Boiler brand clones

Mosherd1

Curious who makes the Rheem combi boilers for Homedepot/Ruud combi boilers for Menards? If they are installed properly, are they a decent/reliable unit? Considering using one at my mother’s house for radiant/fintube/air handler & DHW. If the boiler would have issues, the home has cold climate heat pumps, and a gas fireplace that will keep it warm, and the combi is feeding an electric water heater that will will be valves so if either it or the boiler goes out the house will still have domestic HW.  I like having redundancy in my important mechanicals. 

STEVEusaPA

Who cares. It's garbage. Most competent and busy HVAC companies get their units at a better price.
If you use HD hvac contractor, you're probably getting the lowest bidder, and a company that can't get their own work.

Mosherd1

@STEVEusaPA it’s going to be a self install. I’m an electrician by trade but also have a degree in heating and cooling. Around this area, Rheem/Ruud products, both furnace/AC and tank style water heaters have had a very good reputation of being solid well built products. I was wondering about the reputation of their boilers, if it was a rebadged unit from a reputable company.  I was also looking at the Rinnai I series, from Supply house, my local supply house carries Triangle Tube equipment but even with our company pricing it’s a fair bit more. 

DanInNaperville

It's a flat coil water tube boiler. If you're replacing a conventional boiler, or have cast iron radiators, you should be sure to very thoroughly flush the system first and include a DirtMag or similar magnetic separator and keep it maintained. Don't ignore those steps, in any case, but you're less likely to get a heat exchanger burn out with larger water passages.
Menards (and home depot) used to sell a unit that was branded as a Westinghouse that was a fire tube boiler and a little more tolerant of debris in the water (larger water passages). The same boiler is available now as a Laars, but parts for Laars can be difficult to get.
The triangle tube prestige series is another fire tube boiler (may be the same one with different branding but looks a little different, internally). Triangle tube is a big brand with easier parts availability but the boiler's going to cost more. Like the Laars, it uses a small internal indirect hot water heater tank to provide a boiler loop internally, simplifying installation.
If you've never had any cast iron anywhere in the system, the Rheem/Ruud should do just fine.

hot_rod

Rheem is owned by Paloma, so it could be a rebadged version of their boilers. Older versions may have been HTP products

Mosherd1

@DanInNaperville thanks for the info!  It’s a brand new install, all pex and copper. If your Naperville IL, I’m an hour twenty straight west of you on I 88. 

PeteA

@STEVEusaPA why such a strong opinion of the Rheem? is there specifically an issue you have with the equipment, the support, the life expectancy? The OP also mentioned the Rinnai do they have the same issues? I am asking mainly because I may be forced to replace my own combi due to a parts issue and I looked at the Rheem Prestige since it has a really decent warranty even better than the I series Rinnai if you consider the couple extra years of parts warranty.

What would you suggest for a natural gas combi in that price range and warranty that's pretty solid?

Thanks
Pete

PeteA

@DanInNaperville which brands have the larger tube heat exchangers that you describe that help with avoiding tube burn out. I understand what you mean as far as passing impurities therefore lessening the chance of blockages but which brands sport the larger diameter tubes. My current one has very large diameter tubes but they went out of business a while back and now I'm shopping for reasonable options if my repair attempts go sideways.