TOP central boiler Manufacturers & brands

With so many boiler brands and manufacturers out there, choosing a good boiler manufacturer and brand is obviously important.

Boiler brands with long warranties

It's difficult for an unknown or a new manufacturer to offer the guarantees of long-established brands. We can’t forget that boilers are intended to last twenty years or more, and that installing a boiler is an expensive investment, with high running costs and implications that should be carefully considered – issues that can make popular-top brands and manufacturers offering long warranties a wise option.

Anyway, the range of options is still very wide, all the more that the same manufacturer may have both good and inferior models.

Popular gas boilers manufacturers

Weil McLain, Lennox or Bryant Carrier are very popular brands in North America, and all of them have top high-efficient boiler models.

But there are other high rated boiler brands, from other well-established manufacturers. The best rated boilers list by the TopTenUSA (affiliated with the Energy Star) organization comprises nine top manufacturers, each one with more than one high-rated boiler.

Best boiler manufacturers/brands (in TopTenUSA):

Weil McLain
Htp
Lochinvar
Lennox
Bryant Carrier
Utica Boilers
Dunkirk
ECR International
Rinnai

In Europe, the best brands/models are different. In the UK, boiler brands like Worcester Bosch, British Gas, Vaillant, Baxi,, Ideal, Glow-worm, Grant and Potterton are at the top.

To select the best boiler in the UK consider one of the top 27 models recommended by the Which?’s Best Buys.

Like the TopTenUSA organization, Which? provides independent review of boiler brands. It’s at least a good place to start, and we highly recommend their Best Buys list – a result of more than 280 reviews of gas and oil condensing boilers (“combi boilers”, “system boilers” and “heat-only boilers”).

Best Boiler brand selection criteria

When selecting a boiler model consider its purchase price but also the energy cost over a period of, say, 20 years. That’s very important. In most cases the energy cost of the equipment is significantly higher than the purchase price.

Things can differ a lot with manufacturers and their models. The Weil McLain ECO70 (a high efficient boiler, ranked #7 in its energy efficiency by the TopTenUSA) costs about $2,530 and has energy costs (over its lifetime) of $5,060, according to the same organization. But, still according to TopTen estimates, the Lennox GWM150IE i (also a high energy efficient boiler model) has an average cost of $10,907 and an expected energy cost of $5,060 (20 years).

Bottom line: boiler prices vary a lot, even in similar categories; it’s important to take the purchase price into account. But do not also forget the energy cost of the boiler (expressed by its AFUE). In most cases it’s as important as the purchase price - or more important...

Besides, the energy cost is also an indicator of the environmental impact of the boiler. The massive use of very high efficient boilers (versus the current average boilers) would eliminate more than 6 million tons of CO2, just in the USA. A reason to the choose the best boiler possible.

Criteria

Homeowners can compare residential boilers by using different criteria, including price, efficiency ratings or consumer satisfaction.

Consumer satisfaction about brands – even when expressed by thousands of reviews – may not be as good of a deal as it seems. The overall impression given by boiler owners can be imprecise and we shouldn’t forget that even the best and top boiler brands may have good and bad quality models.

The approach used by organizations such as TopTen USA and Energy Star (for qualified gas and propane home boilers) is largely preferable. Energy Star qualified boilers have high annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) ratings (85% or greater); their criteria includes electronic ignition, new combustion technologies and sealed combustion (to reduce and improve safety).

Choosing the best boiler and manufacturer
Keep in mind the basics. Top high-efficient gas boilers can save a lot of money and energy, but that also requires energy-efficient buildings. Your home must be highly insulated and air-tight. To use your existing radiators effectively you should have very high-performance windows and wrap the building with high levels of insulation.
If you can’t reinsulate your home and install new windows, the advantages of new high-efficient boilers become much smaller or disappear. Your energy savings may not be much.
Also do not forget that in new homes, properly designed and constructed (with very high levels of insulation, top windows, properly oriented to the sun, and so on) you may not need a central heating system. There are in this case better systems.

Choosing a top oil boiler brand

Like new gas-fired boilers, the new oil-fired boilers (of condensing type) can convert 90% of more of consumed fuel into heat. They can be nearly as good as gas boilers in their energy efficiency..

Anyway, gas boilers are a better option, and are becoming a standard choice. You should prefer them, from an energy efficiency and environmental perspective.

If gas isn't available in your region, consider...

Energy Kinetics - Resolute EK1R (AFUE: 91),
Peerless - WB90-04-W and WB90-03-W (AFUE: 90),
Energy Kinetics - Frontier EK1F (AFUE: 88),
Peerless - WBV-03-060-W (AFUE: 88) and
New Yorker – FRHGSL (AFUE: 88);

they are the best rated units, according to the Energy Star list for oil boilers.

TopTen is not currently including oil-fired boilers in their ratings.

In the UK, Which? surveys highly recommend two boiler manufacturers: Grant and Worcester.

Certified Models

For a long list of Energy Star boiler manufacturers, see: Energy Star boilers list. It includes the manufacturers listed further below.

To choose from the 50 best ranked gas boiler brands of TopTenUSA see: TopTen boiler brands list.

Gas and Oil Boiler manufacturers with Certified Energy Star Models

The list is long; and do not forget that even the best boiler manufacturers may have both good and inferior boiler models.

Advanced Thermal Hydronics
Bosch
Bradford White
Bryant, Carrier
Buderus
Burnham by U.S. Boiler
Crown
Dunkirk Boilers
ECR International
Embassy
Energy Kinetics
Hydrotherm
IBC Technologies
Intellihot
Kenmore
Laars
Lennox
Lochinvar
Mascot LX
Navien Boilers
New Yorker
NTI Boilers
Olsen boilers
Peerless
Pensotti
Raypak Inc.
Rinnai America Corporation
Sime
Slant/Fin
Smith Cast Iron Boilers
Spacepak
Super Hot
Triangle Tube
Utica Boilers
Viessmann
Weil-McLain
Williamson-Thermoflo

See also:
Top Furnace brands and manufacturers