# Any plumbers? New boiler question



## halam (Apr 7, 2011)

I'm currently in the market for a new boiler. I'm deciding between a Vallient ecotec 38kw combi and a Worcester Bosch floor standing greenstar highflow 550 cdi combi. 

I'm leaning towards the floor standing Bosch due to the higher flow rate and kw. But not sure if the extra cost is worth it?

What are the pro's and con's of choosing a floor standing combi over a regular combi?


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## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

Worcester Bosch everyday of the week for me. It's what 99% of plumbers choose to fit. 

Not sure what the difference between the floor standing and a regular combi are


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## dholdi (Oct 1, 2008)

I doubt Worcester have a 99% market share.
I think you have almost answered your own question regarding floor mounted / wall hung.
They are designed to fit into a standard kitchen unit so the more space you have the more output that can be squeezed out of them.
In my opinion I would compare like for like.
Download the service manuals for both and compare how they are to work on.
Comparing the 2 you have mentioned in wall mount I wouldn't be choosing Worcester.


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## Juke_Fan (Jul 12, 2014)

Go for WB, been researching these myself as I need a new boiler and Vaillant are now produced in China and reliability is apparently suffering as a result.


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## Kap01 (Aug 12, 2007)

Juke_Fan said:


> Go for WB, been researching these myself as I need a new boiler and Vaillant are now produced in China and reliability is apparently suffering as a result.


Really? where have you read this?


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## Starbuck88 (Nov 12, 2013)

I had a vaillant boiler in our last place and served us fine for 3 years from new, it's still there now. 

This new house is some brand I've never heard of but seems man enough for the job, reliability well time will tell. It's an Ideal Logic 35 Combi


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## turbosnoop (Apr 14, 2015)

Had a wb fitted 1.5 years ago and its been great so far. It wasn't particularly expensive either. 
The plumber who fitted it left some air in a dhw pipe which was causing the flow switch to be noisey. It was his own fault, when I had him ring wb about it, they wanted to send an engineer out asap. Can't fault that? The plumber soon checked for air in the pipe and resolved the issue. Plonker


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## Juke_Fan (Jul 12, 2014)

Kap01 said:


> Really? where have you read this?


Was told this by a British Gas engineer who was repairing my current boiler (Glow Worm which is now part of Vaillant). He said it was better than the current Vaillant as a lot of the parts are from China now and they are starting to get less reliable.

This was one of the technical managers so have no reason not to believe him, but was a bit surprised myself :doublesho


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## J306TD (May 19, 2008)

Don't buy an Ideal boiler. Ours has just stopped for the second time in 6 months. Think the PCB has gone again as no power lights


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

We have had 2 wb boilers, the first was still going strong when we moved house and it Had been there for 18yrs, the second we have had for 8 yrs now and never had a days trouble from it. Never had any trouble from the first one either and never had it serviced either...


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## Caledoniandream (Oct 9, 2009)

Valiant is a German family owned heating system producer, and has been for almost 150 years.
They have pruduction plants in Germany (4) France, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Turkey and China.
They also sell around the world and have a big following in Asia.

In The Netherlands Valliant is and was top seller and recognised as the top in heating.
Had a Valliant for over 20 years got it serviced once a year and the only problem was in twenty years a sensor packed up.

Worcester Bosch has a good name in the UK, but is unknown outside the UK.
I have the feeling that it's much of a muchness, getting a good warranty from a decent installer is more important than what make.

Don't under estimate your heating requirements and let them do a good calculation on your house.
They may advise to change some of your radiators for a bigger output to make sure you can warm your house up easy enough. 

A cheaper offer can sometimes offer you to low capacity to have heating and hot water at the same time, nothing will be more annoying.


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## Ducky (Mar 19, 2007)

My local plumber told me that WB are probably the best boilers (and also the most expensive), but a bugger to work on. Valiant are a not quite so good but but easier to work on (and cheaper). 

We had a quote recently to replace our old boiler and the WB was about £500 more than the Valiant.


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## RedUntilDead (Feb 10, 2009)

I researched this for a year before deciding on a valliant 938. I love it.
You need to know your mains pressure and flow rate as you can only get out what you put in. I have a static pressure of 2.4 bar and flow of 17litres a minute.my boiler eats this and throws out hot water at max temp equal to the cold even with more than one tap running. Ours is a four bed two bathroom dwelling.
I opted for the storage option because I was worried about the flow if two showers ran together and have only experience of older combis. The valliant 838 is the same boiler without tank storage which would be just as good but hey ho.
I deal with lots of installers and everyone has there own ideas.
Around here the Baxi duo tech range is by far the most popular seller, good boiler, well made, good price, easy to fit and great back up from Baxi hence its popularity with installers.
All seem to come with good warranties now (5-7 years).
I chose the valliant for its superior flow rates, the Baxi name of old put me off and we are not what they are made out to be imo.
Viessman are great boilers too just not as well known here. Very quiet, less parts to go wrong and very solid.


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

Juke_Fan said:


> Go for WB, been researching these myself as I need a new boiler and Vaillant are now produced in China and reliability is apparently suffering as a result.


It's a good job I bought my Valliant boiler six years ago and it's been brilliant.


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

halam said:


> I'm currently in the market for a new boiler. I'm deciding between a Vallient ecotec 38kw combi and a Worcester Bosch floor standing greenstar highflow 550 cdi combi.
> 
> I'm leaning towards the floor standing Bosch due to the higher flow rate and kw. But not sure if the extra cost is worth it?
> 
> What are the pro's and con's of choosing a floor standing combi over a regular combi?


Make sure you install Magni clean to the boiler, worth it's wait in Gold and it will stop iron deposits, sludge from getting through your boiler.


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## G.P (Dec 13, 2011)

RedUntilDead said:


> All seem to come with good warranties now (5-7 years).


One of my local's fit's either Gloworm (part of Vallaint) due to it causing him less trouble or Ideal as it's warrantied for ten years..


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## Juke_Fan (Jul 12, 2014)

Just got my WB fitted. Glad to see the back of my Gloworm as it has been nothing but trouble since Jan this year (Had British Gas out 7 times now plus National Grid 3 times :doublesho). That said it has been fine for the last 6 years.

The WB Greenstar 24Ri seems a solid bit of kit, very well made, the innards certainly look more substantial than the Gloworm and Gas engineer says he thinks WB are better than Vaillant so feeling like I made the right choice in the end:thumb:

Would certainly echo the advice re getting a system (magnetic) cleaner. I have had one the last 6 years and the water in my system was so clean it didn't even need a cleanse let alone a power flush (it was cleansed regardless though just to be sure).

If anyone has one of the original Magnaclean professional, you can get a replacement internal sheath that also filters non-magnetic particles for about £20.


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