Brian Reay wrote:
A slightly frivolous question.

I happened to be tidying up the DVD collection and came across A Year in
Provence. A few of the 'one liners' ran through my mind and one which
has always perplexed me is that Belgium makes the best CH boilers.

I've never actually seen/heard of a Belgium boiler.

Are any imported into the UK? Is there any truth in this claim?

(I'm not planning to buy one.)





Going back a bit to when the industrial revolution in Europe had matured
Belgium had some well known names
in industrial production of Locomotives,boilers and similar heavy
industrial equipment.
One of the well known names was Franco- Belge which as the name implies
was part French but due the turmoil of war and economics another company
was also set up and became Anglo- Belge due to UK investors.
The heavy side has gone over the years but a company bearing the name
Franco-Belge has been well known as a supplier of solid fuel stoves and
ranges some with boilers and claim the lineage of going back decades
though recently it appears they did cease trading for a while till the name
was bought again by a new owner.
A quick glance at the WWW shows they do oil and gas as fuelled equipment as
well but the UK suppliers
tend to just stick to the wood burner/multi fuel stove market though I have
seen a Franco-Belge Range in the past.

Another Belgium company name that has lingered on in some form is
Cockerill which was founded by an Englishman in the early 19th century,the
present operation still does boilers but AFAIK their output has always been
industrial sized not domestic.


GH