On 02/02/2012 11:10, Mike Harrison wrote:
Looking around for candidates to replace my 15-odd year old boiler, spent an evening looking around
for reviews, comments etc at the few sites that review this sort of thing.
This site seemed to have about the most reviews
http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews247100.html

It strikes me that pretty much every manufacturer has some users with horror stories, but of course
most of the reviews are from dissatisfied users as happy people won't often bother posting
information, and without any indications of the installed base, a small number of samples is not a
statistically reliable indicator.

Indeed... self selecting groups are not really that reliable.

Geoff will be along shortly to give you his take (his company
refurbishes PCBs and Fans etc for many boilers - and hence gets a much
better view of the commonly failing models).

There are clearly a few obvious 'to-avoids' with so many reports of problems, bad service, failure
to honour warranties etc. that they can easily be ruled out, e.g. Ferrolli ( many reports of bad
customer service and poor parts availability) , Ideal ISAR 35 (100 reviews with 1-star avarage) ,
but most of the rest are too far below the noise to be a useful guide.

Reports would seem to support that the ISARs have a fairly high failure
rate, although having said that, I fitted one shortly after they came
out (i.e. before the problems became well known), and it worked
exceedingly well with only one minor problem in the four or so years
that I owned it before selling the house.

Although there are a few comments from installers who have installed a large number of a particular
model, I suspect that after an initial period they may not see a lot of the longer term problems as
users will more likely be talking to the manufacturer's service/warranty people.

Its interesting that the boiler makers have got very good at inserting
themselves into a customer relationship which technically speaking has
nothing to do with them! However it suits the installers since it lets
them off the hook. Probably not good for their future revenue, but at
the same time frees them from the complexities of keeping up to date
with the techniques necessary for fault finding on what has become a
complex bit of technology, with a sophisticated control system.

Seems to me that apart from some specific models with particular design flaws, probably the most
important thing for long term peace of mind is how good the manufacturer is at providing spares and
support, combined with ease of repair and parts cost.

If I were looking for a kitchen appliance, I know that going to Bosch, Miele etc. would give me a
pretty good chance of getting something reliable at a premium price, however I've yet to find if
there are any comparable 'quality brands' when it comes to boilers.

I can do most repairs myself, and not at all worried about electrical/electronics as that's
something I know inside out.

So from this perspective, any recommendations, good or to-avoid for a ~30KW condensing Combi where
reliability, servicability and manufacturer service are good, even it if costs more?

This is anecdotal, rather than based on hard numbers, however:

Vaillant seem to be building a good reputation at the moment, and indeed
their kit is very nicely put together. WB was for sometime frequently
recommended, but more recent reports seem to suggest the position has
been slipping a little.

Others in this group have had good results with Viseman, Man Eco
Hometec, & Keston.


--
Cheers,

John.

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