Hi, I've got an ariston combi boiler that decided to die last week.
I've had a plumber round who has told me it's Ariston's only unreliabl model that caused major headaches for everyone who tried to repair i back in the day (mine looks like it was installed in 1992). Has anyon heard of a similar ariston problem or am I being conned into installin a new one? Does anyone have any idea how much I should expect to pa in London to get a new boiler installed, including flushing th pipes/radiators etc? Thanks
Most Corgis are just fitters. If the fault is obvious, and the part readily available, they'll do it. Otherwise, they'll tell you the boiler's too old and was a dog from the start. See if you can find the local stockist of Ariston spares and ask them to suggest an engineer. If you go for a new one, shop around. Easy to check boiler prices on the web. It's probably going to take 2 blokes half a day, so work out how much you think they should be paid. The last Corgi I hired quoted £800 labour but eventually did the job for £350 so it's worth haggling.
I agree with most but not all of the above. Firstly no boiler is unrepairable but as they get older they tend to become beyond economic repair.
Often the manufacturers have a service division which whilst not cheap is likely to be able to perform a diagnosis.
If you post the exact symptoms someone here is likely to make a good educated guees as to which components have failed and what they likely costs of replacement are.
It is true that Ariston are not in the upper half of the spectrum of reliability.
As for the 1/2 day to fit. Yes is it possible to replace a combi boiler in half a day. I.e. to remove the old unit and install something very similar.
However the going rate would be nearer two days work and three if the flue was significantly different (often is)
This would entail the following (mandatory) 'extras'.
Flushing out the existing system pipes at least twice. (required by manufacturers install instructions and best practice). Fitting a modern condensing boiler and adding a drain for condensate. (Manadatory by building regs to save energy). Filling out all paperwork, log books, certificates, notifiying building control (reguired by Manufacturers, Building regs and CORGI etc). Adding/renewing TRVs if needed. (Building Regs) Adding a wall mounted thermostat or programmable thermostat (Building regs). Disposing of old boiler.
This would be £1300 - £2000 depending on the boiler model. So £800 for fitting is about right.
I have an Ariston Microgenus. It is fitted off a cold tank for DHW and is very reliable. 2 yr guarantee and 5 on the plate heat exchanger. Everything is easy to access inside. I bought it as it was at the time the smallest sized, in casing, combi available. Well specced too.
The early Aristons were not that reliable, but the new generation are much superior and they now give 5 years guarantee across the board to many models. Alpha are doing the same.
Is yours the Microgenus 23MFFI? We had ours installed in July 2003. The installer told us that it had a one year warranty but the Ariston web site indicated that all of their Combi's had a two year warranty. The warranty in the box was for one year with the option to extend it by a further three years. I queried this with Ariston and they said that it must have been an old in stock boiler that had been supplied and they sent me a two year warranty form. I filled that in and took out the extended three year warranty with Domestic and General. In December of last year a fault developed the day after the boiler had its annual service by the local service agent. They came back and replaced the pressure relief valve and added the cost of the item to charge for the annual service. The service agent said that the boiler only had a one year warranty and that I should claim the cost of the item back on the extended warranty. I phoned Ariston who maintained that the Microgenus 23MFFI is the only Ariston Combi with a one year guarantee. I phoned Domestic and General who said that as the original warranty was for one year that my extended warranty was invalid. I waited until the two year warranty was up and wrote to D&G and explained the situation to them. Fortunately they accepted that my warranty is valid until 2008. Ben.
I used Unibond bathroom and shower sealant from the local shed. Expensive at 8 quid a go but it's so bloody waterproof it's v.difficult to smooth it after application 'cos it sticks to
*everything*. Flexible too, the only thing that broke it in our case was for some reason the shower tray managed to drop a few mm (don't ask why, I dunno yet!) and the stuff stretched and broke the grout on the surrounding tiles resulting in much leakage.....
The moral to this tale is if yer tray doesn't drop this stuff is good! IMO obviously.
Why is it that so many boilers go wrong after 'servicing'? The discharge valves sometimes don't seat properly after being turned. I suspect the guy servicing it turned it and caused the problem in the first place. It can normally be sorted by just turning a few times, IME.
Interesting, isn't it Andy. This prick says to everyone else you can't beat mains pressure hot water for a shower. Says to use water from the combi to fill the kettle to save electricity. And has claimed to have 3 bar mains pressure. But at home in his one bed ex council flat has his own system fed off a header tank. With the smallest boiler he could find. So the high flow models he raves about are far too expensive for him...
Matt, so, 20 floors. 1 foot betwen floors = 20 foot. then 8 foot ceilings = 160 foot plus 20 foot = 180 foot. Divide by 30 (approx 1 bar) = 6 bar. Yes Matt over 1 bar, you are right.
So 14th floor is 6 floors above. That will be 6 one foots between flo0rs = 6 foot. 6 x 8 foot = 48 + 6 = 54 foot. Plus the height of large tank = 54 +
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