Anyone familiar with Gerkros external oil boilers

Derby1 · 18-11-2015 10:21PM #1

Has anyone got a GERKROS external oil boiler or anyone familiar with them and would you recommend them or not?
Model is a Gem top cleaner 60/95 - house it will heat is 6 rads plus 2 bath rail rads.

Dtp1979 · 18-11-2015 10:27PM

Derby1 wrote: »

Has anyone got a GERKROS external oil boiler or anyone familiar with them and would you recommend them or not?
Model is a Gem top cleaner 60/95 - house it will heat is 6 rads plus 2 bath rail rads.

Is this a boiler you're looking to purchase?

Derby1 · 18-11-2015 10:34PM

yes it is. I have a stove with back boiler in a cottage. I have all the pipework in place for an external oil boiler as backup for when the house is unoccupied and nobody about to set a fire to keep the place dry.

Dtp1979 · 18-11-2015 10:37PM

Derby1 wrote: »

yes it is. I have a stove with back boiler in a cottage. I have all the pipework in place for an external oil boiler as backup for when the house is unoccupied and nobody about to set a fire to keep the place dry.

For a start the boiler is way too big for 6 rads.
Gerkros boilers aren't the best. Plus it's a non condensing boiler so your not supposed to fit them. If its second hand, then no decent installer will touch it to be honest

Walter Becket · 18-11-2015 10:43PM

It will do what you want. But it's a cheap second hand boiler. Made by a manufacturer that's out of business because they didn't make great boilers.

Dtp1979 · 18-11-2015 10:54PM

Walter Becket wrote: »

It will do what you want. But it's a cheap second hand boiler. Made by a manufacturer that's out of business because they didn't make great boilers.

Plus it's massively oversized

Derby1 · 18-11-2015 10:58PM

I miscounted - there are seven rads all doubles plus the 2 towel rails (the 5 foot ladder type) plus we have a cylinder of hot water which when he house is occupied would supply 2 bathrooms and the usual in the kitchen inc washing machine.

Why do you consider the GERKROS unreliable - what sort of issues do you find with them.

I must confess I am more familiar with the Grant 90 boiler we have at home. We are considering replacing this and installing it in the cottage. That's probably too big as well but it will be effectively free. This has similar BTU so you would probably say it is too big as well but surely better oversized than undersized. What we replace the Grant with is probably a topic for another thread.

Dtp1979 · 18-11-2015 11:02PM

Derby1 wrote: »

I miscounted - there are seven rads all doubles plus the 2 towel rails (the 5 foot ladder type) plus we have a cylinder of hot water which when he house is occupied would supply 2 bathrooms and the usual in the kitchen inc washing machine.

Why do you consider the GERKROS unreliable - what sort of issues do you find with them.

I must confess I am more familiar with the Grant 90 boiler we have at home. We are considering replacing this and installing it in the cottage. That's probably too big as well but it will be effectively free. This has similar BTU so you would probably say it is too big as well but surely better oversized than undersized. What we replace the Grant with is probably a topic for another thread.

No oversized is not better. It's much worse. Your boiler will short cycle, using more fuel and making an inefficient boiler even more inefficient.
If you've a grant 50-90 then get it set to 50. That's really as small as you can go with an oil boiler.

Walter Becket · 18-11-2015 11:10PM

You can get someone to put a small nozzle in it to make the heat output suitable for the house. I didn't say geckos oil boilers are unreliable. They are reliable.

Derby1 · 18-11-2015 11:18PM

Thanks for the replies - if they are out of business then its a no from me.

Our Grant is a 90 Mark II so not an option to set lower. At home here it runs 11 rads. How much oversized is it for the cottage? I know you would need room sizes, outside walls etc for a proper calculation, but what btu should I be aiming for considering I have NO outside walls - the house is entirely drylined and insulated and house contains 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 1 en-suite and 1 shower room and is approx. 70m2.

Maybe it is a false economy to be buying second hand not only for the obvious wear and tear reasons but also for the fact I would be getting a new efficient condensing boiler. I wonder how much more efficient are they?

Dtp1979 · 18-11-2015 11:39PM

Derby1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - if they are out of business then its a no from me.

Our Grant is a 90 Mark II so not an option to set lower. At home here it runs 11 rads. How much oversized is it for the cottage? I know you would need room sizes, outside walls etc for a proper calculation, but what btu should I be aiming for considering I have NO outside walls - the house is entirely drylined and insulated and house contains 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 1 en-suite and 1 shower room and is approx. 70m2.

Maybe it is a false economy to be buying second hand not only for the obvious wear and tear reasons but also for the fact I would be getting a new efficient condensing boiler. I wonder how much more efficient are they?

If highly insulated then your gonna need as small a boiler as possible. Firebird go down to 40k but I'd rather fit a grant @50

Walter Becket · 18-11-2015 11:50PM

Derby1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - if they are out of business then its a no from me.

Our Grant is a 90 Mark II so not an option to set lower. At home here it runs 11 rads. How much oversized is it for the cottage? I know you would need room sizes, outside walls etc for a proper calculation, but what btu should I be aiming for considering I have NO outside walls - the house is entirely drylined and insulated and house contains 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 1 en-suite and 1 shower room and is approx. 70m2.

Maybe it is a false economy to be buying second hand not only for the obvious wear and tear reasons but also for the fact I would be getting a new efficient condensing boiler. I wonder how much more efficient are they?

Add your reply here.

I serviced a grant non condensing today efficiency was 87%. A new grant vortex is above 97%.

Dtp1979 · 18-11-2015 11:51PM

Walter Becket wrote: »

Add your reply here.

I serviced a grant non condensing today efficiency was 87%. A new grant vortex is above 97%.

Your talking about combustion efficiency. That's totally different.

agusta · 19-11-2015 12:02AM

Derby1 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies - if they are out of business then its a no from me.

Our Grant is a 90 Mark II so not an option to set lower. At home here it runs 11 rads. How much oversized is it for the cottage? I know you would need room sizes, outside walls etc for a proper calculation, but what btu should I be aiming for considering I have NO outside walls - the house is entirely drylined and insulated and house contains 1 living room, 1 kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 1 en-suite and 1 shower room and is approx. 70m2.

Maybe it is a false economy to be buying second hand not only for the obvious wear and tear reasons but also for the fact I would be getting a new efficient condensing boiler. I wonder how much more efficient are they?

15 to 18 percent at least, provided the boiler is sized correctly

jimf · 19-11-2015 12:38AM

Walter Becket wrote: »

Add your reply here.

I serviced a grant non condensing today efficiency was 87%. A new grant vortex is above 97%.

what was the fg temp with the 87% eff

Wearb · 19-11-2015 01:15AM

jimf wrote: »

what was the fg temp with the 87% eff

Getting dangerously low and probably under-fired to boot, would be my guess.

Derby1 · 19-11-2015 02:48AM

fg?

Wearb · 19-11-2015 09:17AM

Derby1 wrote: »

fg?

Flue gas

Walter Becket · 19-11-2015 09:51AM

what was the fg temp with the 87% eff[/quote]

I don't know I don't keep a printout for myself I've enough paper to keep for the tax man.

K.Flyer · 19-11-2015 10:42AM

Walter Becket wrote: »

I don't know I don't keep a printout for myself I've enough paper to keep for the tax man.

If you can remember the date you did the service, then you can find the data in your FGA's stored logs.

Wearb · 19-11-2015 10:58AM

Walter Becket wrote: »

what was the fg temp with the 87% eff

I don't know I don't keep a printout for myself I've enough paper to keep for the tax man.[/QUOTE]

I fill all that info on my service sheet and would have that info on the duplicate. Also -at the weekends- I download the FGA logs onto customer folders on my PC. Seems a lot of work at first, but it doesn't take too long. Its very handy to have a look through before the next visit.

Anyway we're just making the point that you can go too low with FG temps and also that you shouldn't go below the lowest firing settings set by the manufacturer. Doing that can produce higher eff. on the fga, but you are really just shortchanging the customer.

Walter Becket · 19-11-2015 03:46PM

For the first few years I did record my work carefully , I won't go into it but basically customer info got into the real world and I asked myself why am I keeping this info? I have a responsibility under data protection to keep customers info confidential and only to keep info that I need. Now I am careful what info I keep, where i keep it and won't keep it without a good reason. Once bitten twice shy.

Dtp1979 · 19-11-2015 04:01PM

Walter Becket wrote: »

For the first few years I did record my work carefully , I won't go into it but basically customer info got into the real world and I asked myself why am I keeping this info? I have a responsibility under data protection to keep customers info confidential and only to keep info that I need. Now I am careful what info I keep, where i keep it and won't keep it without a good reason. Once bitten twice shy.

Not being smart but how would fga details have anything to do with data protection?

Walter Becket · 19-11-2015 04:40PM

Dtp1979 wrote: »

Walter Becket wrote: »

For the first few years I did record my work carefully , I won't go into it but basically customer info got into the real world and I asked myself why am I keeping this info? I have a responsibility under data protection to keep customers info confidential and only to keep info that I need. Now I am careful what info I keep, where i keep it and won't keep it without a good reason. Once bitten twice shy.

Not being smart but how would fga details have anything to do with data protection?

Well I run my business my way and am not telling you how run yours . My rule is don't keep info I don't need.

Walter Becket · 19-11-2015 05:43PM

We're getting off topic Derby1 wants to decide new or 2nd hand. I say new if you can afford it 2nd hand if it's costing almost nothing but plan to replace it.
I fitted a 2nd hand one when I built the house because I had no money left. I should have made a plan to replace it and saved up but instead it wasted oil for 10 years before I did. It was a cast iron Italian boiler worse than a Gercros.

jimf · 19-11-2015 06:10PM

walter the reason I asked about the fg temp is as im sure you know if the boiler is not up to working temp you can get a false efficiency reading looks good giving the printout to the customer

serviced a se warmflow boiler today eff reading 90% at 110 dg when up to working temp of 205dg efficiency levelled out at 84%

Walter Becket · 19-11-2015 06:36PM

jimf wrote: »

walter the reason I asked about the fg temp is as im sure you know if the boiler is not up to working temp you can get a false efficiency reading looks good giving the printout to the customer

serviced a se warmflow boiler today eff reading 90% at 110 dg when up to working temp of 205dg efficiency levelled out at 84%

I know where you're coming from.

Anyone familiar with Gerkros external oil boilers

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