A bit like the never-ending iPhone vs Android battle, choosing the perfect boiler for your home can be tricky, especially when comparing two heating giants like Worcester Bosch and Ideal!
Worcester Bosch and Ideal boilers are great choices when it comes to reliability and energy efficiency, but comparing performance, warranty, aftercare, brand confidence etc can all be a different matter.
By the end of this blog, you should know enough about both the Ideal and Worcester Bosch brands to decide who to swipe right on!
About Ideal Boilers
Ideal boilers are known for being popular among landlords because they’re cheap and cheerful! They are reasonably priced to be the cheapest compared to other boiler brands like Worcester Bosch, Viessmann and Vaillant, but they are still reliable and durable.
Ideal offers exceptional customer service and meets the WarmZilla standards for reliability, price, and aftercare.
Why do we recommend ideal boilers?
Affordable boilers – price point suitable for landlords and those on a budget
- Up to 10-year warranty (with WarmZilla)
- Fantastic customer reviews (rated 4.8 on Trustpilot)
- Boiler parts are relatively easy to find
- Energy-efficient boilers
- Easy to service and repair
- Excellent aftercare
Ideal History
Ideal Heating was founded in 1906 and has been providing its customers with the best quality boilers for over 100 years. Ideal claims that they remain at the forefront of the domestic and commercial heating market; “Leading the industry in setting new standards and challenging technological boundaries.”
Ideal Heating’s mission is to be dedicated to providing a reliable, competitively priced product range and delivering incredible customer service.
For more information about the history of Ideal Heating, follow the link.
About Worcester Bosch
Worcester Bosch is one of the best boiler brands in the industry.
YouGov ranked Worcester Bosch in the top 3 as one of the most popular home appliance brands (Q1 2022).
It’s no surprise that Worcester Bosch came first according to Which? Best Boiler Brand survey 2022.
Here’s why they are the best;
- Awarded a Which? Best Buy for 10 years running
- 10-year guarantee (with WarmZilla)
- Excellent reliability and build quality
- Parts are relatively easy to find
- Excellent customer reviews (rated 4.6 on Trustpilot)
- Brilliant aftercare
- High efficiency (A-rated) boilers
- Hydrogen blend ready
Worcester Bosch History
Worcester was formed in 1962 in Worcester, where it took its name. It started off as a small engineering work before growing into the biggest boiler manufacturer in the UK. It was acquired by Robert Bosch Holdings in 1992 to form the Worcester Bosch Group.
Worcester currently holds the Royal Warrant to supply heating to the Royal Family and has won the Which? Best Buy Award for their range of boilers for the last ten years. This prestigious award is judged on reliability, build quality, recommendation, and customer score.
For a full timeline of Worcester Bosch’s history click here.
Flagship boiler models
Let’s now compare Ideal and Worcester Bosch’s flagship products;
Category is… Budget-Friendly Boilers!
Ideal Logic vs Worcester Bosch Greenstar 2000
Ideal Logic
The Ideal Logic range is the least expensive of the Ideal boiler ranges, however, they are still known to be a reliable and robust boiler model.
The Ideal Logic range comes in different sizes to suit small to medium-sized homes. The Ideal logic combi range comes in 24kW, 30kW and 35kW. While their system range has these options; 15kW, 18kW, 24kW and 30kW. Not to mention their conventional boiler range, which comes in 12kW, 15kW, 18kW, 24kW and 30kW.
The Ideal Logic range comes with a standard warranty of only 2 years, however, when purchasing a new or replacement Ideal Logic boiler with WarmZilla, you’ll receive an 8-year warranty with your boiler.
The Ideal Logic key features
- Easy to install
- Low lift weight (starting from 28.9kg)
- Easy-to-see pressure gauge
- Compact cupboard design for easy installation
- Scratch-resistant casing
- Built-in frost prediction for extra peace of mind
- Boiler frost protection
- 2-year standard warranty
- 10-year warranty on the heat exchanger
- Large backlit display with user-friendly heating controls
- LCD display screen
- Low component count maximising reliability
- Dimensions: 700mm x 395mm x 278mm
The Ideal Logic boiler prices (without installation)
Combi boiler – £656 – £848*
System boiler – £735 – £870*
Regular boiler – £778 – £1,027*
Worcester Bosch Greenstar 2000
The Worcester Bosch 2000 series is a new addition to the Worcester Bosch family. It is an affordable boiler range that combines sleek exterior designs with a powerful and reliable interior and not to mention excellent aftercare. In terms of looks, it’s similar to the Worcester Bosch 8000 Life boiler but it’s a lot cheaper.
The Worcester Bosch 2000 comes in two sizes; 25kW and 30kW. The 25kW model is perfect for small to medium-sized homes, such as flats with one bathroom. On the other hand, the 30kW model is more powerful, it can cope with a higher demand for hot water. This makes it ideal for medium-sized homes with 2 bathrooms.
Greenstar 2000 key features
- Bosch engineered quality at an affordable price.
- The perfect size to fit in small places such as kitchen cupboards.
- It is the quietest Worcester Bosch combi boiler (43dB), and now you can enjoy your work-from-home midday naps!
- Features Worcester Bosch’s innovative Quick Tap water-saving feature, which is activated with a quick opening and closing of a hot water tap. This helps to reduce water wastage in your home.
- Peace of mind with a 10-year guarantee on the primary heat exchanger.
- ErP rating 93%: A-rated – This means that 93p in every £1 you spend on using your boiler is paying for the energy that is keeping you warm.
- Dimensions: 700mm x 300mm x 400mm
Greenstar 2000 boiler prices
The Greenstar 2000 is the best boiler, not very much money, can buy!
Their combi range (25kW-30kW) costs between £819-£910* (Without installation).
Category is… Premium Boilers!
Ideal Vogue Max vs Worcester Bosch Greenstar 8000 Style
Ideal Vogue Max
The Ideal boilers are the experts at manufacturing premium products at reasonable prices. They produce over 20,000 boilers a month. The Ideal Vogue range combines modern technology with premium components which makes it the ‘ideal’ boiler for your home. Ideal vogue boilers are stylish and reliable.
The Ideal Vogue range includes Vogue Max and Vogue Gen2. The Ideal Max range includes Vogue Max Combi and Vogue Max system boilers. The Vogue Max Combi boiler comes in; 26kW, 32kW and 40kW versions, while the Vogue Max system is available in; 15kW, 18kW, 26kW and 32kW.
On the other hand, the Vogue Gen2 range also includes Vogue Gen2 Combi and Vogue Gen2 system boilers. The Vogue Gen2 Combi boiler comes in; 26kW, 32kW and 40kW options and by contrast the Vogue Gen2 system boiler comes in; 15kW, 18kW, 26kW and 32kW versions.
Ideal Vogue key features
- Premium product using the best components available
- Service timer with telephone number display/service display
- Compact cupboard design for easy installation
- 10-year warranty
- Easy to read pressure gauge
- Backlit 3.5” LCD full-colour display
- Multi-function buttons for ease of use
- Full-text support for fault modes
- Quick installation – single-piece unit & low lift weight
Ideal Vogue prices (without installation)
- Combi boiler – £927 – £1,047*
- System boiler – £927 – £1,090*
Worcester Bosch Greenstar 8000 Style
The Greenstar 8000 Style is the most powerful wall-hung boiler available in today’s market delivering the highest hot water flow rates. This design-driven boiler is packed with the latest technology to give you the very best performance in heating and hot water.
Worcester Bosch Greenstar 8000 Style Key Features
- Outputs ranging from 30kw to 50kw
- Wireless connectivity with the Bosch EasyControl
- Stunning design-led aesthetics
- Precision engineering and industry-leading heating and hot water performance
- Full-colour text display for simple diagnostics
- Innovative boiler control display codes
- Choose from 2 gorgeous high gloss colours – Black or White
- Dimensions (30kW): 780mm x 440mm x 365mm
Worcester Bosch Greenstar 8000 Style Prices
Combi boiler- £1,410 – £2,472*
System boiler- £1,405 – £1,570*
Boiler Brand Reviews
Ideal Boiler Reviews
During the Which? Best Boiler Survey in 2021, 8,001 members of the public were asked to rate Ideal Heating as a brand. The ideal was then awarded an overall score of 74%.
Customers with Ideal boilers were asked how they felt about their boiler and whether or not they would recommend them to a friend or family. In addition, 153 Which? Trusted Traders (boiler engineers) were asked their views on the boiler brand.
Here’s what Which? Said about Ideal boilers:
“The feedback from heating engineers about Ideal boilers is generally positive. They’re keenly priced and viewed as suiting landlords and those on a budget, but there can be problems with lower-quality parts. Few Ideal boiler owners in our survey have experienced any issues though, and Ideal sits in the top half of the boiler brands we’ve reviewed.” – This is quite impressive!
Looking at Trustpilot, Ideal Heating has over 20.7k reviews with 4.8 stars out of 5, and 96% of their reviews are above average, which supports the customer reviews in the Which? Best Boiler Brand Survey Results, showing that Ideal’s customers are happy with their boiler.
Here are a few of Ideal’s Trustpilot reviews that show that Ideal’s customers are more than happy with their services: “Extremely thorough and efficient.”
Worcester Bosch Boiler Reviews
During the Which? Best Boiler Brand Survey 2021, Worcester Bosch was awarded an overall score of 84%, ranking first place out of the 16 boiler brands that scored within the survey helps to generate Worcester Bosch’s customer and reliability scores.
153 Which? Trusted Traders were also asked to score Worcester Bosch boilers on ease of fixing, the availability of spares and parts and brand quality.
Worcester Bosch was given 5 stars out of 5 for reliability and brand customer score, and 4 stars out of 5 for their overall brand engineer score.
Which? verdict: “A dependable and highly recommended Best Buy brand
Worcester Bosch is one of only two gas boiler brands to earn our Best Buy recommendation, thanks, in large part, to high owner satisfaction and recommendation. Its boilers can be on the expensive side, but build quality is good and heating engineers praised the brand in general. The design of Worcester Bosch boilers can make them a bit difficult to repair, but you’re less likely to need a repair as Worcester Bosch boilers are very reliable.”
Worcester Bosch has over 31.6k reviews on Trustpilot and 4.6 stars out of 5, and 95% of their reviews are above average.
By looking at these reviews & ratings, it’s fair to say that you’re dealing with a company with a customer-centric mindset.
Boiler Warranty/Guarantee
First, you’ll need to know the difference between a warranty and a guarantee; luckily, we’ve written a blog about this, so take a look.
To sum up, the main difference between a guarantee and a warranty is that a guarantee is usually free, whereas a warranty typically includes a premium for the cover (much like a form of insurance). The great thing about a guarantee is that it is legally binding and adds to your rights under consumer law.
Ideal Boiler Warranty
Generally speaking, Ideal boiler warranties vary between 2 and 12 years, but this may be limited to 12 months if you don’t register it within 30 days of installation. Ideal Heating’s warranties offer customers full parts and labour repair services, or boiler replacement, free of charge when the boiler has any mechanical or electrical breakdowns due to fault with materials or installation.
The Ideal logic warranty is 8 years and the Ideal Vogue Max warranty is 10 years.
Worcester Bosch Boiler Guarantee
Worcester Bosch believes that a reliable boiler is a key to a warm and comfortable home year after year. They’re committed to high levels of quality and reliability, that’s why they’re confident in the guarantee they offer.
The Worcester Bosch Greenstar 2000 guarantee period is 5 years and the Worcester Bosch Greenstar 8000 Style guarantee period is 10 years (when purchased by WarmZilla).
The Worcester Bosch guarantee covers; replacement parts, call-outs, and labour. For more information on what your guarantee includes, read their terms and conditions.
If you’d like to check the guarantee length of your Worcester Bosch boiler, just fill in your boiler’s serial number here.
Boiler aftercare
Ideal heating and Worcester Bosch are both known for their excellent aftercare – the proof is in the pudding… Look at their Trustpilot reviews, and you’ll see how brilliant their aftercare is.
The final verdict
We can’t deny that both brands are brilliant!
Ideal and Worcester Bosch both produce reliable boilers which are built to last. Both companies have a great reputation within the industry and excellent customer reviews.
If budget is a determining factor, then ideal will be the ‘ideal’ choice for your home, no pun intended!
Worcester Bosch boilers are perfect for larger homes which have a higher demand for water supply but they are more expensive. If you’re still unsure, just ask our team on live chat.
Time for a boiler quote?
If you’d like an instant fixed price quote on a new boiler suitable for your home, then take our survey now, it only takes a couple of minutes, and you’ll have an idea of how much a new boiler will cost you.
Why should you buy a new boiler from WarmZilla?
When you purchase a new or replacement boiler with WarmZilla, your boiler package will also include;
- Your chosen boiler, along with the necessary flue kit needed for your central heating system
- Installation by a qualified Gas Safe Engineer
- Removal of your old boiler and parts
- A FREE system cleanse of your central heating system
- Chemical Inhibitor for added protection for your new boiler
- 10-year guarantee, which will be registered by WarmZilla after installation
- A FREE magnetic system filter for ongoing protection
- The Neomitis RF Digital Wireless Room Thermostat
There’s also 0% interest for 2 years on selected models, plus you can advantage of our great-value tech bundles – meaning you save on your boiler purchase AND get smart thermostats and home devices included.
Here at WarmZilla, our mission is to give you all the help and support you’ll need to find the best boiler for your home at the best price, that’s why we’ve written blogs about the best combi boilers, best system boilers and best conventional boilers in 2022. So make sure to check them out!
FAQs
Ideal and Worcester Bosch both produce reliable boilers which are built to last. Both companies have a great reputation within the industry and excellent customer reviews. But when you dig deeper, Worcester Bosch wins the race, and this is based on its build quality, longer warranties and slightly better aftercare.
Worcester Bosch and Ideal are in the top 5, along with Viessmann, Vaillant and Baxi.
Ideal Logic Combi boilers are an excellent choice. The Ideal Logic range is the least expensive of the Ideal boiler ranges; however, they are still known to be reliable and robust.
