Now a part of Ideal Heating, Keston still have a unique offering of new boilers, but how do they compare with the competition?
With nearly a century of experience, this British manufacturer currently has several powerful boilers on the market.
But how do they compare with the competing boiler brands?
Like many boiler brands, Keston sells various combi, regular and system boilers. These boilers stand out for their high outputs including the Keston Heat 55kW Regular Gas Boiler. Not only that but all Keston boilers currently on offer come with seven-year warranties.
Generally, people don't know about boilers. At best, they'll be aware of Worcester Bosch. We guarantee they won't have heard of Keston.
In the following guide, we’ll look at the prices of Keston’s boilers and explore other topics such as how the brand compares with the competition. But first, let’s briefly look at the background of this UK boiler brand.
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History of Keston Boilers
The parent company of Keston was founded in 1928 with the goal of installing and servicing heating appliances for household and business use alike. Keston would eventually be acquired by Ideal Boilers in 2006.
Keston boilers have been manufactured in Hull since 2013. Nowadays, all Keston boilers are designed, developed and produced in the UK. Keston’s latest logo reflects its new identity, that being “Keston By Ideal Heating”.
Keston Combi Boilers
Starting with the brand’s combi boilers, there are two options on offer, which are part of the Keston C Combi Boiler selection.
What is a Combi Boiler?
Combi boilers are the most popular boilers in the UK. As many as 7 out of 10 homes in the UK use this type of boiler, in fact.
But what are they exactly? Well, combi boilers ‘combine’ a high-efficiency water heater with a central heating boiler, housing them in a single, compact unit. Combi boilers can supply hot water to taps and radiators directly without the use of a separate storage tank.
Keston Combi Boilers: Price Range
The overall cost of fitting a Keston boiler would include additional expenses like that of labour. But many customers want to know what the standalone or supply costs of boilers are.
In the case of Keston’s combi boilers, the price ranges from £1,140 to £1,180. Added costs such as that of labour would add about £800 to £1,000+ to the overall cost of having a Keston combi boiler installed.
For that reason, if someone offers to fit a Keston combi boiler for less than £1,000 (including the supply cost, labour cost, etc.) then the offer is probably illegitimate.
These boilers are perfect for heating small- to medium-sized homes with as many as ten radiators.
Heatable can provide you with a fixed price for a Gas safe combi boiler installation. You might even have the boiler installed in just 24 hours. You can get a quote on our website today in 60 seconds.
Keston Combi Boiler Range
Models | kW | Warranty | Product Price | Overall Price (including supply and labour costs) |
C30 30kW Combi Gas Boiler | 30 | 7 years | £1,140 | £1,940 to £2,440 |
C35 35kW Combi Gas Boiler | 35 | 7 years | £1,180 | £1,980 to £2,480 |
Keston System Boilers
Now looking at the brand’s system boilers, there is currently just one on offer. That boiler is the S30 30kW System Gas Boiler.
What is a System Boiler?
If your property has a large demand for hot water and heating, a system boiler may be necessary. Notably, system boilers have a separate water storage tank.
As a result, they can supply hot water for a home on a continual basis.
Check our new boiler costs guide and use our boiler size calculator if you want to get a better understanding of how our fixed price boiler quote tool works.
Keston System Boilers Price and Range
The supply cost of Keston’s one system boiler is £1,100, making it marginally, the least expensive on offer from Keston. Once more, the supply cost excludes other costs such as that of the controls, the flue and, of course, the labour.
Get a fixed total installation cost for a new system boiler today with our online calculator.
Models | kW | Warranty | Product Price | Overall Price (including installation costs) |
Keston S30 30kW System Gas Boiler | 30 | 7 years | £1,100 | £1,900 to £2,400 |
Keston Regular Boilers
As for Keston’s regular boilers, there are two available at the moment. Both make up the Keston Heat Regular Gas Boiler selection.
What is a Regular Boiler?
These boilers are sometimes referred to as heat-only or traditional boilers. Regular boilers produce hot water for central heating use only.
They don’t produce hot water for other uses like showering and bathing. Please be aware that a regular boiler should only be installed as a replacement for an existing regular boiler.
As for how regular boilers function, a cold-water tank based in the attic is used to supply cold water to the boiler. As well as this, a hot water storage cylinder is also needed to allow for the daily use of hot water.
Keston Regular Boilers: Price Range
The two Keston regular boilers are powerful with outputs of 45kW and 55kW but they also have the highest price tags of any Keston boilers.
These powerful models are, thankfully, suited to properties with as many as twenty radiators. This helps to justify their price tags with the standalone cost of Keston regular boilers ranging from £2,225 to £2,610.
Keston Regular Boilers Range
Models | kW | Warranty | Product Price | Overall Price (including installation costs) |
Heat 45kW Regular Gas Boiler | 45 | 7 years | £2,225 | £3,025 to £3,525 |
Heat 55kW Regular Gas Boiler | 55 | 7 years | £2,610 | £3,410 to £3,910s |
Keston Customer Reviews
You may want to know what customers think of Keston boilers. After all, customer reviews/ratings are generally the results of honest feedback based on customers’ experience with the brand.
As a smaller brand, Keston has not been widely reviewed by customers for the most part. On Trustpilot, there have been just 33 reviews, as of April 2022.
However, from these reviews, the brand has just a 2.9-star rating and two-thirds of reviewers gave it a one-star rating. This is undeniably awful for any boiler brand.
From Google Reviews, Keston has a two-star rating from ten reviews. And on the website Nice Local, the brand has a 2.3-star rating from eight reviews. While these three examples feature small sample sizes, none point in a positive direction in terms of customer satisfaction.
There may be a case, however, to make that customer rating may depend on the boilers in question, although this is speculative. We say this because Boiler Work shows that the brand’s regular boilers have a 4.5-star rating out of five from more than 1,000 reviews which are far more promising.
Looking to pay for your new boiler monthly? Refer to our boiler on finance guide for more info.
Have you got limited space in your home? Check out our guide on the best small boilers.
Keston Boiler Fault Codes
While modern gas boilers should last for about 10-15 years, if not more, issues do inevitably arise with all boilers. Thankfully though, Keston boilers come with error codes that can help you identify the issue at hand, should something go awry.
The fault codes that appear will differ depending on the Keston boiler model in question. Some issues you’ll be able to fix by yourself, but many should (and some must) be dealt with by a qualified professional.
If in any doubt, please contact Keston or a local heating engineer. If there are faulty components, they should be replaced quickly to avoid further damage.
Since Keston fault codes will differ from model to model, we’ll look at some fault codes for one model as an example.
Here are some common fault codes of the S30 30kW System Boiler:
0 | Your boiler is on standby and is waiting on a hot water demand or central heating call |
F6 | The external sensor has failed |
F7 | Low mains voltages |
F9 | Fault with the Printed Circuit Board or PCB |
F1 | Water pressure is low |
F3 | Fault with fan |
F5 | Return thermistor |
Keston Boilers Verdict
This UK boiler brand clearly offers powerful boilers and decent warranties. However, its generally poor customer ratings and high price tags do not paint a great picture.
There are certainly many better options on the market, whether you’re seeking affordable boilers, such as from Baxi or Glow-worm or higher-end products from top-of-the-market boiler brands.
The likes of Baxi and Glow-worm offer (generally) less expensive boilers than those offered by Keston, and both of the former brands have higher ratings on Trustpilot. Most of Baxi’s boilers also come with ten-year warranties as opposed to Keston’s seven-year offers.
With that being said, Keston does offer units that exceed Baxi and Glow-worm for power output and as mentioned in the customer reviews section, there are signs that the brand’s regular boilers are actually quite popular.
So, if you’re willing to splash out on a powerful heat-only boiler for a like-for-like replacement, then Keston is after all, worth considering.
If you’re looking for some of the best boilers on the market, check out our favourite options from our top 10 boiler brands list where we’ve ranked Viessmann in the first position, followed by Alpha Boilers in second place.
Although, even with these brands, few boilers are within the same power proximity as Keston’s heat-only boilers. So, despite the brand’s pitfalls, their regular boilers are certainly notable options.
We have also reviewed and compared many other popular UK boiler brands, including the following:
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