What makes a great boiler?

[kasser]

A little survey of what feature you guys think makes a gas boiler stand out from the rest.
Is it:

• brand (WB anyone?)
• flow rate
• hex material
• no Plate hex (intergas, Ferroli)
• efficiency (93.47% better than 93.43%)
• price
• anything else

To me it's the modulation factor. No point having a 100% efficient boiler if you need 5kW of heat and it's stuck at 30kW.


I also think efficiency is well overrated. Most manufacturers boast how efficient their boiler is. All condensing boilers should be efficient anyway but this is wasted if the house is not well-insulated or the boiler doesn't go into condensing mode because return temp is too high.

 

[Millsy 82]

The main thing is reliability and the second main thing is the after service. I'm not going to fit a boiler if when they have a problem they are without heat for a week before someone turns up.

 

[Rob Foster]

The main thing is reliability and the second main thing is the after service. I'm not going to fit a boiler if when they have a problem they are without heat for a week before someone turns up.

A trusted reliable GSR engineer who knows his boilers, but never WB they were good but no more. I would have an
Archie Kidd Boiler even second hand. centralheatking

 

[Sharp Point]

It’d be great if boilers could modulate do to under 1 kw to be really efficient. Capability to not be affected by sludge

 

[Scott_D]

Good layout for future maintenance and service.
Reliable.
Good manufacturer back up.

 

[king of pipes]

As above must be reliable easy to replace parts when eventually needed , with a decent warranty . Kop

 

[kasser]

Reliability is quite subjective isn't it? It's shaped by your experience mostly.
For e.g. some swear by Ideal, others not at all...
Can we have a few names of reliable boilers?

 

[Millsy 82]

Reliability is quite subjective isn't it? It's shaped by your experience mostly.
For e.g. some swear by Ideal, others not at all...
Can we have a few names of reliable boilers?

Not ideal

I like baxi dont think you can beat a duotec/ platinum for a combi even though slightly noisier than most. I look after a few viessman which seem fairly reliable but the cost puts a lot of people off and the parts are not cheap.

 

[kasser]

Quite like Baxi too. They pay a lot of attention to the small details. No silly thing like changing the seal every time you open the hex. Plenty of space to work, easy access.
Biasi is underrated as well. You get a stainless steel hex for this price.

 

[Rob Foster]

What makes a great Boiler.

Posts like this are great, we all have our opinion. By definition most posts
on UKPF are from
individual highly experienced Gsr Engineers who tell it straight because they want to put something back into this great industry. The figures are often mis leading. Sales are a test...Ideal sell more than any other according to Bisria stats
WB are very media savvy. I tend to use the Car analogy
Audi...Vaillant
Ford...WB maybe
Ideal...Dacia
but that is MY opinion

Its also a good way to sell these boilers to customers IMHO

centralheatking