New Boiler installation

[sp25]

Dear all,
My boiler has given up few months ago and urgently in need of a new boiler. It'a very big decision as its a huge amount and i want to be able to install a reliable one. Having suffered with no heating/hot water i am very cautious esp as i have a little baby.

I have narrowed it down to Baxi platinum HE28 A. It was a tough choice between Baxi, Vaillant Ecotech Pro & Vaillant Ecotech Plus.

I am not sure which is the best as there seems to be lots of brands and also mixed opinions. However, I was hoping you could share your expert opinions please.

Thanks in advance.

 

[sp25]

To be honest I started as a complete novice to everything but saw how badly people were being treated by tradesmen and their attitudes at the time as a 19 year old .
Asked when I was stuck never been afraid to ask although you soon learn half the so called experts are numpties wearing blinkers !
Started getting asked to do building work and thought why the hell not ,used the right guys that were hungry and keen ,19 and driving a brand new Hilux and owning a new Mini excavator , out at 4.30 am digging graves before starting normal work ! all on the never never , Got a call one day to be at a customers house at 8.0clock in the morning for a bunch of stuck up landscape designers !
Anyway a £100 job turned into millions of pounds worth of work as the client loved my attitude and ability to think out side the box and yes plenty of sucking up too !

Thanks Basildog,
Absolutely love your attitude and work ethic! Your hard work and determination seems to have paid off and its nice to hear inspiring life stories such as yours! I have had a fair share of climbing up the ladder too with my hard work. Started with almost nothing but determination to succeed by working hard and a smile on my face. I have finally got into a career i love. Still got a long way to go and people like you motivate many like myself..thanks for sharing!

Wish you the very best with everything

 

[sp25]

I am a bad man.

What i'm trying to say is I think possibly you're over-thinking this. This earlier post was what gave me that impression the most:



You rang Baxi 4 times?

I get it. You want the best boiler for your money. If I hadn't have had hot water/heating for 3 months and a baby, i'd have gotten 3 quotes as quickly as possible from word of mouth recommendations and taken recommendations from friends /family and respective installers, made a decision quickly and gotten heating & hot water in the property as fast as possible. It's not hard. Not ring Baxi 4 times etc with queries you could settle much more quickly by getting a GSR around to the house.

If this is the amount of research and time you're spending just on the boiler, you should be spending 5 times that researching your installer.

Lets hope you get it in by next xmas eh?

Lol..im sure you're not!

All well with your advice if you have about £2k in your bank account or if you're blessed with rich family and friends ;-)

Each time i spoke to Baxi was about a different matter - requesting for info not available on their website...each time i parted with them much more knowledgeable about their model, service, guarantee etc., so it was worth getting all that info straight from them rather than assuming things. If I had known all the questions i was to ask them beforehand it would have been a single call...but sometimes u come across something which you haven't known before..

Installer has also been researched. Bumped into an installer, got them to come and give a quote and they were not pushy...read about them on independent website on their customer feedback etc., so fingers crossed they'll be good.. otherwise will rant here with their names in few weeks time!

yes, installation fixed just in time for xmas! looking forward to a warm and cosy Christmas! yay!

 

[sp25]

Did you do this much research when picking the wife ? :love:

Of course I did.. as it's lifetime investment! You're very smart enough to have figured that out! ;-)

I know for sure now that my relationship is built on great foundation...im confident it'll be hassle free and less repairs will be required ;-0)

 

[SimonG]

If you get the installer right, then you will get the right boiler.

 

[PhoenixServices]

Sp25 let us know how the install goes.

 

[sp25]

Thanks everyone,
Yes will keep you updated on how the install goes next week!

Confirming with Baxi Platinum HEA28 today!

1) Can you please recommend a good/reliable/(reasonable) thermostat? timer controller for the Baxi please.

I currently have a honeywell thermostat (dial with temperature in degrees) wired into the hallway (away from the boiler). It still works i believe as i used to use it with my old Glowworm 80e. Although this thermostat was used to adjust the temperature i mostly used the integrated timer in the boiler itself for water temp, radiator temp, timer etc.,

However, i prefer not to touch the boiler ever if possible after the initial set up. I want to be able to control the timer set up from the hallway or elsewhere without needing to go to the boiler. I want to be able to do regular adjustments of in/out of the house thingy with the thermostat if possible...prefer a seven day one if its reasonable.

the closest i found was Baxi wireless 7 day programmable thermostat nearing £100. Any equivalent or better models - please advice.

2) Is it possible to use the same wires from my current thermostat to the new 7 day one as i prefer wired than wireless due to the boiler being in kitchen and thermostat wire being in hallway and any potential wireless issues.

3) Would you recommend going for the weather sensor? My worry is that if this gadget has an error i should be able to override it as i have read horror stories of sensor not working and then boiler relying on it to start!

Easiest is to set the timings in the integrated timer in the boiler and save my hard earned money by using the existing honeywell dialer which still works!

Please share your opinions..

Thanks,

 

[rpm]

Why don`t you ask your installer what he finds the best after all he is the man fitting and maintaining it all.

 

[sp25]

Why don`t you ask your installer what he finds the best after all he is the man fitting and maintaining it all.

Thanks, yes will be asking him too but want to get opinions from other GSR's as they will be working with a wide range of models and may know of compatible models that will fit Baxi.

 

[sp25]

Sp25 let us know how the install goes.

Dear all,
Baxi Platinum HE28A was installed just in time for Christmas!

Thanks for all your advice, suggestions and recommendations of Boilers.

Have decided to go with Salus RT500 thermostat but got to be installed after the holidays.

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Best wishes,

 

[stevetheplumber]

Dear all,
Baxi Platinum HE28A was installed just in time for Christmas!

Thanks for all your advice, suggestions and recommendations of Boilers.

Have decided to go with Salus RT500 thermostat but got to be installed after the holidays.

Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Best wishes,

i doubt if the salus came top of a which poll

 

[sp25]

i doubt if the salus came top of a which poll

It didn't, but Salus RT500 came with a good recommendation from the GSR who apparently had it installed in his home and had it with no trouble and sees it everywhere..

Talked through with him regarding my requirements, watched demo video, read amazon reviews (175 views #1 bestseller?)...most of all a wifi control with 7 day thermostat without breaking your budget and havent received a negative review from a GSR yet! ;-)

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Ideal Vogue every time.

Similar to a Vaillant in design but better value. More economical then any of the above. 10 year warranty and it looks pretty.

Bigger isn't always better, especially for combi's. The difference between a 28kw and a 24kw as far as hot water is concerned is about 2 mins longer to run a full (100 litre) bath, assuming you add no cold. The difference is the bigger the boiler the less chance you have of reducing short cycling on heating.

Hot water = approx 30% of your fuel bill
Heating = approx 70%

So the savings are in the heating and the way the system is designed, not how fast you can run a hot tap.

For a few extra quid you could add weather compensation and further increase the efficiency.

i agree with this ^

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Glad you got it sorted for Christmas dude

 

[Masood]

Have decided to go with Salus RT500 thermostat

I wouldn't. Have had too many problems with Salus.

 

[sp25]

I wouldn't. Have had too many problems with Salus.

If you wouldn't go with Salus, what would you recommend or which brand do you think has less trouble? Please share..

 

[tamz]

I've fitted 3 rt500's and had no problems. I was wary of fitting them as salus have proved to be too much trouble in the past but that is what they wanted. So far so good and they love them.

 

[Rickster123]

Honeywell for me

 

[dancinplumba]

Why does the salus have 5 switch points ? On,off,on,off,on ??? Makes no sense

 

[tamz]

Sorry it wasn't rt 500's i fitted (they are shyte). It was IT500's the internet ones.
If you want a std radio prog thermostat get a honeywell cm927 or similar

 

[Masood]

If you wouldn't go with Salus, what would you recommend or which brand do you think has less trouble? Please share..

Honeywell for me. Drayton MiTime is also good now, but have had problems with them in the past.

 

[sp25]

Sorry it wasn't rt 500's i fitted (they are shyte). It was IT500's the internet ones.
If you want a std radio prog thermostat get a honeywell cm927 or similar

oops, its the RT500 that i hv been recommended..

I didn't quite like it to begin with however got swayed by the GSR's personal review etc as in my previous post..
will have a look at the IT500 and honeywell for the cost diff etc.,

would prefer honeywell if its in the budget as my present honeywell dial thermostat is still fine..however its not a programmable one and i dont want to mess with the integral timer everytime i want to override a timer setting or to temporarily increase the heating few degrees. It would be handy to have a control that i can easily use on a daily basis and that prevents me from messing with the boiler..

it sounds simple but too many choices and not sure if some of the expensive ones are worth buying...happy to spend about £50 including installation. Would be prepared to go to about £80-100 max if it has amazing features and high flying reviews..

what do u think of Baxi wireless 7 day programmable thermostat?

 

[tamz]

It 500 costs around £140, cm927 and any other decent wireless programmable stat cost around £100+, a wired cm707 around £60

Installation excluded

 

[sp25]

It 500 costs around £140, cm927 and any other decent wireless programmable stat cost around £100+, a wired cm707 around £60

Installation excluded

thanks, my present honeywell thermostat apparently has two wires and therefore i need to either go for something which can manage with 2 wires or get a wireless one...
from reading about honeywell it seems it can manage with 2 wires,..so could go for a cm707 as its close enough to my budget..
IT500 seems too expensive for my needs and cant justify spending that on a controller..;-)

 

[dancinplumba]

Honeywell cm 901 and 907 are two wired, battery powered versions of the cm 921and 927 wireless prog stats