"Alan Deane" wrote in message
.com...
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.

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.

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.

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?

Vaillant or Worcester-Bosch gets my vote.

Oh my God. Ever heard of Intergas or ATAG? I doubt it.