five weeks without hot water and counting

[claremanning]

new poster in need of advice, and probably therapy.

We've been in our flat five years and last year we upgraded our lennox warm air unit with a new boiler at a cost of =A32400. (Happy to do this as we appreciated the system and don't like rads.) However at that time we'd also spent =A3400 plus on repairs for a gas multipoint (Britony flexiflue)

This year the hot water went off again and our plumbers ordered a pcb and thermocouple - said they'd have to be ordered from france as no-one stocks them anymore. Three weeks later, still no parts. Got another plumber, he changed a fuse, water working. One week later, off again. He says don't need the other parts but need a new gas system. Cost is prohibitive.

So, obviously we've decided on a new multipoint. This plumber says don't touch anything British, they're the most unreliable. But I'm concerned about getting parts for a european one. Also, why are the parts so expensive? Finally, is a =A3300 installation cost for new boiler reasonable? Any advice, is there anything to add to the lennox which would give us hot water?

[Rick]

Surley this new boiler has to work for a year, or have you passed the one year mark ?

I'd get a British Gas coverplan, and let it break down in 2weeks time

- but then I hate British Gas.

Rick

[claremanning]

New boiler is fine, tbut he multipoint is an old chaffoteaux. Would coverplan include repairs to two boilers? do British gas service and repair warm air units?

[Frank Erskine]

Doesn't everyone?

:-)

[claremanning]

As we've been so long without water I'm past getting the gas folks involved. I've phoned a couple of suppliers here in glasgow. Both only have Main multipoint in stock. Should i go for this or put an oder in for vokera or Ferroli. (Boilers in basement so no size or noise issues.) Reliability is my main concern.

[John]

A lot depends on the hardness of your local water. If the unit is scaled/ing up then replacing certain parts on the gas side will likely be a waste of investment in a reasonably short while when water side troubles show up. I would suggest you take a ride down to your local plumbing merchants or heating spares suppliers (look in yellow pages for a range of them) Price up a suitable unit yourself and consider a like for like replacement. Chaffateaux have shown very little in their ranges for years so you could find the same or an identical (physically) model is still available, possibly on offer to clear stocks following 1st April. All you need then is an installer willing to work for sensible money

[claremanning]

thanks, that's what I intend doing. but if i replace like for like am i in danger of having a new but obsolete model. I'm very worried about parts due to bad experiences on this and other occasions. Whenever my boiler packs in i'm at least three weeks without water. I'm in Glasgow by the way, water is soft, but heating engineers very hard to find. I'm new to this type of site but will do more homework in future. any advice on what not to buy. Why is there such a price difference in the products, the two merchants have said they don't keep ferroli and vokera in stock as it is too expensive to have around unsold.

[Owain]

If reliability is your main concern, go for a stored hot water system, which will allow immersion heater backup.

Owain

[Andrew Gabriel]

There are two Main versions, a very simple one which doesn't even require an electricity supply and has to back on to an outside wall for the flue, and a fanned flue version which can drive a longer concentric flue but requires an electricity supply. Both are room sealed.

I have a slightly earlier version of the one with no electricity supply. Mine has thermostatic control and modulating burner, but there was also a version without this at the time (just had a flow valve). Off-hand, I don't know if their current replacement model for this has thermostatic control or not.

The whole thing is very simple -- I think the previous one lasted about 20 years (not sure exactly when it was installed), and the replacement when I needed it was quite an easy switch over, as the new ones were designed to bolt on to the flues of very much older ones (the whole thing hangs from the flue).