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We used Heatable who weren't too bad - they outsource everything but its definitely fixed price. They came to install and realised they had to run a bigger gas pipe from the meter to the boiler that was all included absorbed in the original quote.
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From my limited experience, relating entirely to combi boilers:
- Every heating engineer has a brand preference and good reasons why you should never go anywhere else.
- Worcester, Vaillant, Viesmann all seem to be highly rated (and Baxi, above!)
- Worcester had the highest warranty (I think it was 10, upgraded to 12 if you got their fitter) although warranties pointless unless you follow their service plan.
- I strongly considered Viesmann because various reviews said they are objectively better (though I can’t remember why, maybe something to do with the heat exchanger itself?). I didn’t get Viesmann as they are newer to the UK and so apparently have fewer engineers —> longer call out time etc. and they didn’t have one as powerful
- I then got a completely overpowered boiler (50Kw)- deliberately - for reasons that made no sense to me they seem to rank boilers by how many radiators they can run, but a boiler that can run 15 rads has a higher flow rate (litres per minute of hot water at a particular temp coming out of the taps) than a boiler that can run fewer radiators. As a normal human being I wanted a piping hot shower with pressure that could strip the skin from my flesh and (the advantage of a combi) never run out. I don’t think any combi can be as good as a high pressure system, but the one we got was pretty fantastic tbh if expensive (Worcester Bosch greenstar Style or Life (can’t remember) 50kW - 20.3 litres/minute at some temperature can’t remember.
- To accommodate that, and because everything was being ripped out anyway, I also had a new wider bore water main installed (water pressure from street was great, so it was worth doing), and a new wider bore gas main installed (they were moving the pipes anyway so wider bore wasn’t a big deal) to make sure the boiler got the maximum juice possible.
Result - two showers at the same time possible, no more shouting downstairs “please stop doing the washing up” etc.
- Every heating engineer has a brand preference and good reasons why you should never go anywhere else.
seager
t.o.
@NurseHolliday
A couple of friends both on here and not have sent me some recommendations so will ring a few people up and get quotes.
Wife is anti getting a new boiler but I seem to have convinced her that they don't make boilers to last 40 years any more.
I am hoping that since it was upgraded from standard + hot water tank to combi just under 10 years ago, that there's no major pipework changes needed but happy to listen to whatever the professional says.