000 Life. £3500 inc VAT. Warranty is 12 years versus 10 years on the 4000. Makes sense to me, thanks twotone.

Excellent, a great boiler OP.

I'd also go with the Worcester Bosch easy controller too but it might be a bit over complicated for your mum, your talking about £300 depending on what bits you need ie wireless key and stand (you might not need those) but it's excellent and you can run your mum's boiler from your phone.
 
Excellent, a great boiler OP.

I'd also go with the Worcester Bosch easy controller too but it might be a bit over complicated for your mum, your talking about £300 depending on what bits you need ie wireless key and stand (you might not need those) but it's excellent and you can run your mum's boiler from your phone.

Are you on a commission from my supplier for the up sells!

Seriously, thanks for your help, much appreciated.
 
Are you on a commission from my supplier for the up sells!

Seriously, thanks for your help, much appreciated.

No problem, you can buy aftermarket controllers ie Nest etc but WB's controller is excellent and the warranty comes with the boiler so you should get 12 years on the controller too but check with the installer.

WB also does a remote filling loop at £50 and basically the boiler monitors the system pressure and tops up the system water pressure and the phone app lets you know when it's done that or if there are other problems (great idea especially for people not close to relatives etc) but they had problems with it however they may have sorted those issues out now well worth asking about that too.
 
Once upon a time when combis were notoriously unreliable, those I knew who had them always had electric showers. I have a feeling that showers can now be run from a combi but no sure how water temp. regulation works. The 2 more modern combis in flats I had also had electric mains showers so not sure what the situation is regarding no h/w cylinder combi v. h/w cylinder indirect boilers.
 
Once upon a time when combis were notoriously unreliable, those I knew who had them always had electric showers. I have a feeling that showers can now be run from a combi but no sure how water temp. regulation works. The 2 more modern combis in flats I had also had electric mains showers so not sure what the situation is regarding no h/w cylinder combi v. h/w cylinder indirect boilers.

Hi Mike, as ever it all depends I always recommend, when installing a combi from an open vent conversation ie tank, cylinder, boiler etc, to install a thermostatic shower mixer and run it from the combi however if there are two showers in the house then one electric and one thermostatic but if the customer is a bit nervous about combi boiler reliability then electric shower.

I personally have had three combi boilers installed in two houses the current house has had two combis and has two thermostatic bar mixers installed, three actually including one outside for the dog, and the previous house had one thermostatic shower and one electric shower.

Time period from 1992 until now and none of the combi boilers ever let us down, period, never a down time.

I’ve no idea how typical that is but that’s been my experience in 30 years.
 
Once upon a time when combis were notoriously unreliable, those I knew who had them always had electric showers. I have a feeling that showers can now be run from a combi but no sure how water temp. regulation works. The 2 more modern combis in flats I had also had electric mains showers so not sure what the situation is regarding no h/w cylinder combi v. h/w cylinder indirect boilers.

My new place has a Vaillant combi boiler and that’s it. Runs underfloor heating and all hot water. Seems very straightforward. Another place of mine has a Vaillant boiler but also a megaflow. Really don’t see the point of it when a decent combi can do everything.

ETA thinking about it, an advantage of megaflow is in the event of a problem with the boiler, you can switch on the immersion for hot water (if you dare…).
 
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don't know if should add but having a Viessmann supplied and fitted by warmzilla on Friday....good price
 
Once upon a time when combis were notoriously unreliable, those I knew who had them always had electric showers. I have a feeling that showers can now be run from a combi but no sure how water temp. regulation works. The 2 more modern combis in flats I had also had electric mains showers so not sure what the situation is regarding no h/w cylinder combi v. h/w cylinder indirect boilers.
Despite the combi and BG install issues ours runs the shower very well. The bath not so well.
 
'Despite the combi and BG install issues ours runs the shower very well. The bath not so well.'

This comment is a shows how much more energy a bath takes than a shower because the boiler is doing the same work
 
don't know if should add but having a Viessmann supplied and fitted by warmzilla on Friday....good price

Viessmann are supposed to be very good boilers. A problem I find with some plumbers, is they each have their favourite manufacturer and tend to hate some of the others. Best bet is to get a good installer to fit and then service/maintain the boiler if you can. It’s then their boiler recommendation, install and service work. Nobody else left to blame.
 
yes each has their own favourite . my engineer doesnt like vaillant much but i still get him to fit them all the time :D !!! In covid they came out to a nurse whose vaillant had broken down with a fan problem very fast and fixed it for free as a special offer in covid for NHS staff . thats service for you . that level of attention is why i like them . i have not forgotten ringing WB for a repair and the nearest they could get was 9 days time !!
 
yes each has their own favourite . my engineer doesnt like vaillant much but i still get him to fit them all the time :D !!! In covid they came out to a nurse whose vaillant had broken down with a fan problem very fast and fixed it for free as a special offer in covid for NHS staff . thats service for you . that level of attention is why i like them . i have not forgotten ringing WB for a repair and the nearest they could get was 9 days time !!

Worth noting. My plumber is a Vaillant agent and a previous flat of mine had one which was 13 y.o. and still good.
 
Viessmann are supposed to be very good boilers. A problem I find with some plumbers, is they each have their favourite manufacturer and tend to hate some of the others. Best bet is to get a good installer to fit and then service/maintain the boiler if you can. It’s then their boiler recommendation, install and service work. Nobody else left to blame.

I’ll install any boiler a customer wants however I’ve been installing Vokèra boilers for 32 years and I like Vokera as a manufacturer, thier technical support is excellent and it’s run by the engineers who repair the boilers, they don’t take no shit either pretty old fashioned in that sense.

Worcester Bosch have excellent customer service but lately in Glasgow it hasn’t been great relative to their normally excellent service however their technical support is also excellent and friendly, boilers are very expensive relative to most other boiler manufacturers though but customers love Worcester Bosch.

I’ve very little experience of Valiant as there’s very few of their boilers installed here and Baxi/Potterton & Ideal are all decent.

I wouldn’t recommend Viessmen, their boilers are overly complicated & expensive and parts prices are eye watering but that doesn’t really matter with long warranties.

I’ve installed three Vokera combis in my own houses over a period of 30 years and couldn’t have been happier with the boilers there’s no way I’d spend double on an equivalent Worcester Bosch combi, Vokera’s new Unica Max is easily as good as a WB 8000 life at about £500 cheaper with more or less the same warranty and Vokera, like WB, don’t try to wriggle out of the warranty unlike a few other boiler manufacturers do.

I service all of the manufacturers boilers some are really easy to service and some are really complex but I don’t knock the work back cause it’s a decent earner however boilers are now becoming like cars insofar as you can’t really adjust anything in the more recent models if anything is out of range you have to get the manufacturers engineers out for a warranty call out.
 
Weissman are superb boilers. I've a WB but next time I'll be getting Weissman.
Worth making sure whatever you install is ready for blended gas. As in hydrogen or biomethane blends.
 
All boilers manufactured since about 1996 are suitable for 20-80 hydrogen/NG the only difference with the most recent manufactured boilers are that they’ve been certified.
 
I install Viessmann where possible. They are the best. I have a Vitodens 200 in my own house but I’ve only ever fitted a handful of them due to the cost and people not getting their heads round to how well the weather comp works. The 100 is nearly as good and the 111-W is a really good storage combi. Any installer who disagrees should try one and find out for themselves.

Failing that I fit Baxi. The 600 range is reliable and no nonsense.

Worcester really need to drop the aluminium heat exchangers, they’re crap especially when you’ve got then running on propane. Stainless is so much better for longevity.
 
I install Viessmann where possible. They are the best. I have a Vitodens 200 in my own house but I’ve only ever fitted a handful of them due to the cost and people not getting their heads round to how well the weather comp works. The 100 is nearly as good and the 111-W is a really good storage combi. Any installer who disagrees should try one and find out for themselves.

Failing that I fit Baxi. The 600 range is reliable and no nonsense.

Worcester really need to drop the aluminium heat exchangers, they’re crap especially when you’ve got then running on propane. Stainless is so much better for longevity.

Vokera's new Unica Max boilers are stainless hexes and OT/WComp.
 
New boiler (the 8000, thanks twotone) being installed on Monday. Old boiler packed up today so seems it was good timing!
 


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