Oil fired boiler recommendation

[BumbleAbout]

Our old (think it dates from the 70's) oil boiler died this weekend with a hole in the boiler jacket and lots of water pouring out, but I'm hearing some horror stories about frequent parts replacement on many of the new condensing boilers - does anyone have a recommendation for a make that has been reliable for them please ?

[Dr Doof]

Worcester Bosch are good and come with a warranty of up to 5 years. Grant boilers also have a good reputation.

[BogMonster]

Anything that isn't a combi or a condensing boiler! I was going to say Worcester as well.

I'm going to have the same dilemma later in the year - almost everybody here uses bloody combi's and lots of them seem to only last a year or two then go all incontinent or (in one case literally) blow up (fire brigade job). I wouldn't have one if you gave it to me.

I like a gravity fed boiler with a header tank in the loft and a cylinder, Mother Nature's gravity doesn't go wrong that often and if it does you're gonna have bigger issues than hot water... anyway we don't have enough mains water pressure for a combi as we have our own storage tank.

[BumbleAbout]

We are being forced to buy a condensing boiler (more efficient etc) by regulations - so I don't really have a choice there and anything which uses less oil would be good !

An oil burning combi is not great since they are much slower to respond than gas ones and I'm not sure they are available in 32kw versions anway. Agree that I would like to retain gravity feed rather than pressurise many old connections for radiators etc.

Grant boilers seem to be recommended by installers, but there are many internet complaints about very unreliable hardware requiring frequent replacements from users on boilerjuice.com which slightly worried me.

Worcester apparently use an aluminium rather than stainless steel heat exchanger which the acidic condensate then destroys (need to dig further though) - or am I being unrealistic expecting a new boiler to last 20-30 years ?

I'm now additionally trying to understand whether I should retain the conventional stainless lined vertical flue or change to a balanced flue which might be slightly more efficient (not sure that I like the idea of a horizontal flue facing the oil tank about a foot away though).

[TIMO]

I fitted vaillant ecotec to my last three properties ( i buy and sell houses) and had no problems whatsoever ,

[Erin]

I'm not entirely sure about UK regs, but can they really force you to install a condensing boiler?

You shouldn't have a balanced flue within 1800mm of an oil tank (or more correctly, your oil tank shouldn't be within 1800 of an opening into the property).

[Gerry]

Also had a Valliant condensing gas boiler fitted in a previous house and very pleased with it (cut gas bills significantly compared with very old boiler it replaced) and no problems with it. Mind you, moved after 4 years so not a long term experience...

Related subject, has anyone looked into the latest air source heat pump systems to replace a gas/oil boiler? Some new systems now provide enough heat to directly run normal radiators (e.g. Daikin Altherma HT). They're supposed to be now getting competitive with off-grid applications like oil.

Gerry

[creachan]

I went Grant, Printed boards have gone twice,
advice,Get a boiler that spares will be at hand.They always break when you need the heat. Maybe keep away from pcb's.

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by BumbleAbout

am I being unrealistic expecting a new boiler to last 20-30 years ?

With modern disposable products you're probably being unrealistic to expect anything to last 20-30 years these days

[Razorbill RIBs]

Originally Posted by creachan

I went Grant, Printed boards have gone twice,
advice,Get a boiler that spares will be at hand.They always break when you need the heat. Maybe keep away from pcb's.

Re Grant - My experience too, ours is now 3 years old! PCB's have gone twice as well as pump and various other niggles.....usually fails at Christmas!

Also installed a cheapety cheap 'Firebird' in our rental property....no issues in two years!

Luck of the draw in my experience, but definately wouldn't buy another Grant in a hurry....meant to be a quality brand???? The customer service is badly wanting too IMO.