Can any one offer an opinion on what the better boilers is overall: The Buderus brand or the Weil-McClean. This is for a hot water baseboard heat that will have indirect heating for the hot water.
Thanks
Can any one offer an opinion on what the better boilers is overall: The Buderus brand or the Weil-McClean. This is for a hot water baseboard heat that will have indirect heating for the hot water.
Thanks
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Replies
Buderus is the better of the two, but check out the System 2000.
http://www.energykinetics.com/afue.html
Do not know how many boiler experts are here but there are a ton of them at:
http://heatinghelp.com/
Post your Q in the section called the 'Wall'.
I have a Weil-McClain Ultra 155 boiler with indirect water heater. Fantastic setup. 93% AFUE.
Jeff
Edited 4/25/2008 11:35 pm ET by Jeff_Clarke
My heating guy swears that the Viesman from Germany is the best. Although he does swear alot. I'm 19 years into a Slant-FIn Victory boiler and have no complaints. It was about one third the price of the Viesman when I was buying.
Have a good day
CLiffy
always wondered about the cost of a viessman.
triple ?
my weil-mclean steamer is now 53 years old.
will the viessman last 3 times that ?
carpenter in transition
viessmann don't make steamers. But I think their vitola would outlast anything outthere today.
i wasn't looking for a new steamer, i was just trying to find someone to justify triple the price.
carpenter in transition
It depends on the model. The vitodens 100 is the cheapest wallhung modcon out there.
The vitola can be fired without the pump running and have any return temp without voiding the warranty.
They are not always the boiler of choice due to price. Think of them as the Bentlys of the boilers in terms of quality.
The install price is nothing. The price to operate per year is what you care about. I have a little more work to do to finish the boiler we just put in over the last few days. We did Buderus 115 running a beckett nx burner and logomatic controls with a 53 gallon megastor indirect to heat two hydro air zones and the basement baseboard loop. My friend is an HVAC installer and his large oil company has only put in a few viessman's, they install about 5 or 6 buderus each week and really like those. They'll do a few burnham mpo's and some weil mcclain's but not that many. Viessman is a nice boiler but the flue temperature is very low. I don't know if you can direct vent them, I know you can with the buderus, but if you are going into a chimney, you need to line it with SS. In any type of colder area, their is a problem with the exhaust condensing because of that low flue temp.The price of fuel is not going down, so getting something that is very efficient is important. I put in the whole set up here for about $3500 but that is my friends company prices (they are a large buyer so they get the top level of discount from the supply houses), no labor charge. With our set up, the house, insulation, etc. we should recover that $3500 vs. what we replace, an ultimate boiler fairly efficient with a tankless, in 2 to 3 years. So after that we are saving over $1000 in a lower oil bill per year.
You've likely paid at least 10% more for your heating for the last 19 years than you would have if you used the viessmann.got a complaint now? ;)-------------------------------------
-=Northeast Radiant Technology=-
Radiant Design, Consultation, Parts Supply
http://www.NRTradiant.com
Not really. I have walls that are 17 inches thick. I supported the Canadian economy and the 10 percent you mention is a little hard to prove. No doubt the Viesman is a good boiler but it was close to three times what I paid for my Victory Slant Fin unit.
Have a good day
CLiffy
ten percent is just ballpark, sure. Might be 5, might be 20, but it's real and it's there with this particular type of comparison assuming both boilers are run stock. yes, initial cost is higher on good equipment and I'm not a viessmann guy. But initial cost is not everything and there is payback on a lot of things that are pricey up front. do a good enough job on your envelope, and you reduce that likelihood though, of course, maybe that's the case you're in. But then, most people aren't in houses with 17 inch thick walls, so if that's why your results are so good, it would be a little misleading to credit the boiler without mentioning your envelope, as a reader who is NOT in your situation may regret a "bottom dollar" initial cost decision a lot more than you are.-------------------------------------
-=Northeast Radiant Technology=-
Radiant Design, Consultation, Parts Supply
http://www.NRTradiant.com
Yes right on. I knew from the start that I was getting a deal on the Victory. My brother had worked at the supplier for a few years so I still had a couple of friends there. They just wanted it out of their show room and I was there with my truck.
Your absolutely right on about the envelope though. I don't think I have ever credited my stingy use of natural gas to the Boiler though. I credit the thick walls and lack of thermal bridging. Are you familiar with Tekmar controls. I think they are made in British Columbia. I have one of those too. The house is amazingly quiet. A few people have liked the system I use though, I'm starting another in a few weeks for a client. It will be about a foot and change thick as it is vinyl instead of brick.
Have a good day
Cliffy
Edited 5/12/2008 11:29 am ET by cliffy
All depends. Oil or gas? what temp of water do you need, not what you keep it at?
Do you get it serviced yearly? Is the electricity clean and reliable. Will it be installed properly?
Not really any "bad boilers" out there. Just some are more appropiate for your application.
Need more info.
I do not have an opionion about other brands, but I put in a Munchkin by Heat Transfer Products about 2-years ago with a 30gal indirect stainless DHW tank. Works great. This is a 80K btu unit and it will modulate down to about 18K. I purchased 2-yrs ago for about $3k, including the $800 indirect water tank. The modulating Weil Mclain cost more than that for the boiler alone.