Black Iron pipe vs Bosch Hot Water Boilers

NatickS

I need some advice! I've had a bunch of contractors come in to give me guidance on switching from an oil hot water boiler to natural gas boiler.

I have old black iron pipe and some copper around the actual system. Each contractor that came in recommended a different burner but the other contractors told me their competitors choice was horrible.

1. Bosch Greenstar. Two vendors said not to use it. One said because the exchanger is not stainless steel and another said it's a bad fit with the iron pipes (one company sells both Bosch and Lochinvar - said to go Lochinvar).

2. Viessmann B1HA-35: Told it's expensive to repair, mostly for commercial and I shouldn't use it. Also told it's a lot of work to maintain (you have to clean the heat exchanger every year vs the Bosch you do not).

3. Lochinvar Knight WHN155: Said I had to use this because of the iron pipes, performs better with the sentiment and the existence of black pipe in our set up. Doesn't look like it gets great reviews online.

Looked like Bosch got tremendous reviews online, just nervous that two out of three vendors said it would be horrible. Any advice would be much appreciated.

hot_rod

The only piping material that I would stay away from is non oxygen barrier PE tube. Steel, copper, PEX , PP are all acceptable piping materials.

Look in the installation manuals online for any of those brands and see if they indicate incompatible piping material.

EBEBRATT-Ed

regardless of the boiler you choose all the heat exchangers need cleaning from time to time. I would install a filter/magnet to capture magnetite.

Bosh has an aluminum heat exchanger. I prefer stainless steel but aluminum is ok unless you have questionable water quality. All boilers can suffer from poor water but aluminum more so.

Zman

Stainless generally has a much better track record that aluminum. I have seen very few issues with Lochinvar and many issues with Bosch/Buderus. With your system, a good mag/dirt separator is a must.
Online reviews are not a great source of accurate and impartial information. If you gave me 20 interns, I could could get you 5 stars on a boiler consisting of a 50 gallon drum and a Bunsen burner.

GW

I was told the Greenstar (Bosch) has a more robust HX compared to its Buderus GB142 cousin. The story seems legit.

Viessmann is much more money? Hmmmmm

Lochnivar doesn’t have repair costs ???? That’s a new one on me.

Anyway, Natick, what do you expect? You’re asking contactors what they think about brands that they don’t install? Hmmm seems like we all have models we are most familiar with and comfortable with.

I would recommend you hire the person that has the best track record in your community, if you buy from Joe blow, don’t be surprised if you can’t find him to make a repair down the road.

Thanks, Gary

Rich_49

Zman said:

Stainless generally has a much better track record that aluminum. I have seen very few issues with Lochinvar and many issues with Bosch/Buderus. With your system, a good mag/dirt separator is a must.
Online reviews are not a great source of accurate and impartial information. If you gave me 20 interns, I could could get you 5 stars on a boiler consisting of a 50 gallon drum and a Bunsen burner.

I like the 50 gallon drum idea . Have yet to see an iron system that can harm this .

http://www.htproducts.com/pioneerdocuments.html