Which Condensing boiler.

[jon]

I'm getting a new boiler and have decided on a combi/condenser type. British gas gave me a quote for a Ideal Isar 30HE Condensing Combi Boiler, whereas a local plumber recommends a Vaillant Ecomax Condensing Combi 828/2E.

I've had a quick gander and both seem to offer the same features and output rates, except one is £200 more than the other. The local plumber has said he will fit the Ideal if I choose that, but for obvious reasons he's pushing the Valliant, as he's an authorised supplier and he's more familiar with them.

Does anyone have any input regarding these 2 models as I haven't heard of either of these brands, maybe recommend an alternative. I know this is a bit vague on my part.

Just for reference BG quoted £3500 all in, including powerflush and 7 new therm rad valves.

Local plumber is quoting £2200 for exact same work, except I'll be doing the donkey work,(removing header/feeder tanks, cylinder, old pipework,etc) TIA

[Christian McArdle]

They're both good boilers. I'd go with the Isar. I had its non-combi sibling and it seemed OK. Even looked quite nice. More to the point, it has an extra

2kW, which will give you a tad more hot water at the tap. I'd be happy with either model, though. Others to consider are the Glowworm and the Worcester-Bosch Greenstar HE. I now have the latter, also in non-combi form.

Christian.

[fred]

In article , Christian McArdle writes

No experience of either but I notice the ideal has a lower minimum modulation level (8.8kw vs 10.5/11kw) making it a tad more versatile.

Check for separate heat settings of HW & CH, pref on the front panel, my keston doesn't & it is (was) a total PITA.

[mail]

I fitted the Vaillant just over a year ago and have been very pleased with it. There was a problem with the flue fan and Vaillant sent an engineer out swiftly to look at it. Turns out it was just an electrical connection come loose in transit so could have sorted it myself, but there's quite a lot of wires in it so didn't want to touch it! You need to make sure your've got a CORGI number on the log book though, otehrwise they won't send the engineer!

In the last year I think I've saved about =A3100 in gas, that's in a 3 bed terrace which is only heated twice a day and at weekends, so more savings could be had if you heat your house during the day too.

The aqua-comfort feature is quite good too, it keeps a 10 litre reservoir of water hot to supply immediatly the hot tap is opened. The Ideal may do this too, I don't know.

I chose Vaillant as my Dad had one fitted 15 years ago (not a condensing though) and it's only had a pump replaced in that time and that was 2 years ago I think.

Hope this helps you.

Phil

[RedOnRed]

Several British Gas engineers have told me that Ideal condensing boilers were/are plagued with problems, to the point that BG had to return loads of them while Ideal came up with modifications to resolve all the faults.

Having said that, i've just had a conventional floor standing Ideal boiler replaced after 28 years hard labour and it was still going fairly well. It was replaced with a Worcester Bosch HE which seems very good.

Where ever i've looked Vaillant and Worcester Bosch seem to be winning admirers.

The price you've been quoted by a local plumber makes me feel quite good. It's roughly what I payed but had even more work inlcuded...extra rad, 7 day programmer, cylinder stat, room stat, 6 TRV's fiited, power flush and inhibitor, all the labour, etc, etc.

[John Stumbles]

That's fairly recent, isn't it? I thought Keston had only just introduced a combi?

[John Stumbles]

W-B now have quite a (confusing :-) range of 'Greenstar' condensing boilers beside the 'HE' model which Christian has.

[fred]

Sorry John, brain fade, not a combi but a related problem of differing flow temperature requirements for HW topup and CH demand cycles on an indirect system. The main point about sep temp settings on a combi still applies; a small Bosch Worcester I look after has a single temp control & - that- is a PITA.

[John Rumm]

Not much experience of the Valiant. Have used one briefly and it was ok to use. Aesthetically not as nice to look at as the Ideal, but it has a good reputation.

I fitted an Isar HE35 about a year ago. My requirements were for the highest powered combi I could fit into a space no more than 440 wide. The Isar matched the requirements nicely.

I have been very pleased with it so far. It is probably the best behaved combi I have used to date. Quiet, modulates over a good range, delivers hot water at any rate from a tiny trickle upto its maximum rate. It was very easy to install as well. Obviously can't comment on the long term reliability as yet, but so far so good.

It has the pre-tempering of a small store of water to give you "instant" heat. Has separate controls for water and CH temp. No internal programmer of any type (unless you include an on/off switch) but works very well with the Centaur programmable stat I fitted. It also does not exhibit the scalding hot-cold-hot sequence that some combis go through at start-up.

Ouch!

I found a local plumbers merchant that was significantly cheaper on the Isar than any of the online places (I paid less for the 35HE than shown for your link on the 30HE above IIRC)

[jon]

> Jon

Thanks for all the replys so far, still umming and arring on which one to get, probably get a couple more quotes in as well, after reading RedonReds comment that I may be paying slightly over the odds.

Cheers

Jon

[Ed]

I've got the ideal icos (system version of the combi isar). It is 2 years old and seems very efficient and quiet. It was serviced last month and the man said there was no build up on the exchanger blades which is apparently a usual problem. It halved my gas bill.

[Ed Sirett]

I'm going to fit a Vaillant EcoTech soon. AFAICT this is a renamed and/or newer version of the Ecomax but with a sensible price tag. (815 inc VAT for the 28kW unit).

[Ed Sirett]

...I'm pleased with the performance and build quality of this unit. It has a couple of 'toys' one is a digital pressure gauge in addition to the smaller normal one. It has a mode to put the diverter valve into a mid position to aid filling.

The appliance will accept an inlet working pressure of 17 mbar which should help with marginally sized supply pipe work.

Minuses: This was the 28kW 'pro' version the 24 and 30kW 'plus' versions including pipe work stubs and an internal filling loop. However the price is about £150 quid lower than the Ecomax / Ecotec + range which have themselves come down a lot since 1/4/5.

There is no cover that goes over the control panel this might bother a very fussy customer.