"Ed Sirett" wrote in message
news
On Wed, 16 Nov 2005 10:26:33 +0000, Stuart Noble wrote:

rebecca g wrote:
Hi, I've got an ariston combi boiler that decided to die last week.
I've had a plumber round who has told me it's Ariston's only unreliable
model that caused major headaches for everyone who tried to repair it
back in the day (mine looks like it was installed in 1992). Has anyone
heard of a similar ariston problem or am I being conned into installing
a new one? Does anyone have any idea how much I should expect to pay
in London to get a new boiler installed, including flushing the
pipes/radiators etc?
Thanks!



Most Corgis are just fitters. If the fault is obvious, and the part
readily available, they'll do it. Otherwise, they'll tell you the
boiler's too old and was a dog from the start.
See if you can find the local stockist of Ariston spares and ask them to
suggest an engineer.
If you go for a new one, shop around. Easy to check boiler prices on the
web. It's probably going to take 2 blokes half a day, so work out how
much you think they should be paid. The last Corgi I hired quoted £800
labour but eventually did the job for £350 so it's worth haggling.

I agree with most but not all of the above.
Firstly no boiler is unrepairable but as they get older they tend to
become beyond economic repair.

Often the manufacturers have a service division which whilst not cheap is
likely to be able to perform a diagnosis.

If you post the exact symptoms someone here is likely to make a good
educated guees as to which components have failed and what they likely
costs of replacement are.

It is true that Ariston are not in the upper half of the spectrum of
reliability.

I have an Ariston Microgenus. It is fitted off a cold tank for DHW and is
very reliable. 2 yr guarantee and 5 on the plate heat exchanger. Everything
is easy to access inside. I bought it as it was at the time the smallest
sized, in casing, combi available. Well specced too.

The early Aristons were not that reliable, but the new generation are much
superior and they now give 5 years guarantee across the board to many
models. Alpha are doing the same.