Is this boiler any good?

[BoltonSte]

I can get a v.v.v.v good price* on a Saunier Duval Thermaclassic F30E SB.

I currently have a baxi bahama, which although efficient, maintains this by slowing the hot water down to a trickle to heat it. The current Baxi is 10 years old so was thinking of maybe changing if the above is better, I'll be converting my celler so seems a good time to change.

Anyone in the know?

*£250 to be precise.

Ta

Ste

[LK-SV]

Never heard of it .... but 10 years is nothing for a boiler (unless you're having problems with it)

[454697819]

buy it, keep it incase the other one goes pop, but dont go to the effort of changing it if it aint broke?

[Well Oiled]

Buy a cheap boiler from an unknown maker at your peril. I did and had quite a bit of trouble with it. Finally it packed in a couple of years ago. When? - you guessed it - right in the middle of a cold snap like this one.

Luckily I have a mate who's a gas fitter. He shuffled his jobs around and fitted me a replacement one next day. This time we got a baxi. He's been fitting them for 20 years and has hardly had any problems with 'em.

You have been warned

HTH Keith

[dirtydog]

As the saying goes you get what you pay for

[Bluefish]

saunier duval is hardly an unknown make, but would not be at the top of my list, but if the price is right? edit, you can have the most expensive boiler or the cheapest, either way does not mean you will/won't have problems, you pays your money and takes your chance, they all go wrong.

[BoltonSte]

It's only cheap because they are 'nearly new' they were fitted into new apartments in the IOM, only for the gas pressure to be too low to run them all. So they are being taken out and replaced (they've been fired up once on installation to check they work).

Bluefishman, according to the bumph I can find, these are about as efficient as my current BAXI one. What I'm really after is something that doesn't fall to a trickle when I run the hot.

What would you reccomend as a good choice for a 3bed, 4 storey terrace?

Ste

[454697819]

Depends where your Hot taps are in relation to the floors and the flow rate coming into your house. If you have a slow flow rate in, you will only get a slow flow out the boiler.

[BoltonSte]

It's weird though, the cold belts out. Although we do have issues with pressure when other people are using the water as it's an old row of cottages with a single supply pipe (planning on connecting to the mains at the front when I do the celler).

Here's the symptoms:

Hot water on - High flow
Hot water begins to get warm - Flow slows
Hot water not touched - Flow slows right down, flow through boiler is slowed and it stops heating, flow pics up and the cycle begins again.

It may be tap related though as neither of us seem to recall it doing it outside the kitchen. But you do have to turn the flow right down to get a good hot bath.

Ste

[littleperson]

One of the best is Worcester Bosch - not the chepaest but good

[beabert]

Here's the symptoms:

Hot water on - High flow
Hot water begins to get warm - Flow slows
Hot water not touched - Flow slows right down, flow through boiler is slowed and it stops heating, flow pics up and the cycle begins again.Our combination boiler does that, aprt from the last bit as i keep opening the tap, i assume it was normal as other combis ive used also do it. You just keep having to open the tap more and more if you want the hot water partially on, unless ofcourse you just open the tap fully staight away like you would to run a bath.

[Bluefish]

svste, i would say worcester bosch are the best and you get 5 years warranty with them, but with 4 floors you don't want to have the boiler fitted on the bottom floor, otherwise you will need one hell of an expansion vessell fitted.
If flow out of one hot tap is ok, then the problem could be either the taps or problems with the supply, ie too much demand, and not the boiler causing the fault.

[BoltonSte]

At the moment the boiler is in the celler (I'd like to keep it there if possible as it is out of the way.

Here's the break down:

Celler - Mains inlet, 2 rads, washer (would like to have a sink later)
Ground - Kitchen, front room, 2 rads (small one in kitchen)
1st - 2 bedrooms, bathroom, 4 rads
loft - Bedroom and ensuite (shower/bath, sink, loo) rad and towel heater thingummy bob that runs off the C/H.

What's the expansion vessel do? At present I'm pretty sure it's a bog standard boiler, but we do struggle with WP if running the loft and Kitchen (hopefully the switch to the mains from the feed will make some diff. to this)

Ste

[Quiff Wichard]

you can get £400 off the government at moment cant you .? if you changing to a more efficient boiler..

[Old Git]

svste, I used to sell Saunier Duval boilers through a merchants a couple of years ago.
Well known in Europe where they are seen in a much more highly rated light in general.
SD were, when I had connections couple of years ago, part of the vailant group, made in the same derbyshire factory, side by side, I went to the plant & watched.
But...... think they were effectivly discontinued in UK a year ago, they said they were going to pull out & concentrate on supplies in Europe where they got better prices.
I am out of the loop now, so unless someone else has taken up the challenge, IF something went wrong in the future, you may get lumped with a boiler struggling for spares, although as I say many many vailant parts were interchangable.
Baxi used to do 'Platinums' which had I think 5 year guarantee & Worcesters are very good, although my son works for them, so i would say that wouldn't I!!!!!!!!!
Best of luck.

[Old Git]

you can get £400 off the government at moment cant you .? if you changing to a more efficient boiler..
Think you will find had to be replacing a 'G' rated boiler with high efficiency thou. to comply & must get the leaflet/voucher before it is bought/installed, these are date coded & are only valid for i think 4 weeks from supply, then they are defunked so you have to get em & use em stragiht away to stop people stockpiling them & selling them on.

[BoltonSte]

The current one isn't G rated, it's C/D I think. The same rating applies to the SD one. But there's not a huge amount on the web about them. My main concern was that the weird flow thing and having to run the tap slow to fill the bath hot were down to the boiler.

So for now, I'll stick with what I've got, then I'll upgrade when I do the celler as the boiler needs moving anyways.

Cheers for the input.

Ste

[Foey]

Our combination boiler does that, aprt from the last bit as i keep opening the tap, i assume it was normal as other combis ive used also do it. You just keep having to open the tap more and more if you want the hot water partially on, unless ofcourse you just open the tap fully staight away like you would to run a bath.


We have a Vailant combi boiler but don't get any slowing of flow when the water gets hot, the hot tap flows at the same rate at all temperatures, only time we get a slowing of flow is when you open another hot tap.

[BoltonSte]

That's what I thought should happen.

Everytime it gets seviced, they say it's superefficien...it will be it slows down that much it should heat it efficiently.

Ah well, it does the job for the time being.

Ste

[beabert]

We have a Vailant combi boiler but don't get any slowing of flow when the water gets hot, the hot tap flows at the same rate at all temperatures, only time we get a slowing of flow is when you open another hot tap.So from cold, if you open the tap just enough for a slow trickle, it remains a slow trickle all the way until the water is at its hottest?

I find on the 2 or 3 combis i have had, the trickle stops, so i open it up fully first, wait until its up to temperature then turn it down to a trickle lol.

[454697819]

One of the best is Worcester Bosch - not the chepaest but good

my dad now only fits Worcester as the hassle he has had with other boilers he says inst worth it.