Sorry if I seem always to be asking for advice on prices but here I go again.
British Gas are offering to fit a new boiler at the moment for about £2,100 with a choice of:
Vaillant ecoFIT pure 415 - Regular or Glowworm Energy 15r - Regular
Both with a 5 year parts/labour warranty.
It sounds like a good deal to me - any thoughts?
Which boiler would your choose?
Many thanks.
I don't know the Glowworm, but do have a Vaillant eco 415 - which seems pretty good. However, there are some catches.
My system has a timer/thermostat and motorised valve per room, with their limit switches paralleled to call for heat if any one is open. The hot water cylinder works in a similar way.
I am resizing radiators and want to switch to running at a low temperature, high condensing efficiency temperature, but a higher one for the cylinder to protect against legionnaires.
The Vaillant, despite having separate CH and DHW temperature settings has no way to cope with different temperatures by itself, having only a single demand input, unless you use the ebus comms. Using the ebus comms requires an additional box and that requires Vaillant's own controls and cannot cope with more than two heating zones and they are limited in their time settings!
I currently have a second-hand box on order and will be experimenting with whether I can use the switched signal to the boiler for CH and the comms one for DHW - Vaillant say you can't, but other people say that they have got it working.
Failing that, I will be investigating Arduino and the ebus library, to see if I can work it that way and not use the wired demand input at all.
I would avoid british gas. I would also look at a heat punp given the soaring price of gas.
Dave
So boiler + flue at around £900 - £1000
What else have they included in the quote?
Is this a "like for like" swap for an existing vented "heat only" boiler?
Does it include power flushing, or fitting a cyclonic/magnetic trap on the return if not already present?
Do the controls need updating?
Any reason for not taking the opportunity to go sealed system rather than vented?
The Vaillant generally - although I am not familiar with the "pure" models - it sounds like they have a different heat exchanger from their traditional stainless one.
Rather than doing all that, wouldn't it be easier to put your immersion heater on once a week for a few hours to raise the temperature to legionella killing temp?
Tim
British Gas tend to only supply boilers they get the maximum profit from. Unless they have changed direction recently. Nor are they generally the best value option.
Get some quotes from local firms.
I have a fairly standard system with timer, room stat, HW stat and radiators with thermostatic valves. Can the Vaillant provide HW and heating independently (I have a 3 port diverter valve)?
I can't answer any of the questions at this stage, I want to get a feel for whether or not it is a reasonable deal before I investigate further. The current system works well, I have just had a new HW cylinder fitted along with one bigger rad and thermostatic valves on the rads so I can't see any point in making major changes.
What about the soaring price of electricity to run a heat pump?
British Gas are usually over-priced - get a quote from an independent installer.
Agree and remember to factor in the possible cost of remodelling your CH system to cope with the low flow temp of the Heat Pump. This could well be the major part of the cost.
If its not very old or very inefficient and working well why replace the boiler at the present time.
The quality of the deal will much will depend on what is included in the job. If it is a basic like for like swap with no major changes, and no system flushing etc, then it would be quite expensive for half a days labour. Proper system flush, balance, chemical treatment, and adding a filter if not already fitted would be better value.
Going to sealed system can have advantages (easier system filling, no air locks, less corrosion, frees space occupied by header tank.
Possibly, but there are parts of the year where I don't generally want to run the cylinder as low as I'm trying to get the radiator temps anyway - during holidays, with our eldest son back from university, there are five of us and running the cylinder hotter means using less hot water for showers, so we are less likely to end up with the last person getting a cold shower. As this can be set from the boiler controls, it's a lot easier than having to guess the adjustment on the cylinder stat multiple times a year and cheaper than using the immersion to boost it throughout those periods.
I think they call all do that! Boilers heat water and your plumbing system (and controls) determine what it heats and when.
Tim
Yes. That system just sets the valve appropriately and calls for heat. It does not allow the boiler to produce different temperature water for CH and DHW. It is basically a simpler system of what I have now.
Using Vaillant's own controls (Vaillant room stat, cylinder stat or Vaillant temperature sensor and VR66 [probably now superseded]), you can use the boiler controls to set different flow temperatures for CH and DHW, with the valve controlled from the VR66. Note that it will stop heating the house while it prioritises the hot water cylinder on one setting and with a diverter valve, while on the other setting and with a mid-position valve, it will use the lower temperature if there is only CH demand, but the higher temperature if there is only or also DHW demand, but can then run both at once.
When I last looked Vaillant give 2 years warranty as standard and the option of 7 or 10 years under the "Vaillant Advance Installer" scheme. BG's 5 years makes me think it is their warranty and you may be tied to them for annual servicing.
I can't speak from experience but hope others will expand/correct me.
FWIW, I recently know of a combi that was replaced and moved a few meters to somewhere less intrusive; for replace only the price was going to be just above ?2k, and it was about ?2.5k with the move. This was in London, and not by British Gas, but a small localish firm. It is a Baxi, has a 10 year warranty, conditional on an annual service.
#Paul
Just had my back boiler replaced with a Vaillent with 10 yr warranty. It was moved into loft with all redundant tanks removed and fitted with Hive controller..£3600
Mine is in my loft too but I would everything I could next time to avoid having one there! Pain in the bum when it need checking…
Tim
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