BG condemned 25yr old Johnson & Starley Hot air Boiler

diable

ormus wrote: »

its the standard BG sales method im afraid. ive heard this story so many times now, its getting to be a joke.
i wouldnt mind so much, but the BG quotes are more like telephone numbers.

more like international telephone numbers......

amtrakuk

keystone wrote: »

Apart from another misdiagnosis by a major leading to the "you need a new boiler" solution why did the saleman try and flog a complete system change to a radiator solution when if the boiler was shot a new J&S unit would do quite well thank you very much.

Cheers

I dont know maybe its becuase it was something more common to engineers or they can have a set amount of excuses for a combi boiler than something they don't know much about.

Also BG said she would have to have the flu changed as it was asbestos and was illegal to use costing £2k. Basically outpricing replacing the boiler with another J&S.

Either way mum was delighted with the news I told her yesterday. More to the point she has posted off the cancellation form (registered deliver) and backed it up with a phone call to the sales team at BG.

Looks like I've found a local engineer who services J&S boilers :T

amtrakuk

Now you know why when my Ravenheat boiler went US after about 7 years I said bye bye gas, hello electric.

Butterfly_Brain

If your Mum is a pensioner or on any sort of benefits she could qualify for a Warm front grant -We had ours done last Oct and because I am disabled it cost me nothing - and we are buying our house

wallbash

Why should the OP mum change her boiler ??
Nothing wrong with the Johnson & Starley, ( apart from its size) :rotfl:

Enterprise_1701C

We had to replace our Heater this year, and found that the reason that the old one conked out was cos it was poorly installed, and this was by someone purporting to be specialists in warm air!! This was however, 23 years ago! Basically we had someone round that we could trust (sons girlfriend's father) and he checked the old system over and basically reported that everything was wrong with it, this was what we had been told before! We now have a wonderful J&S J40 c/w working water heater (our old water heater never worked properly) and have been promised it will keep going for at least 25 years!!

Moral of the story - make sure you get someone that specialises in warm air and never touch British Gas (they tried to condemn our old one 10 years ago and sell us a radiator system, told us they were outmoded and no-one made them any more!!, needless to say we went somewhere else who got us the spare part and fitted it for a decent price).

amtrakuk

Hmm... Just had a call from mum again, the boiler has gone U/S again, I tried asking mum to "exercise" the room thermostat but this hasn't made a difference. Was told the boiler comes on for about 5 minutes (main fan running) then shuts down. Uneducated guess at the boiler overheating?

It's not the best time to get an engineer out, with christmas a few days away. But my brother and myself have been looking at a couple of options, one of which is replacing the boiler. If my memory serves me correctly, J&S do a like for like replacement with a modern model, does anyone know how much this would be?

Robert2009

Hi, I have Johnson & Starley warm air heating that is about 20 years old and still going strong.

I would be interested in what the replacement costs were if you ever go down that road.

amtrakuk

Good news, there maybe light at the end of the tunnel... At the bottom of the J&S website there is "Find an installer" link. this provides like a google search for local engineers. I made a phone call today and there is one about a mile away who charges £35 an hour and has (importantly) worked on allot of these boilers. Office closed until the 4th Jan so advised mum to book and engineer ASAP after the new year.

Encouragingly comments like "Theres very little to go wrong with these boilers", also heard the "condemn and sell" routine from BG before. Mum was delighted I got contact details of a local engineer and at a very reasonable rate.

Very surprisingly before BG condemned the boiler they were charging over £60 for homecare... Do the maths, even if the repair is £500. It will be cheaper than homecare charging £60 a month for cover.

Being a good boy mum will have another oil filled radiator for after christmas - just incase!

amtrakuk

Robert2009 wrote: »

Hi, I have Johnson & Starley warm air heating that is about 20 years old and still going strong.

I would be interested in what the replacement costs were if you ever go down that road.

Keep going with it.... I am beginning to understand they are allot more reliable than most. Best of all J&S still hold all parts even after 20 years! IMHO thats dedication you find hard to beat these days!