ᐅ Experiences with gas boilers, including brands and types used

Hello,

a house with 2 apartments, each about 75-80 sqm (800-860 sq ft) plus a basement. The ground floor is currently being completely renovated. The heating system will also be replaced.

The company carrying out the work is offering a Brötje gas boiler with 24 kW (about 81,900 BTU/h). This is initially intended to heat only the ground floor and in the future also the apartment on the first floor when it becomes available with the right of residence.

No one can tell me anything about Brötje. There is also no company nearby that deals with it. I think it’s better to go with more well-known brands. But which ones? Viessmann, Remeha, Weishaupt, ATAG, Buderus, Vaillant...

Which one is the safest choice... and why?

Best regards,
Frankxxx

Without directly recommending anything, Brötje has been around for over a hundred years and, in my opinion, is also one of the well-established brands.

When choosing, it is important to consider what your plumber installs on a daily basis, since that is usually what they are familiar with and can help you with directly; otherwise, you will always need to rely on the manufacturer’s service support.

We currently have a Weishaupt WTC-GW 25, and it just keeps running and running. So far, no complaints.

Viessmann used to be considered the Mercedes of heating systems. Whether it still is, I’m not sure.
We now have a Wolf system because the plumber from our general contractor installed it.
At first, there were some issues (which I also asked about here). Since then, no problems or limitations.
I would say the technology of gas heating systems has proven itself over decades – they should generally be average to good in quality.

How is the heat loss of the house? Could the 24 kW possibly be excessively oversized?

Brötje is a well-known brand by now, but if you don’t have anyone nearby who can service it (inexpensively), then you haven’t gained anything with it.

We also have a Brötje BMR 20/24 SP220 (a 220-liter (58-gallon) hot water tank), combined with solar thermal. Our heating technician is also able to service it. Good price-performance ratio, although prices have gone up noticeably. In 2019, it cost us just under €9,300 including installation for the heating system and solar thermal (excluding underfloor heating).