The cast iron heat exchanger on the old Ideal Mexico (heat only) has developed a crack which is weeping so I'm living on borrowed time. Two plumbers have had a look and recommended a 24kw or a 30kw replacement. I can't make out what size the Mexico is and have taken a couple of photos and am grateful for any advice on the sort of size and make of replacement our resident expert engineers suggest. I've been advised to get a Worcester Bosch, Vaillant or Baxi and am tempted towards a make with a stainless steel heat exchanger rather than an aluminium one. What do you think? (Apologies for the quality of the images)
Now you’ve started something . We’ve got a 27kW Worcester Greenstar (normal boiler, not Combi rubbish). It’s worked faultlessly for three years. Big enough for a four-bedroom house. If you’re in doubt, I’d go for the one with the higher rating. You can always turn it down (the Worcester will throttle itself back when it’s not doing much, anyway).
I can’t quite make out the size of your boiler from the data badge. The important part to size it is the heat input figure, unless it’s been turned up to max then most run at the middle setting. avoid Worcesters. They are over priced with short warranties. Personally I’d ask them to seal your system up, which means getting rid of the f&e tank in your loft. Then go for an ideal system boiler. If you insist on a stainless heat exchanger the get the vogue which is a superb boiler with a 12 year warranty.
Should have added your Mexico’s heat input figure will be in KW Gross. New boilers are KW net so divide the figure by 1.11.
Also if you want to buy yourself a bit more time. Pop to tool station or screwfix. Buy a bottle of their cheapest heating leak sealer. Chuck the whole bottle in the header tank in the loft. It will circulate round and slow the leak up. Less than a tenner a bottle.
Personally I think the stainless heat exchangers are over kill and I’d get the logic system max. But if you want stainless then here’s a boiler, flue abs system filter with 12 year warranty for a bit over a grand plus vat.
Is there any demand for Potterton Kingfisher 2 spares? Just had ours changed for a Worcester Greenstar. The Potterton was working fine but was 25 years old, I've basically got a complete working boiler, disassembled. The engineer was going to take if for scrap....?
You might get a few quid on eBay for the stats and Gad valve etc. But it’s illegal for us to fit 2nd hand parts so it would more likely be some use to a home tinkerer.
Don't Worcesters have a 10 year warranty provided the warranty is activated by the installer and is serviced to Bosch recommendations?
Depends on the model, whether the installer is accredited by Worcester and sometimes whether they fit a Worcester branded control or cylinder. for instance the new Worcester lifestyle 2000 can only be installed with Worcester plug in controls. Not even nest or hive.
Thanks for all the helpful replies. The system was converted to a closed one about 18 months ago (which may have contributed to the heat exchanger going west) and I try and run it at under 1 bar (atm is 0.6) which seems to help control the leak. Rustbucket - the heat input figure is shown as 32.6, 35.9 and 39.3 so I divide the highest figure by 1.11? So that equates to 35.4kw? Seems a lot? Funnily I went to Toolstation and bought Fernox F4 express leak sealer which is on standby to pump into the filling loop if/when the leak gets worse. So are Ideal boilers still good then? This one is 27 years old and is like our buses, analogue, basic and even has cork gaskets - my type of machinery! I'm looking for a good guarantee and reliable performance from the new boiler.
Ah. Ok so when you said heat only Mexico I assumed it was still open vented. It’s a brave man that seals a system with a 25 year old boiler on it. No wonder it’s sprung a leak. as far as output goes I’d be extremely surprised if yours is running at max output, it would be kettling and banging at that age if it was I’m sure. I’d take the middle figure as the one to base your new boiler on unless your house has had large additions to the system. Older boilers were often sized larger than we do today because they didn’t modulate their output, they had less effective heat exchangers, the systems didn’t have TRVs on them or magnetic filters and radiator designs have improved enormously so they heat rooms quicker etc. A lot of old systems didn’t even have a room stat so there needed to be a lot of built in over capacity. I’d personally stick the leak sealer in now as it’s much more effective at stopping leaks when they are smaller. I like the new Ideal boilers. If you’d have asked me about 15years ago what my mates fitted as boilers then the list would go something like this: Richard - baxi Mark s - baxi Jeff - Worcester Steve & Bob - Worcester Steve b - vailant Jarad - vailant So a pretty even spread across manufacturers. Today the list goes like this: Richard, mark s, Jeff, Steve & Bob, Steve b & me - ideal Jarad - vailant (splitter ) says a lot really. Easy to install. Very reliable. Excellent warranty, easy to use, great after sales, simple servicing.
