Boilers

General Chat
141

ISTR that the thing with heat pumps is that they tend not to be hugely powerful nor to supply very hot water to your rads, if you’re thinking of a rad-based system rather than ducted air. So they work best if you can run them all day (and even all night) and let your house warm up to the temperature you want and then stay there because it’s well-insulated and draught-proofed.

I would have loved to have had one, but for most of our lives we’ve both worked. So the house has been empty all day and we’ve let it go cool. The gas C/H has been set to come on instantly and at full blast half an hour before we got home to give us 3-4 warm hours in the evening before going off again. Likewise for an hour or two in the mornings. Hot water demand was strongly peaked, so a combi boiler worked best. In our big old solid-walled Victorian house it’s needed to be a 25-30kW one. That was beyond the reach of realistic domestic heat pumps.

VB

142

Solar panels as well mate. Make the investment while you are young enough to get the return.

143

It’s a big house, roughly 300sqm, so whilst we will be insulating the fuck out of it as part of the renovations, it’s going to be a seriously expensive ground source system to cover that much volume. The only balance is that we’ll be installing a 25kW stove in the main living space which will do a lot when the weather is particularly cold.

Need to investigate if there are any eco schemes available.

144

The system in France is fucked; you have to basically sell everything back to EDF and the price they pay has fallen through the floor. The in-laws have been badly bitten by this; the timescale to get the ROI is about 20 years now, on units that are only expected to last about 10.

145

Boo!

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John we use over sized rads and put it together from the ground up ie full renovation. The hot water is picked up from solar thermal panels. As you know electricity is a lot cheaper in France. The area we use is not dissimilar to yours. Like I said worth investigating, it works for us. We supplement the heating with a log burner in the winter.

1 Like
147

We’ve got a ground source heat pump with under floor heating in our house (in eastern France) that we’re very happy with. Total energy cost for the 250 sqm house is around 1600 Euro p.a. at the mo. The house is only 10 years old though so there’s serious insulation. Warm in winter & cool in summer.
Send me a pm if you’d like more info.

148

No we’re not, the price increased dramatically once he provided the quote.

Intergas Rapid 25 instead, which is what I originally wanted anyway.

Might be done next month, depends whether or not I give up with this chap and go with a slightly more expensive person.

149

I’ve just been told that my 7yr old Worcester Bosch is on the way out, the pressure keeps dropping which is apparently due to the heat exchanger. It’s been serviced every year. It won’t be worth repairing apparently. FFS. Pathetic quality. Can’t see my buying another Worcester.

150

Where’s Stu when he’s needed ?

151

You’ve done well to get 7 years. Ours is crap as well.

152

For what very little it is worth, this is what I would do in this situ.

I would begin by asking myself the question of how much do I trust the opinion of the ‘engineer’ in question. If I don’t, then I would be getting a second opinion or at the very least get a detailed analysis from him of the issue.

I’m assuming the main heat cell is split and that the primary water is getting into the combustion chamber and draining through the condensate trap? You say it has been serviced every year? Has the water condition been checked regularily ie the ph? Is there a filter on it, has it been serviced as per the manufacturers instructions?

If this is so then I would be crafting a polite, informed yet slightly humorous letter to Worcester asking if they would like to inspect the heat exchanger to see if it could help improve manufacturing processes after all if lowly manufacturers like Ideal can manage it why can’t Worcester?. I’ve found sandwiches in my van that have lasted longer than that heat-ex.

Bad luck unfortunately if it is. What model out of interest is it?

2 Likes
153

Thanks for the reply Stu. It is amazing that this is one of the busiest threads on here.

It does have a good filter attached to it. I have spoken to the guy who fitted it (who I trust) who said exactly the same as you. He doesn’t do servicing but is sceptical and says he will come and give me a second opinion.

I think it is a 30i.

154

7 years for a WB boiler ? oh my life thats crazy . i would definately be taking a touch of cloths advice . i would want at least double that from a boiler

1 Like
155

I’m sure double bucket is on its way to you, carriage is free

156

It wasn’t the most basic model. It’s in a rental flat of mine.

157

recently had a 7 year vaillant pack up a week after it was serviced . called back my usual engineer who serviced it and he felt it could be a number of things . all expensive . we talked about replacing it but he said he would have to replace the flue as well and as its vertical its not cheap .

anyway he suggested calling out vaillant who have a insurance policy through D&G whereby if you pay 49 quid a month for 6 months they will fix whatever it needs . he came out fixed it all and suggested a flush so got that done by my engineer . so the boiler had lots of stuff done to it and has been working well ever sinceand could have cost a great deal more . i really prefer to get them fixed rather that completely replace . i must say i really do like vaillant , their engineers are first class .

158

They have a very bad reputation in the trade.

159

interesting , well had 2 repairs this year to my 19 year old vaillant which i nurse along and each time the engineers visit they never ever try to get me to by a new boiler , if i was with BG they would be giving me the hard sell i think

160

I had my Intergas Rapid 25 supplied and fitted last week, it is obviously, superb, so far.

They have far fewer moving parts in them (4, apparently), which is why it was my preferred choice. The Vaillants my friends/family own have all required obscure parts replaced at quite high cost.

Apparently, when an in-warranty Intergas fails, Intergas will arrange the repair and supply the engineer with a box which contains all 4 of the moving parts, so you shouldn’t be left in a situation where the engineer apologises for not having the correct part and you will need to wait a few more days.

The engineer I had preferred Ideal and tried to sell me a Vogue, but the cost difference was high enough to make me do a bit more research, the maintenance guys where I work all sing Intergas’ praises and theirs haven’t failed in the time they’ve had them (4+ years so far). The engineer said he would fit whatever I wanted and outlined the differences for him. He did say however, he doesn’t repair or fit Vaillant boilers (and he pronounced it properly) because they have lead him on a goose chase more than once. I did wonder if I should be worried by this, but I didn’t want a Vaillant anyway.

He also, during the initial visit to give me the quote, told me in detail what he suspected the fault would be on the existing Vokera, but wifey and I had already decided over Christmas that we wanted a replacement. After the install of the new boiler was done, he showed me the different problems on the Vokera which was removed and he had guessed correctly.

Of course, only time will tell, my choice may turn out to be a bad one, but, at the moment, the novelty of having scalding hot water at each hot tap when it is on full is huge. I’m confident so far, the engineers were both hard working and any hurdle they were presented with was sorted quickly - turned out to be one of those jobs I was completely fearing but it went smoothly.

I’ll be back in 5 years to either fan boy on Intergas or tell you to steer clear of them.