Boiler choice

[gaz1]

actually there is a push for a better design by using downdraft boilers

 

[Kayos]

I was chatting to a guy who is a product specifier for a housing association and he reckons that the best combo boilers are made by the Dutch, he mentioned Atmos and another brand (slipped my mind), as apparently they are simpler with only two moving parts so have alot less to go wrong.
They started fitting them in their stock of housing about 6 years ago and their maintenance costs have halved!

Edit: It may have been Intergas

I'm keen to try intergas, but I'm old and set in my ways. Plus I'd need to sell it so would need a customer who has done research, my least favourite kind of customer

 

[sg66]

Moving parts, you need a fan, you need a circulation pump and you need solenoids to open close gas valve, that's the minimum, everything else can be monitored with electronics, ferroli make boilers with limited moving parts, problem is everyone puts hands in the air and screams when you mention them. Same as Ariston, hugely underrated and over criticised.

Problem in the UK is areas that suffer from scale build up, it blocks up pipe in pipe and dual pipe hest exchangers.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

I'm keen to try intergas, but I'm old and set in my ways. Plus I'd need to sell it so would need a customer who has done research, my least favourite kind of customer

Intergas is my choice if I ever change to a modern unit based on all the positive reports I've read.

"Intergas HRE is the best of both worlds. It has copper pipes for the water to travel through which are cased in aluminium. The aluminium never touches the heating circuit water and the copper never touches the flue gases. Therefore neither can corrode. They also have the enviable reputation of NEVER HAVING HAD A HEAT EXCHANGER FAILURE! (Viessmann don't even have this and they are light years ahead of the direct competition).

After building a brilliant heat exchanger, 'Intergas' then went on to alter the component list of the combination boiler. The main failures in combination boilers can be narrowed down to Air pressure switch, Diaphragm, Diverter valve & Plate heat exchanger (especially the Plate and Diverter valve). The 'Intergas HRE' does not have these components! The boiler cannot fail from these components, as they as omitted, this therefore increases reliability to a level where 90% of boiler companies can only dream.

So 'Intergas' removed the failing parts, designed a brilliant heat exchanger and to make things even better this is one of the only boilers to condense in both hot water and heating with very little in the way of heating loses.

The 'Intergas' has a couple of features which also blow the competition away. The first is a built in clock which has a numerous features which means the installer only has to a room Stat to tick the benchmark checklist. The second feature is totally brilliant. The pressure gauge sensor is only there to confirm the pressure for the display, not as a safety for the boiler on low water content. You may not think this is a big deal but imagine an older house where the heating system is 'dubious' and shouldn't be a sealed system under any circumstance but the owner wants mains pressure hot water. Due to the twin pass heat exchanger the 'HRE' boiler can run high and low pressure circuits through the one boiler. that 'Combi' style hot water and gravity heating. No other boiler is capable of this unique feat."