Alpha boilers review

Alpha offers boilers primarily aimed at buyers on a budget. It's a relatively new brand to the UK boiler market, so its customer base is smaller than other household names, but still growing. On this page, we reveal how Alpha customers rate the brand.

We can reveal to non-Which? members that Alpha gets a three-star customer rating. However, this makes up only 20% of our total brand score – 80% of the total is made up of expert engineer opinions and the reliability record of Alpha's boilers. 

Only Which? members can access our full results. Log in now or join Which? to find out the best boiler brands and how Alpha boilers stack up against the competition. 

Alpha gas boiler score

Some 65% of Alpha customers with gas boilers are satisfied, which isn't hugely impressive. It's 17 percentage points below the average rate of satisfaction, so Alpha doesn't stand out as far as customer happiness goes.

These aren't great odds if you're thinking of buying an Alpha boiler and there are other value brands that have a better customer score, such as Glow Worm and Ideal. 

Log in now or join Which? to see our detailed review, including reliability data, engineer reviews and our Which? verdict.

We heard from 230 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 makes up 40% of our total brand score.

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

Alpha gas boiler reliability

Boilers are major purchases you should only need to make once every 10 to 20 years. You may be able to 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 that it was fixed by an engineer.

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

Sign up to Which?p for the full results.

Where to buy Alpha 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 qualified heating engineers 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, although 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 one 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 Alpha 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.

Visit Alpha to find out more about its boilers.