Crown vs Utica vs Weil-McLain

HeatingQuestions

Hi,



What are the pros and cons of each and which is the 'best'?



Gas residential boiler, 150k BTUs, direct vent connected to indirect hot water heater.



Am I missing anything?



So many bad reviews on all three but I'm gathering that many have problems because of bad installers.



What are your thoughts?



Thanks.

Ironman

What model?

Also, as you have stated, 98% of the time it's the installer's fault but the appliance gets blamed.

Jamie Hall

Only 98% of the time?

All three of those makes are excellent.



Virtually all of the bad reviews you will see -- not only of boilers, but almost any consumer-reviewed product -- are either installation problems (by far the most common) or stem from unrealistic expectations on the part of the consumer -- sometimes fed by unrealistic claims by the installer.



Bottom line: as has often been said here, if you are getting a new boiler installed (or an old one repaired!) you are really buying the installer, and his or her ability to do the job right.  The best boiler in the world will misbehave if installed by a knucklehead, but some of the geniuses who write on this Wall can get pretty much any old teakettle to purr like a kitten.  You get what you pay for.

Unknown

junkirk

Don't ever get Dunkirk and their re-badged boiler!

Ironman

Totally Disagree

Dunkirk makes some very solid products and I've personally seen them go out of their way to correct issues caused by installers that weren't their responsibility.



Your other post says that you were "locked out of this site". Could it be because you take cheap shots like this one.

VA_Bear

Installers

The low bid might be the most expensive job in the long run... Find a reputable contractor to install the boiler, because the installation details will cost you a fortune over the long run, both in corrections and in extra fuel consumption. My experience agrees with other opinions here that most of the problems with and after boiler change-outs are installation related, particularly for steam systems due to mistakes in near boiler piping, failure to correct other problems which haunt the new boiler and significant changes in water capacity which are not compensated for in the condensate control system.

Just my $0.02 worth...



VABear

Unknown

dunkirk

I wasn't locked out for that reason.. its was due to changing over new phone and wasn t able to get back in.. the Master ( Dan Holohan ) knows about about it and he did tried to help me to get back in. Saying hello to the orginal Wallies here..

Robert O'Brien

150K BTU ?

7000 sq/ft house?

Bob Gagnon plumbing and heating

Utica?Dunkirk

It's the same boiler, different names. Utica makes great boilers, I have been installing their cast iron boilers for over 20 years, and I have a few of the newest SSC series high efficiency boilers installed. Quality and customer support is outstanding. It'll cost a lot more than the cheapest boilers, because it's a great product.

Thanks, Bob Gagnon