Warm Front Grant saved me a fortune!

Rebob

To all the people having problems with Kershaws.

I am not in the same area as you are and my grant is being dealt with through South Yorkshire Energy Efficiency...... but if I was having these levels of problems I would contact the local Consumer Rights Dept, local council and/or your local councilllor. I have had problems before with the drains at another house we had. I phoned the council who sent someone around from enviromental health who then sorted out everyone involved for me. Local councils often are good with things like this.

Lady_K

Well I am convinced that this boiler is not sufficient output on the heating side for this house which I pointed out my concern before it was fitted and warmfront warned kershaws that if it proved to be the case they would have to change the boiler at thier own expense.

Plus the radiator they damaged and replaced which is now smaller than the original one and also not sufficient has still not been sorted. I am fed up of just putting up with it and turning other radiators off to get it to work a bit better as it doesnt work properly at any time even with others off. I'll be getting back in touch with warmfront about it again and ask to speak to someone higher. Kershaws have not been back in touch at all about any of the things they have to put right yet either. The heating is set on full today with 3 radiators turned off and its only reaching 18.5 degrees, the radiator in the bedroom is either off or lukewarm all the time and the room is cold and thew thermostat is set at 5, its next to this computer

Sad_Molly

It seems my problem is similar to Lady K. The 'bleed' valve on the bathroom radiator is damaged therefore this radiator is always cold. The other radiators vary from cold to tepid, except the lounge which is hot. Kershaw's told me to set the thermostat to 25 degrees and turn off the water which I've done, but it doesn't seem to make any difference.

Does anyone know how long does it take for Kershaw's to send someone out to fix the problem? My system broke down on 31.1.07 2 weeks after it was installed.

Lady_K

They never told me to do that but besides I do not think that you should have to keep turning off the hot water it should be there to use anytime thats the point of the flippin system. I had a vaillent boiler in before this was fitted and never ever had to turn the water off. The radiators stayed hot and I didnt have this trouble

I rang warmfront back again and they said they would get back to me yesterday but they didnt.

Did they put you a vallient boiler in like me and if so how many radiators is it feeding on your system?

I told warmfront I'm convinced its the boiler output that I queried even before it was put in and that kershaws will not admit to that themselves because they were told they would have to replace it at thier own cost if it was. I think it should be looked at by an independant person and I'm going to ask if they can do it in the circumstances.

I don't know if you will have had the same engineers as me though you are Nottingham but I think your the other side of Notts to me

Sad_Molly

I have an ICOS boiler, the manufacturer is IDEAL. I have 6 radiators. Ideal sent their Engineer to fix the boiler last Saturday. He told me that the 'bleeder' valve had been broken on the bathroom radiator and the other radiators needed to be 'bled' every day until the bathroom radiator was fixed otherwise they would go cold again. I am a wheelchair user and have limited movement and strength in my shoulders, arms and hands so I am not able to bleed the radiators so they stay tepid or cold. I have care assistants but they are not allowed to touch the radiators because of health and safety rules, they are not allowed to even change a light bulb for me.

margaretclare

Hi

Sounds like there are big problems in the Nottingham area!!

I would take Rebob's advice. I would be on the phone to all the people he names - Consumer Rights, Trading Standards, local councillor, anyone else I could think of. Even if you're in a wheelchair you can pick up the phone and all of those people named above will have a website.

I can't understand the advice to 'turn the water off'. If it's a combi boiler like ours then the water only comes on when it's needed e.g. for a shower - it's not like formerly where there were 40 gallons sitting up in the loft in a copper tank, having to be kept hot 24/7 although only being used of a fraction of the time.

Ours is an Ideal Isar boiler, it's in the loft, it's working very well and keeping us warm. During one of the very cold nights recently the heating came on at 4 am, DH thought that was when the 'frost-stat' kicked in. We're very very pleased with it all.

Margaret

Sad_Molly

Thanks for that advice.

I have rang the organisations mentioned but they tell me that because Warm Front is government funded they can't help, I have to write to EAGA, which I have done.

The Installer has rang me and told me to put the thermostat to the highest setting 30 degrees to see if the radiators get hot, which I've done but there is no improvement.

I'm really hoping that he will call so he can see for himself what the problem is.

Lady_K

Looks like they are trying to avoid coming out and getting you to do these things first. You should ring them first thing Monday and tell them theres no improvement and youve tried all the things they have told you to so you want an appointment for the engineer to call. If they can't do the job properly and that includes looking after the systems once they have fitted them they shouldnt be working for warmfront. If there wasn't any improvement when you set it to 25 degrees they should be checking it anyway coz the system is not supposed to work like that. If you set it at 21 degrees thats what it should reach so somethings not working right, so telling you to put it to 30 degrees to me isnt an answer coz even if it worked something would still be wrong even if it was a faulty timer or thermostat.

If its because of the air in the system to me its built up a lot of air in a very short time. That seems a bit odd because on my system before I had this one which was also a combination boiler I only had to bleed 1 radiator very rarely and only had to top the system up with water about every 14 months or even longer. I had it for over 18 yrs so yours shouldnt be letting in that much air so quick and they should find out why I would say

Sad_Molly

The Engineer who installed the heating system rang me yesterday. I begged him to visit asap. He called this morning at 7am and has fixed the problem. It seems there was air in the system, I don't know exactly what he did but he was in the loft and worked on all the radiators. it's now lovely and warm and the thermostat is at 22 degrees.

Thanks to everyone for their advice, I hope your problems are soon fixed.

Lady_K

Glad they sorted it for you:) Just keep an eye on how much air is going into the system from now coz you don't want it happening too quickly or you will end up in the same position. If you ever bleed a radiator you have to have the water topped up to replace where the air has been removed from for the system to work properly. If it gets too full of air you wont have enough water in the system for it to circulate thats why