Navien Energy Efficient Combi Boiler

I am converting oit to gas and I got a proposal with Navien boiler. Has anyone heard of this brand?  I heard it’s fairly new and can’t find information about it.   Also, if I were to choose a more established brand should i go with Burnham Alpine or Weil Mclain? Any pointers will be greatly appreciated.

viaorient

in Heating and Cooling 11 years and 11 months ago

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Master Plvmber | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Get a wall hung 90+ efficiency boiler (Weil-McLain, Triangle Tube, Lochinvar) and an indirect water heater (Weil-McLain Aqua Plus, TurboMax). Done and done. Stop playing with these toys already.

eman134 | 8 years and 6 months ago

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Personally i would prefer a Baxi Luna over the Navien, but again get someone with experience installing the unit or you can wind up with a mess. My contact info is in my profile if you need more advice

workisfun | 8 years and 6 months ago

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I installed a Navien NCB240 in 12/14. If installed correctly and optimized for your specific delivery system, it can work well. We have retooled it since install for this reason. Any system has a range of efficiency capabilities, and should be customized within that range, for your home. When I researched combination boilers, I spoke to heating contractors, read online, and spoke to the various manufacturers. By far, Navien was the most accessible to me, as the homeowner. I have called hem countless times. I like to cross-check contractors, so speaking with manufacturers is important to me. Navien has very mixed reviews. Some older models are apparently garbage. The NCB is a newer line, so we’ll see. I have no problem flushing it every year. Find a contractor you trust. The one I use now, is NOT the one who installed it. All that having been said, as for most, cost was a major factor for us, as was space. Fingers crossed.

brooklyn-cat | 8 years and 6 months ago

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hooky, is there any chance of getting your GC’s details? i have a Navien boiler and its coming up with similar problems to what you described. I’m having trouble getting someone experienced with this type of boiler and/or someone who will come out to BK.

hooky | 11 years and 10 months ago

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The days have passed so not sure if you’re still checking this post, but I am end user who had the Navien installed post Sandy. I echo that you must get references and have someone very experienced with the boiler to install it. Actually to clarify, I don’t think the installation is the hardest, it’s the getting it up and running efficiently that is the difficult part. Because of the state of my house and the multiple times that unit had to be emptied and restarted debris kept getting into the filter and the flow sensor. It seemed to me that ANY type of debris greatly disrupts this system. However, the inexperience of the installers led to multiple visits without understanding this. Luckily my GC made a few calls to Navien and got through to technical support (in which they gave him a direct cell number for future questions!), and they ran him through the process of cleaning the screens and the valve. This has been the golden ticket with this boiler. In retrospect I would never get this unit again, but now that we know some ins and outs I feel it will work out just fine. And also my bills have been very easy to swallow!

ceci | 11 years and 10 months ago

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I had a Weil McClain boiler installed by Gas Approved heating located in bensonhurst approx. 6 yrs ago and have had no issues.  There price was reasonable.

viaorient | 11 years and 11 months ago

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Thank you, Gennady, for the detailed explanation.  In that case, would Burnham Alpine or Weil McLain set up be considered better? I know they operate differently but seem to be known and more established systems… Thank you.

ellenlourie | 11 years and 11 months ago

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As a general note, no matter what brand you pick, sizing of high efficiency boiler is crucial for your project. Over-sizing of the boiler as usually done in this trade is not acceptable and will lead to non efficient performance and premature failure. I see you are looking for combi boiler. Be careful, heating load might be very different from DHW load. Often combi boilers are the worst possible solution. System must be chemically cleaned and water must be treated with water conditioner. Acid neutralizer MUST be installed. ANY high efficiency boiler must have paramenters set up during start up. You must insist on installer doing proper parameters set up and not leaving factory defaults.

ellenlourie | 11 years and 11 months ago

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If you have proposal for CH240, then it is only boiler made by Navien legal for nyc installation to the best of my knowlege. It is made in S Korea, cheap and used by low grade contractors who compete on price for builder grade jobs or low grade installations. Quality control was poor and probably got better now. In short it is Kia of the boilers. Other models are not suitable for NYC installation because there is no H stamping.
Burnham Alpine is a good boiler but they are using outdated Gianoni heat exchanger, Most manufacturers are moving away from Gianoni heat exchangers today. Weil Mclain is a good brand, they have models with different heat exchangers,  most known is Ultra line of boilers, they have aluminum Heat exchanger and sensitive to PH of the water, stay away from GV90+, This is boiler lacking necessary controls like outdoor reset.