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We have determined a rating of 92.16% for this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler using the PlumbProud quality benchmarking system. Factors used to score a boiler include its energy performance, how much it costs to run, the installation price, and how long the manufacturer's guarantee lasts.
On most non-complicated installations, we would expect this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler to cost £2,500 including installation if you choose PlumbProud to do the work.
We recommend that you speak to our friendly advisors by calling 01604 343053 to seek professional advice on whether the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 boiler is right for your home. Our team can also provide you with a free quotation for this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler. Alternatively, click here to email us or enter your postcode into the quotation box on this page.
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Suitable for a house or a flat, the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 combi boiler is worth considering if you want a combi boiler.
Combi boilers are excellent for providing hot water and heat for your radiators just when you need it. When you have a combi boiler installed in your home, you just turn on the tap and the hot water for your bath, shower, washing dishes and other activities is there when you need it. It also provides the heat you need to keep your radiators warm.
A combi boiler heats the cold water passing through it, which it draws from the mains. This newly heated water can then be distributed to whichever hot tap or radiator needs it.
In the past, boilers needed at least one storage tank to hold water that was either already heated or would be heated later. Sometimes, you'd have to wait for hot water because there was none left. In addition, storage tanks took up a lot of space and most UK homes are pretty small.
The main disadvantage to combi boilers is that they can only heat a certain amount of water at any one time, meaning the pressure, volume and temperature of water will decrease if more than one tap is on at the same time or if both the shower and washing machine are on together.
It's best to choose a boiler whose size or "output" is right for your home.
The more hot water and heat you want, the higher the output level of your boiler should be. Output is measured in kilowatts and it describes the maximum level of power your boiler has to heat water.
If your output level is too low, your boiler will not have the power it needs to get your water as hot as you want it, particularly when there's a lot of demand for it. Choose a boiler whose output level is too high and you'll have all the hot water you need but will be paying too much for it through higher gas bills.
Which types of property would this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler be appropriate for given its output of 38.7 kW?
An experienced PlumbProud Gas Safe boiler installer would almost certainly recommend that this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler would be most suitable for larger properties including detached homes with 15 or more radiators and two or more bathrooms.
When choosing a combi boiler like the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838, you need to consider the "flow rate" as well as the output rate. Flow rates (measured in litres per minute) indicate the volume of hot water that the boiler can heat up and then distribute to your taps and radiators.
However, combi boilers draw water from the mains and this means they can only heat the amount of water that actually enters your property.
What this means is that, if your mains pressure is 12 litres per minute, that is your boiler's effective flow rate even if it has the capacity to process 18 litres per minute. This Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler's flow rate is 16 L/m.
To give you an idea of the flow rate you might need, a power shower typically requires around 12 litres of water per minute and a basin tap requires 4-8 litres per minute.
When our engineer comes out to quote you, they may recommend that you choose a heat only boiler or system boiler instead if your family's demand for hot water is higher than normal.
The size of the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 boiler is 720 mm high, 440 mm wide, and 406 mm deep.
Condensing gas boilers like the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 are environmentally friendlier and cheaper to run so, if possible, we strongly recommend that you choose this or one of the very latest models.
Condensing boilers are much more efficient and economical to run because they contain a secondary heat exchanger that captures and recycles the warmth still present in the flue exhaust gases and the water vapour condensation for re-use, meaning that they use less gas to run.
With more and more of us concerned about environmental issues and climate change, how we heat our homes has become an important issue to many homeowners.
With central heating being responsible for 14% of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, your choice of boiler matters. Gas boilers are also responsible for the significant atmospheric volumes of dangerous nitrogen dioxide emissions in larger British cities.
Would installing a Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 combi boiler in your home help combat climate change? What do the figures suggest?
By law, boilers manufactured and supplied in the UK must achieve a SEDBUK rating of "A" and work at a 92% minimum efficiency. Before April 2018, a minimum of 88% energy efficiency needed to be achieved (88/89% = SEDBUK "B" and 90% = SEDBUK "A").
Following official testing, the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 was given an efficiency rating of 94% with a SEDBUK rating of "A".
Energy efficiency is a measure of how much energy is used and how much is wasted when a boiler is operating.
The Energy Related Products Directive intends to encourage all manufacturers to reduce the harmful gas emissions associated with the products they make, from the manufacturing stage to final disposal, including when they are in active use.
The Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 has an ERP rating of "A" for heat and "A" for hot water.
Vaillant offers a parts and labour warranty of 5 years on the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838.
Powered by Gas | Gas |
Location | External |
Condensing? | Yes |
Efficiency rating | 94% |
Band rating | A |
LPG Compatible? | No |
P/L Warranty | 5 Years |
Output in kW | 38.7 kW |
Height | 720 mm |
Width | 440 mm |
Depth | 406 mm |
Mounting | Wall |
Flow rate | 16 L/m |
ERP Heat | A |
ERP Water | A |
Using the Plumbproud scoring system, the current 10 ten Gas Combi boilers assessed using a number of important variables are as follows:
1 | Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 825 | 93.35% |
2 | Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 832 | 92.98% |
3 | Worcester Bosch Greenstar 2000 25kW | 92.89% |
4 | Viessmann Vitodens 050-W 29kW | 92.66% |
5 | Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 835 | 92.60% |
6 | Worcester Bosch Greenstar CDi Compact 28 | 92.57% |
7 | Vaillant ecoFIT Pure 825 | 92.39% |
8 | Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 | 92.16% |
9 | Vaillant ecoTEC Exclusive IQ 835 | 91.90% |
10 | Vaillant ecoTEC Pro 24 | 91.77% |
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We score each boiler we sell by considering a number of different factors including price installed, manufacturer guarantees, energy efficiency, the likely cost of running, and more. For this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler, we have awarded a rating of 92.16%.
On a standard fit, we would expect this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler to cost you £2,500 supplied and fully installed by an experienced Gas Safe PlumbProud fitter.
Get a free quote on the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 boiler and advice on whether this is the right choice for your home by entering your postcode in the quote box on this page, clicking here to email us, or giving us a call at 01604 343053.
Powered by Gas | Gas |
Location | External |
Condensing? | Yes |
Efficiency rating | 94% |
Band rating | A |
LPG Compatible? | No |
P/L Warranty | 5 Years |
Output in kW | 38.7 kW |
Height | 720 mm |
Width | 440 mm |
Depth | 406 mm |
Mounting | Wall |
Flow rate | 16 L/m |
ERP Heat | A |
ERP Water | A |
The Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 is a combi boiler you may wish to consider if you want this particular type of boiler for your house or flat.
Traditional boilers would require you to install one or more storage tanks in your property. These tanks either kept the water warm or stored it for later heating. Manufacturers initially designed and introduced combi boilers to the market to offer homeowners the highest levels of warmth and unlimited hot water without taking up as much space.
Combi boilers provide hot water on demand for your radiators and taps. They take water directly from the mains, heat it immediately as it's needed, and then distribute the hot water around your home.
Combi boilers, however, are limited in terms of how much water they can heat at any given time. For example, if one person wishes to take a shower while another wants to turn on a hot water tap, the amount of water reaching each point drops. This results in a drop in the water pressure as well as the temperature.
It's best to choose a boiler whose size or "output" is right for your property. With boilers, however, size does not mean how big a boiler is, it means how much power it has.
A boiler’s output indicates the amount of power it can use when heating the water which it then sends to your taps and radiators. The higher the output rate, the more water it can heat.
If a boiler’s output is too low, there will be times when your hot water might not be as hot as you want it to be. If it is too high, you’ll likely be paying more than you need to for your gas.
Measured in kilowatts, the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 combi's output level is 38.7 kW, so which types of property would this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler be an appropriate choice for?
Most experienced Gas Safe boiler installers would recommend this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler as a suitable option for larger properties including detached homes with no more than 15 or more radiators and two or more bathrooms.
With combi boilers, you need to consider the flow rate as well as the output rate. The flow rate (shown in litres per minute) measures how much water your boiler can draw from the mains which it then instantly heats and distributes to your taps and radiators.
However, a high flow rate is of little to no value if your local water pressure is low. If your local mains water pressure is 10l/m and your flow rate is 12l/m, your boiler will only be able to process 10l/m.
If you live in an area with high water pressure but your household has multiple bathrooms and/or radiators and many members of your household want to use hot water at the same time (like morning or evening baths or showers), it's unlikely that you'll be able to find a combi with a high enough flow rate.
As an indication, a power shower needs about 10 litres of water per minute, whereas the flow rate of this Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 Combi boiler is 16 L/ml/m.
When our engineer comes out to quote you, they may recommend that you choose a heat only boiler or system boiler instead if your family's demand for hot water is higher than normal.
The size of the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 boiler is 720 mm tall, 440 mm wide, and 406 mm deep.
The Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 is a condensing gas boiler - we’d strongly recommend that you choose the very latest condensing model for your home.
Condensing boilers run on either gas or oil and are manufactured specifically to improve energy efficiency. They do this by capturing and recycling the warmth present in flue exhaust gases and water vapour condensation into more usable heat the system can use, meaning they're far more efficient and cost less to run.
How we heat our homes and the damage this does to the environment has become a pressing concern for many homeowners worried about the effects and impact of climate change.
Central heating creates 14% of the UK’s greenhouse gases. And in Britain's larger cities, gas boilers are responsible for dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide emissions.
Is the Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 combi boiler an environmentally friendly choice for your home? Here’s what the figures say.
Under current UK law, all boilers must achieve a minimum energy efficiency level of 92% (a low to good SEDBUK "A" rating). The minimum level was raised from its previous 88% in April 2018.
Energy efficiency scores are intended to inform consumers of the amount of energy used and wasted when a boiler is in normal operation.
The Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 was awarded an efficiency rating of 94% with a SEDBUK band rating of "A".
The Energy Related Products Directive grades products according to the energy they consume and the harmful gas emissions they create, from manufacturing right through to final disposal, including how they're used by customers between these two points.
The Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 is rated "A" for heat and "A" for water.
The Vaillant EcoTEC Plus 838 boiler is provided with a parts and labour warranty lasting 5 years.
Using the Plumbproud scoring system, the current 10 ten Gas Combi boilers assessed using a number of important variables are as follows:
1 | Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 825 | 93.35% |
2 | Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 832 | 92.98% |
3 | Worcester Bosch Greenstar 2000 25kW | 92.89% |
4 | Viessmann Vitodens 050-W 29kW | 92.66% |
5 | Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 835 | 92.60% |
6 | Worcester Bosch Greenstar CDi Compact 28 | 92.57% |
7 | Vaillant ecoFIT Pure 825 | 92.39% |
8 | Vaillant ecoTEC Plus 838 | 92.16% |
9 | Vaillant ecoTEC Exclusive IQ 835 | 91.90% |
10 | Vaillant ecoTEC Pro 24 | 91.77% |