I recently bought a new boiler, so thought it might be helpful to know how I did it and how I chose the boiler I have – a Worcester Bosch.
Firstly, the reason for changing my boiler wasn’t because the current one had stopped working. My view with boilers is they are too important to fix only when broken!
We knew the boiler was on its way out for two reasons:-
In the ‘good old days’ boilers lasted a long time -20 or more years. In today’s market they last around 10 to 15 years, so I knew the boiler was going to fail. No point waiting for this to happen, might as well get it done before disaster struck.
The problem with boilers these days is so much of the inside is made of plastic parts which don’t seem to last, in the old days it used to be brass or copper.
I know I am slightly biased as I have written the property books and worked alongside Which? for over 10 years, but it is always the first place I start.
You can now buy one off reports for a £1 or sign up to Which? so if you are about to go on a house buying spree, it’s definitely worth signing up on-going. If it’s just a big, important one off purchase like a boiler, then buying a report is a better option. Visit their site for more information on Which? reports
Which boilers stand the test of time?
I tend to then look at the top five to ten boilers and see what my plumber thinks. I then look back at all the boilers I have had or bought – and it’s quite a few! Worcester Bosch to me seemed to have stood the test of time, whereas I’ve had bad experience with cheap boilers like the Jaguar or the Ideal Gloworm. I know the latter has been a popular choice, but personally the reports I have had, they were pretty bad for breakdowns etc, so they seem to be a bit hit and miss. A boiler which is ‘hit and miss’ really isn’t one I want!
Worcester Bosch is the one I finally chose which was one of Which’s best buys and supported by my plumber too.
Word of caution: Thermostats
What I would warn you about though is all new boilers seem to come now with a supposed ‘saving’ mechanism – personally I hate it! What you get is a ‘walk about’ thermostat rather than one on the wall.
You can programme these thermostats to heat the home up to a certain temperature during a certain period of time eg mornings or evenings. Then during the rest of the day they stay at a low temperature or one you choose.
If it’s too hot, you can turn the temperature down and vice versa. In theory!
The problem with the thermostat is it physically switches your heating on and off. It also seems to work on heating it up to say the 20 degrees you ask for, but really at 19 degrees it seems to switch off the heating, letting the temperature fall to 17 or 18 and then switches back on.
My problem is these thermostats are fine in a property which retains heat. A new property with an ‘A’ rated energy performance would work well, but I live in a 200 year old property. It takes around an hour to heat up the property and 15 – 20 minutes for the heat to disappear and the house to be cold again!
How I manage the temperature
In an old property I find the best way when it’s cold is to keep the heating on and keep it low.
Because of the problems we have had with the thermostat, here’s how I manage the temperature:-
And if any boiler users and engineers have any other ideas, feel free to advise, but so far this is the best way I’ve found to keep my home warm.
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