budget boilers

[itspaul]

Hi there was wondering which boilers would from the budget range would you recommend or not as the case may be as i have a customer who hasnt got worcester bosch or vaillant money to spend ? i usually fit the latter as i have never had problems with them but its nice to know whats good and bad in the cheaper end of the market thanks for any input

 

[Rickster123]

Ideal logic +. 7 year warrenty. Nice to fit an problem free!

 

[TBServices]

Ideal logic +. 7 year warrenty. Nice to fit an problem free!

Seconded.

 

[Orry Clayton]

how much do they have to spend?

 

[itspaul]

how much do they have to spend?

the purpose of the question was to identify which boilers which are not from the perceived "quality" manufactures but are reliable and offer good value for money the amount they have to spend isnt really relevant as i could fit it for nothing ..

 

[sav]

I fit the good old glow worm flexicom, love the fact they have a rear flue and can go into a kitchen unit! Plus never had any problems in the 6 years I've been fitting them

 

[Orry Clayton]

the purpose of the question was to identify which boilers which are not from the perceived "quality" manufactures but are reliable and offer good value for money the amount they have to spend isnt really relevant as i could fit it for nothing ..

It is relevant if they need a 35 kw boiler, but don't have £800 for a Logic+

 

[jays]

I like the potterton Gold range of boilers in my rental properties

good value boilers

Jay

 

[jase158]

Ideal logic +. 7 year warrenty. Nice to fit an problem free!

pointless if they go bust in next year, like most companies these days. also why would you recommend a boiler that means you wont be back for 7 years?

 

[TBServices]

pointless if they go bust in next year, like most companies these days. also why would you recommend a boiler that means you wont be back for 7 years?

You will be back. To service it. What kind of attitude is that? Lol

 

[itspaul]

It is relevant if they need a 35 kw boiler, but don't have £800 for a Logic+

Yes point taken i should have specified approx 26 kw combi

 

[jase158]

You will be back. To service it. What kind of attitude is that? Lol

well that is only £100 a year, if they go wrong 2-3 times a year, you get £500-600 per year, its a business attitude, if all your customers are on a 7 year guarantee, you will be relying on new customers all the time. if all customers are on 2 year guarantee then you will be going back 2 years later.
(remember I am not gas safe and have no personal experience of this)

 

[julesverne]

Fitting a boiler with a half decent warranty of 5 years plus Is about
Building a relationship with your customers. It is offering piece of mind.
Also a boiler isn't the only thing a plumbing and heating engineer can fix in a domestic household. Look after a customer and you will get all their plumbing work bathroom refit etc

 

[jase158]

fair play, not being rude, just never understand why people put boilers with 5-7 year guarantee

 

[julesverne]

fair play, not being rude, just never understand why people put boilers with 5-7 year guarantee

You not being rude its a valid question but if you don't somebody else will .

 

[TBServices]

well that is only £100 a year, if they go wrong 2-3 times a year, you get £500-600 per year, its a business attitude, if all your customers are on a 7 year guarantee, you will be relying on new customers all the time. if all customers are on 2 year guarantee then you will be going back 2 years later.
(remember I am not gas safe and have no personal experience of this)

See how many new customers get recommendations for you when you're getting a rep for unreliable boiler installs. I'd rather make my money a better way than selling sub standard products.

 

[Rickster123]

pointless if they go bust in next year, like most companies these days. also why would you recommend a boiler that means you wont be back for 7 years?

What boiler would you recommend jase? I like to give my customers peace of mind and value for money. I'd rather get future business from their friends and family than be back repairing a £499 combi coz it was on special offer. So what do you fit?

 

[jase158]

as said before, not gas safe. but from recommendation from other gas engineers, worcester bosch or cheap would be potterton or ideal.

 

[jase158]

would never fit vaillant as the ones I have seen have always leaked or broke

 

[Rickster123]

Jase you said you would fit something that you could get future work from? So surely leaks are a good thing?! Worcester also carry a long warranty. And the cheap boiler you recommend is an.... Ideal?!

 

[jase158]

worcester bosch are only 2 years on some of them..
and I never said that I would fit ones that had small guarantee, simply asking why people fit boilers with such long guarantees

 

[Rickster123]

People are looking more and more at value for money these days. Money is tight and they want the best deal for their hard earnt cash. The long warranty can really sell the job. I also know that I will get future servicing and normally future work from the family tree.

 

[SimonG]

Customer confidence. Your offering the customer 7 years of worry free heating and hot water as long as it's serviced every 12 months.

 

[jase158]

do most customers understand that the boiler companies come out and fix the boilers themselves or are most suprised that these companies have there own engineers

 

[Rickster123]

Yeah it's PARTS AND LABOUR most understand that and seem happy with it. They are also made aware that this is only valid if the boiler is serviced yearly and not all actually bother.

 

[Nostrum]

lets face it. The reality is we are not that fussed by a 7 year warranty. This is a new trend because all the manufacturers are really struggling with sales through the recession and a lot of the boiler use the same parts and similar designs so on paper there isn't much between them all., plus condensing technology is still fairly new so a lot of mistakes have been made in the last 7-8 years, and along with it quite a bit of damage has been done to manufacturers reputations.

As an installer, a long warranty may be a key selling point. If you can offer a boiler with a longer warranty than your competitor it puts you in a better position. It's more a case of offering the best there is to offer.

If all the manufacturers dropped there warranty to 2 years, 99% of installers wouldn't be disapointed.

 

[Nostrum]

also, you say about vaillant always leaking. I serviced a 15 year old condensing boiler VU-186 ecomax the other day. Way, way before it's times and still going strong. O.k it's had a few parts in it's life, but some manufacturers have struggled to get 5 years out of the condensing boilers 10 years later

 

[jase158]

I think that is what really counts, the life of the boiler, but its like anything, you could buy 2 identical boilers and 1 needs replacing after 2 years and the other lasts 25 years. Its all a bit of luck and looking after your boiler.
Just out of curiosity I have been asked recently about boilers costing less, does anybody know if there is a difference between new condensing boilers with open vented system (not sure what this is called) and a new combi?

 

[TBServices]

The longer warranty gives me confidence in the boilers, I would never have given the logic a chance if not for the 5 year warranty, but if the industry standard dropped back down to 2 years, I wouldn't be fussed.

 

[Nostrum]

The longer warranty gives me confidence in the boilers, I would never have given the logic a chance if not for the 5 year warranty, but if the industry standard dropped back down to 2 years, I wouldn't be fussed.

Which is exactly the reason they had to offer it after the isar/icos, they set the benchmark and all the others had to follow suit!

 

[ggman]

well that is only £100 a year, if they go wrong 2-3 times a year, you get £500-600 per year, its a business attitude, if all your customers are on a 7 year guarantee, you will be relying on new customers all the time. if all customers are on 2 year guarantee then you will be going back 2 years later.
(remember I am not gas safe and have no personal experience of this)

I can't believe someone got so much front:IT IS NOT A BUSINESS ATTITUDE, IT'S A FRAUDULENT, IMMORAL , DISHONEST,way of doing business, a customer pays for your professional advice and you should give him the best advice as possible not necessary the cheapest or the most expensive way out. You engineers are the expert and you don't work for the glory you must make a licit profit.
ggman

 

[Mike Jackson]

Why would I offer my customers an inferior product? The premise of going back more often to make repairs is a sure fire way of getting a bad reputation. If we all thought like that we'd have been recommending isars all the time and look at the reputation that the warmfront scheme got .

 

[DalesPlumbing]

I've fitted over 50 Logic plus's.. Two of those had problems with which Ideal came out next day & sorted.. One was an O ring the other a divertor valve problem..
Easy to fit, British company with a good after sales service..
For me the 7 year warranty for that price is unbeatable value..

 

[Destroyer2813]

pointless if they go bust in next year, like most companies these days. also why would you recommend a boiler that means you wont be back for 7 years?

If you for a dud cheap boiler and it goes wrong continually over time and you recommended it do you not think the customer will lose confidence in what your saying as you re commended it

 

[phpaul]

would never fit vaillant as the ones I have seen have always leaked or broke

BIG BILLY BULLSHINE :reddevil: but thats just my thoughts

 

[stevetheplumber]

would never fit vaillant as the ones I have seen have always leaked or broke

thats a ridiculus statement they are with out doubt in the top three boilers especially the older models actually most of the boilers i see are leaking or broke we dont get asked to look at boilers that are working fine are you judging them on those you go to replace ? have you asked your self how old they actually are i see vailants of over 20 years still going strong in fact my own is 23 years old

 

[stevetheplumber]

if you want cheap boilers raven heats are great for that

 

[JohnHorton]

i know the feeling of looking for budget services. I've been sleeping with 2-3 jumpers on recently and trust me even that doesn't always work in this cold. But turning on the heater at all hours is too expensive. So I've been looking for ways to increase energy efficiency of my house without any major expenses.
Do you have any ideas/advice/tips?


John

 

[jase158]

thats a ridiculus statement they are with out doubt in the top three boilers especially the older models actually most of the boilers i see are leaking or broke we dont get asked to look at boilers that are working fine are you judging them on those you go to replace ? have you asked your self how old they actually are i see vailants of over 20 years still going strong in fact my own is 23 years old

each to there own, but I am not Gas safe and so have never been to a property to replace the boiler. every time I go to a property to do some work on central heating and it is vaillant, the pressure has to go up to 1.5-2 bar (only boilers that need this) the AAV is always leaking and other parts are usually leaking. the heat exchangers get blocked quickly and to be honest it is very rare I go to a property that has worcester Bosch

 

[dwgas]

Only time will tell with Ideal Logic, lets not forget the icos and isar.

 

[tamz]

The ideal is a decent boiler. Been out a few years now. Fit what you like. I do.