Potterton boilers review

Potterton has a long and storied history in the UK boiler market. In recent years it was purchased by Baxi, but it still offers its own ranges of combi, regular and system boilers.

While it's one of the better boiler brands you can buy from, it's slipped down our rankings over time as it struggles to maintain a rival-beating customer satisfaction score – it got 69% here. But customer satisfaction only represents 20% of the overall total score.

Which? members can read our full analysis, including reliability and engineer scores, to find out where this brand exceeds and whether you should buy it. Log in now or join Which? to access the full results.

Potterton gas boiler score

Potterton boiler owners are mainly satisfied: 84% report that they're happy with their boiler, three percentage points below the average satisfaction rate. 

Interestingly, happy Potterton boiler owners tend to be tentative with their recommendations. While only 17% of the public is 'somewhat likely' to recommend their boiler brand, 27% of Potterton customers agree with this statement. 

On average 42% of people would 'definitely recommend' the boiler brand they bought from, but only 27% of Potterton customers would definitely do this. 

What this means is that while Potterton customers are usually positive and they lean towards recommending the brand to others, customers are a little less enthusiastic than we might expect to find. We've factored in the tendency for recommendations to be milder when calculating our scores.

However, owner satisfaction only makes up 20% of the overall score. Subscribe to Which? for the complete picture.

We heard from 198 expert engineers who scored boiler brands on several tests. We asked them to score gas boiler brands on the following:

• The ease of sourcing spare parts. 
• How easy it so to change a common component (a heat exchanger).
• The ease of servicing the brand's boilers.
• The build quality of the brand's boilers.
• The quality of technical support provided by the manufacturer.
• Whether or not engineers would recommend the brand to consumers (we filter out incentivised and brand affiliated engineers).

We aggregate all of these scores and use them to create our overall engineers' score, which is 40% of our total brand score.

Which? members can see how engineers rated Worcester Bosch gas boilers on all of these tests by logging in, while others can sign up to Which? to unlock our full analysis.

Potterton gas boiler reliability

Boilers are major purchases you should only make once every 10 to 20 years. You can keep yours for longer if you get it regularly serviced and if you get faults fixed quickly.

We've asked people who bought a boiler in the past six years about whether it's fault-free. When faults are reported, we measure how serious the fault was, how long it took for the first fault to happen, and we make sure it was fixed by an engineer.

Using this data, Which? members can see which brands produce boilers that are less prone to fault than others.

Sign up for all the results.

Where to buy Potterton boilers

It's easy to rush into making a decision, especially if your boiler breaks down in winter, but we recommend getting a couple of quotes from a qualified heating engineer and comparing costs. Our Trusted Trader service can link you up with vetted boiler installers in your area.  

You could also buy a boiler yourself and hire an installer, though make sure you seek expert advice before doing so, to have your current heating system assessed and identify the type of boiler that meets your specific needs. If you buy a boiler without having an installer lined up, you could find yourself struggling to find someone willing to set it up for you. An installer may have access to trade or wholesale prices, and will be able to recommend a model based on a holistic assessment of your home and heating system.

Only a Gas Safe Registered engineer/installer can install a new boiler: it's both dangerous and illegal to do so yourself if you're not qualified.  

Where to buy a boiler – find out what your options are

Are Potterton boilers efficient?

New boilers must be A-rated, but how efficiently your boiler works in practice depends on several factors, including how you use it and how well it's installed. Use a Which? Trusted Trader for your boiler installation and regular maintenance.