Best Boiler Manufacturers 2017
Boilers shown: Greenstar 28CDi Compact | Greenstar 15Ri | Greenstar 24i and 30i
Boiler Manufacturers
The best boiler manufacturers are brands including Worcester Bosch, Vaillant and Viessmann are well known and have been manufacturing boilers for a long time.
Choosing a well known brand is only half the battle, however, as you need to make sure that the boiler manufacturer you end up sticking with not only makes quality products that are reliable, but also receive industry approval (from engineers) and offer great customer care. In this article, we’ll speed through the top brands we work with and tell you which brands you can trust.
Best Boiler Manufacturers: What’s the criteria?
Before launching into a comparison of boiler manufacturers, let’s first explain what criteria we’re measuring them against:
– Quality and reliability, measured in terms of frequency of breakdowns.
– Customer care and follow up.
– Recommendations from installation engineers.
Best Boiler Manufacturers: Who are the main brands?
Vaillant is a German company, so it benefits from that famed German engineering expertise. They’ve been a key player in the market for 100 years and more, so you can trust they know what they’re doing. They’re a well known brand across the world, with their boilers selling across 80 different countries – showing that they’re trusted to produce some of the better quality heating appliances. Their boiler range caters to different home sizes, from their basic EcoTec Pro to the more robust EcoTec plus with prices ranging from £740 to £1,500. Research shows that Vaillant customers are happy with the product, reporting that when breakdowns do occur, the 200 strong team of engineers responded to problems quickly, arranging for repairs to be carried out in good time.
Ideal is a boiler manufacturer based in Hull. They too have been manufacturing heating appliances for over 100 years. Their Logic and Logic + combi, system and conventional boilers range in price from £590 to £2,200 depending on the size and how complex the technology is. Customers have complained about reliability, with faults sometimes occurring within the first year of installation.
Worcester Bosch have been manufacturing boilers since 1962. As part of the larger Bosch group, they have over 2,000 employees based in Worcester and Derbyshire. Several Worcester Bosch boilers have been named winners in the Which? magazine Best Boiler category for 2017. Their domestic boilers include the Greenstar junior and Greenstar Si series, with prices ranging from £570 to £2,488. The Worcester Accredited Installer Scheme is run internally by Worcester among their installers to ensure that their boilers are installed correctly. Worcester Accredited Installers are given this status based on how well they represent the values of customer service and efficiency that Worcester upholds*.
*WPJ Heating is a Diamond level Worcester Accredited Installer. Diamond is the highest rank attainable and means Worcester trusts us to deliver the best service possible, installing their products exactly as intended. This usually means we’re able to provide longer guarantees than other Worcester Bosch installers.
Baxi has been manufacturing boilers and heating appliances since 1866. It’s now a part of BDR Thermea, the parent company of two other boiler manufacturing companies – Potterton and Main. Baxi boilers tend to be cheaper than other brands, with prices ranging from £650 to £1,170 and coming with only a two year warranty.
Viessmann has also been manufacturing boilers for a good 100 years. They’ve expanded internationally, with their boilers selling in over 11 countries. Similar to Worcester, many of the boilers in their range won in the Which? Magazine Best Boiler category in 2017. Their condensing combi boilers have proved popular, and their range is priced from £750 to £1500. Viessmann customers were happy, often recommending their products to family and friends. Their heating appliances were considered very reliable and don’t break down often.
Best Boiler Manufacturers: What does the research show?
Worcester Bosch ranks highest across the board in terms of reliability, customer satisfaction and recommendations from engineers. Viessmann comes close on their heels – scoring just as high on the customer satisfaction and reliability, but aren’t recommended as much by engineers.
To read more about the Which? Best boiler brands survey, click here if you’re a member.