Which Worcester-Bosch Combi?
 

At the risk of kicking off yet another combi thread...

I'm very confused by the plethora of different W-B condensing boilers on
offer, and what the difference is between them. Trogging through the
blurb on the mfr's website is like a game of 'spot the difference' - I
don't know why they can't publish a straightforward comparison table.

There seems to be:
Greenstar CDi (25CDi, 30CDi, 35CDi, 40CDi)
Greenstar Si (25Si, 30Si)
Greenstar Junior (24i junior, 28i junior)
HE Combi (25 HE, 30 HE)
HE Plus Combi (30 HE Plus, 35 HE Plus, 40 HE Plus)

CDi and Si seem to be comparably priced; with the Junior and HE a fair
bit cheaper. As I reckon I want about 28kW, I'm apparently in the
market for any of the above AFAICS? Anyone done the research and care
to enlighten me?!

Thanks
David

I has 24i and it was seriously unreliable and expensive to fix - just
out of guarantee. Crap basically.

Lobster wrote:

At the risk of kicking off yet another combi thread...

as if.....

I'm very confused by the plethora of different W-B condensing boilers on
offer, and what the difference is between them. Trogging through the
blurb on the mfr's website is like a game of 'spot the difference' - I
don't know why they can't publish a straightforward comparison table.

I thought they had a selection program on their website to guide you
to the correct boiler?

I think it plays the theme from "The Omen" when you choose a combi ;-)


--

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:49:25 +0000, Lobster wrote:

At the risk of kicking off yet another combi thread...

I'm very confused by the plethora of different W-B condensing boilers on
offer, and what the difference is between them. Trogging through the
blurb on the mfr's website is like a game of 'spot the difference' - I
don't know why they can't publish a straightforward comparison table.

There seems to be:
Greenstar CDi (25CDi, 30CDi, 35CDi, 40CDi)
Greenstar Si (25Si, 30Si)
Greenstar Junior (24i junior, 28i junior)
HE Combi (25 HE, 30 HE)
HE Plus Combi (30 HE Plus, 35 HE Plus, 40 HE Plus)

CDi and Si seem to be comparably priced; with the Junior and HE a fair
bit cheaper. As I reckon I want about 28kW, I'm apparently in the
market for any of the above AFAICS? Anyone done the research and care
to enlighten me?!

With the regulatory changes (so that only condensing can be officially
fitted) the manufacturers, pricing and models seem to be in turmoil.

The Si range are system boilers.
I think that the Juniors are replacements
for the earlier CD range with smaller cases (i.e. more cramped components).



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:49:25 GMT, Lobster
wrote:

At the risk of kicking off yet another combi thread...



It's a good time.

When there's another six running, one more makes little difference.

Did you think about two 14kW ones? VBG


--

..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

Ed Sirett wrote:
On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:49:25 +0000, Lobster wrote:

I'm very confused by the plethora of different W-B condensing
boilers on offer, and what the difference is between them.
Trogging through the blurb on the mfr's website is like a game of
'spot the difference' - I don't know why they can't publish a
straightforward comparison table.
The Si range are system boilers.

Erm - don't think so (see http://tinyurl.com/83uoh or
http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=product.detail&con_id=125934 )

Actually I've just found a pdf brochure on the W-B site which (on p27)
gives a comparison matrix of all their boilers; just what i was looking
for before! But hey, I'm still none the wiser; they all seem to almost
indistinguishable other than the obvious differences in output - see
http://tinyurl.com/aq8nf (or
http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=site.viewFile&id=129684

I think that the Juniors are replacements for the earlier CD range
with smaller cases (i.e. more cramped components).

Dimensions of the Juniors are 710x330x330 mm; identical to the Si range
and a bit smaller than the rest. Does that mean their performance is
compromised by being crammed with their condensers into a suboptimal
space? And why are they cheaper than the Si's??

Still very confused...!

David

Matt wrote:
Lobster wrote:

I'm very confused by the plethora of different W-B condensing boilers on
offer, and what the difference is between them. Trogging through the
blurb on the mfr's website is like a game of 'spot the difference' - I
don't know why they can't publish a straightforward comparison table.

I thought they had a selection program on their website to guide you
to the correct boiler?

Mm, they do; that's where I'm coming from actually. From my specs, it
picked out 4 apparently equally suitable condensing combis, and apart
from the obvious output differences (approx proportional to the
respective boiler ratings) I can't see any obvious differences in them!

David

Greenstar CDi (25CDi, 30CDi, 35CDi, 40CDi)
New condensing combi range. Replaces the HE Plus.

Greenstar Si (25Si, 30Si)
New condensing combi range. Replaces the HE.

Greenstar Junior (24i junior, 28i junior)
Compact version in smaller case.

HE Combi (25 HE, 30 HE)
The old range, being discontinued.

HE Plus Combi (30 HE Plus, 35 HE Plus, 40 HE Plus)
The old range, with various extras and option of increased power. Being
discountinued.

Don't forget the CDi Xtra (no Greenstar). Avoid that like the plague. It
isn't a Greenstar CDi on the cheap.

Christian.

Thanks Christian...

Christian McArdle wrote:
Greenstar CDi (25CDi, 30CDi, 35CDi, 40CDi)
New condensing combi range. Replaces the HE Plus.

Greenstar Si (25Si, 30Si)
New condensing combi range. Replaces the HE.

OK, so what's the difference between the 25 and 30 kW versions of these
two (ie why the overlap between the ranges)?

Greenstar Junior (24i junior, 28i junior)
Compact version in smaller case.

Yeah that's what Ed said too. However, as I mentioned in my reply to
him, the dimensions stated on the W-B site are identical to the Si!

HE Combi (25 HE, 30 HE)
The old range, being discontinued.

OK, so we'll drop them off the shortlist then.

Don't forget the CDi Xtra (no Greenstar). Avoid that like the plague. It
isn't a Greenstar CDi on the cheap.

Already forgotten! I'd read your previous posts on that!

Cheers
David

OK, so what's the difference between the 25 and 30 kW versions of these
two (ie why the overlap between the ranges)?

I don't know exactly. On the old HE, there were differences in programmers,
weather compensation and such like. I would suspect similar differences. It
would probably require a trawl through the detailed technical specs.

Christian.

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:03:08 +0000, Lobster wrote:

Ed Sirett wrote:
On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:49:25 +0000, Lobster wrote:

I'm very confused by the plethora of different W-B condensing
boilers on offer, and what the difference is between them.
Trogging through the blurb on the mfr's website is like a game of
'spot the difference' - I don't know why they can't publish a
straightforward comparison table.
The Si range are system boilers.

Erm - don't think so (see http://tinyurl.com/83uoh or
http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=product.detail&con_id=125934 )

This is seriously confusing.
I worked on a 28Si earlier this year and that was not a combi.
But a 30 Si is....

Um...


--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html

Christian McArdle wrote:

Greenstar Junior (24i junior, 28i junior)

Compact version in smaller case.

Using "Junior" to imply a small case always seems like a bit of a
marketing goof to me. Junior normally implies less well featured or "cut
down" in my mind. "Greenstar Compact" would sound a little more classy
don't you think?


--
Cheers,

John.

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Ed Sirett wrote:
On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 22:03:08 +0000, Lobster wrote:

Ed Sirett wrote:

On Tue, 16 Aug 2005 18:49:25 +0000, Lobster wrote:

I'm very confused by the plethora of different W-B condensing
boilers on offer, and what the difference is between them.
Trogging through the blurb on the mfr's website is like a game of
'spot the difference' - I don't know why they can't publish a
straightforward comparison table.

The Si range are system boilers.

Erm - don't think so (see http://tinyurl.com/83uoh or
http://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/index.php?fuseaction=product.detail&con_id=125934 )

This is seriously confusing.
I worked on a 28Si earlier this year and that was not a combi.
But a 30 Si is....

OK, enough is enough - time for a chat with W-B technical! I asked them
specifically about these ranges:

Junior:
- Aimed at contract market
- Has no temp control for HW, this is factory-set (unlike other models)
- (Same size case as Si)

Si:
- Very similar to Junior but with user-adjustable HW temp.
- Same heat exchanger
- Better HW flow rate (although I think this is proportional to the
nominal power outputs, which don't match between Si and Junior)

CDi:
- Top-end model
- Has different heat exchanger to others, with bigger surface area
- Condenses in HW mode as well as CH mode, which gives it an overall
actual efficiency rating of about 97%, compared with normal SEDBUK
ratings of about 90% for this and all the other W-Bs (SEDBUK doesn't
assess HW condensing)

So there we have it!
David