St Roch Oil Boiler

kenkin

Im looking for some advice please.
I have my Grant oil boiler for 20 years and it needs replacing. I was thinking of getting a Firebird condensing Boiler, but the plumber i use has recommended a St Roch cast iron Boiler. He says it is as efficient as a condensing but i will get 15 years out of it. I rang the suppliers of the St Roch boiler and they confirmed that it is just 1% less efficient than a condensing boiler. The prices are about the same. Has anyone any experience of the St Roch. Any advice appreciated

jimf

ive heard of them but have never seen one

my boiler of choice would be a grant vortex

Dtp1979

jimf wrote: »

ive heard of them but have never seen one

my boiler of choice would be a grant vortex

Same here, and I’ve seen ALOT of boilers over the years, as I’m sure Jim has too

kenkin

Do you 2 lads think its possible for the St Roch to be as efficient as a condensing boiler.?
Would a St Roch last longer than a condensing boiler?

Dtp1979

kenkin wrote: »

Do you 2 lads think its possible for the St Roch to be as efficient as a condensing boiler.?
Would a St Roch last longer than a condensing boiler?

As efficient no. Durable, yes. Cast iron boilers are durable as hell

kenkin

How long would a condenser boiler last for. Apologies for all the questions.

jimf

kenkin wrote: »

How long would a condenser boiler last for. Apologies for all the questions.

once properly installed and serviced annually

no reason why they shouldn't last 15/20 years

I have one now for 12 years and it’s bullet proof, looks more commercial looking than domestic and the heat exchanger is the same grade of metal as Viessmann use on their commercial boilers.

Presision were the distributors when I bought mine and their known for selling quality products.

kenkin

Is it a Roch you have Gary?

kenkin

kenkin wrote: »

Is it a Roch you have Gary?

Sorry, yes.

kenkin

Gary is it as efficient as a condensing Boiler

kenkin

kenkin wrote: »

Gary is it as efficient as a condensing Boiler

I forgot my mother has one as she liked the look of mine, she finds it much better on fuel than the boiler it replaced and she’s very aware of fuel costs as for me as a fully qualified heating engineer with many years experience I don’t pay much attention to my boiler the wife looks after it but she says it’s not bad on fuel.

John.G

gary71 wrote: »

I have one now for 12 years and it’s bullet proof, looks more commercial looking than domestic and the heat exchanger is the same grade of metal as Viessmann use on their commercial boilers.

Presision were the distributors when I bought mine and their known for selling quality products.

Would it be generally true to say that SE (non condensing) Boilers are long lasting?. I have a Firebird Heatpac 90s, installed in 2005 and it looks as if it will outlast me. I know its more of a reflection on the burner but this boiler has never locked out on any fault condition in 13 years.

Any experiences of long lived condensing boilers like the Grant or Firebird as condensing boilers are on the market now for a long time?.

Dtp1979

John.G wrote: »

Would it be generally true to say that SE (non condensing) Boilers are long lasting?. I have a Firebird Heatpac 90s, installed in 2005 and it looks as if it will outlast me. I know its more of a reflection on the burner but this boiler has never locked out on any fault condition in 13 years.

Any experiences of long lived condensing boilers like the Grant or Firebird as condensing boilers are on the market now for a long time?.

The grant vortex is basically the old triple pass grant with a stainless heat exchanger on top. I’ve yet to see one leak.
I’d rather not talk about the firebird cause it’ll raise my blood pressure.

John.G

Dtp1979 wrote: »

The grant vortex is basically the old triple pass grant with a stainless heat exchanger on top. I’ve yet to see one leak.
I’d rather not talk about the firebird cause it’ll raise my blood pressure.

Apoligies I should have read the posts properly, jimf had answered the query re condensing boiler longevity "no reason why they shouldn't last 15/20 years " so it begs the question as to why the Saint Roche might be the preferred choice over say a Grant Vortex and also I thought that non condensing boilers could no longer be offered for sale here?.

Dtp1979

John.G wrote: »

Apoligies I should have read the posts properly, jimf had answered the query re condensing boiler longevity "no reason why they shouldn't last 15/20 years " so it begs the question as to why the Saint Roche might be the preferred choice over say a Grant Vortex and also I thought that non condensing boilers could no longer be offered for sale here?.

That’s a good point actually.

kenkin

I didn't realise that they should not be offered for sale

John.G

kenkin wrote: »

I didn't realise that they should not be offered for sale

I read some posts on here a few years ago that implied in some at least that it may be ok to retrofit with a SE boiler where it can be shown that a HE (condensing) boiler cannot be reasonably installed but that only HE boilers can be installed in new builds. Some other posts said that HE boilers must be fitted in all cases.
Logically, it would seem a bit strange that any vendor would sell a SE boiler if they can't be installed "legally", have a word with them and see what they say.

Wearb

John.G wrote: »

I read some posts on here a few years ago that implied in some at least that it may be ok to retrofit with a SE boiler where it can be shown that a HE (condensing) boiler cannot be reasonably installed but that only HE boilers can be installed in new builds. Some other posts said that HE boilers must be fitted in all cases.
Logically, it would seem a bit strange that any vendor would sell a SE boiler if they can't be installed "legally", have a word with them and see what they say.

Open to correction on this, but I think that the period of grace -where under certain circumstances a SE boiler could be installed- has expired.

jimf

the best efficiency I have got out of a std boiler was around 86% from a grant multipass

probably to do with the operating temp and baffle arrangement


id be very interested to know the price diff between the 2

as you would be looking at an investment over a 15 y period I know how I would be going

Tom44

15-20 years life span.???


I've plenty of customer with 35+ years old boilers.
Some 40+
One 50+
Yes they've had stupid money spent on them!!
And their still inefficient

No reason why new high efficiency boiler should last as long if correctly installed and maintained like my old boilers.

jimf

I suppose we really don't know how long they will last as its only guess work

they are not around long enough yet


we all have the 30y old boilers still belting away

John.G

jimf wrote: »

I suppose we really don't know how long they will last as its only guess work

they are not around long enough yet


we all have the 30y old boilers still belting away

You probably have a lot of the same customers for boiler servicing over many years, as a matter of interest do you notice a marked increase in the flue gas temperature of the boilers you service regularly over say a ten year period?. I seem to remember from my large industrial boiler days that an increase in flue gas temperature of 10C results in ~ 0.45% loss of boiler efficiency.

jimf

not really john unless the baffles start to crumble the temp is fairly consistent from year to year

no doubt the higher the temp the lower the efficiency

GaGa21

How much would a grant vortex cost to install?

Dtp1979

GaGa21 wrote: »

How much would a grant vortex cost to install?

Anything up to 3k depending on what’s being done

agusta

jimf wrote: »

I suppose we really don't know how long they will last as its only guess work

they are not around long enough yet


we all have the 30y old boilers still belting away

You really should be upgrading that boiler jim

jimf

agusta wrote: »

You really should be upgrading that boiler jim

I know

but If I had a loft like yours id have 2 :P:P:P:P:P

Tom44

agusta wrote: »

You really should be upgrading that boiler jim

He did.

jimf

Tom44 wrote: »

He did.

its now a mk2 /44