60 year old friend is freezing

DemiDee

Hi all

I have a friend who's just turned 60. At the same time, her boiler turned 25 years old and decided to break down. Of course, this has been the worst weather possible for this to happen! She is on long term incapacity benefit and the boiler is not insured. She has been told that the part needed to fix it is no longer available. After days of freezing with no heat, her brother in law eventually went around and managed to bypass something in order to get it working again, but says it could switch off at any time. Thankfully, her frozen pipes are now unfrozen and she can at least stay in a warm home for a while, but I wondered if there was any help for people of this age who find themselves without heat in this weather? I called Age Concern and they gave me a number for a company which takes 21 days to even give you a call back, and then another 3-6 months IF they can fix the problem. By that time, the elderly person who has no heat would have frozen to death!!! I have donated to Age Concern (or Age UK, as it's now known) and imagined that, since one of their mottos is, 'keeping the elderly warm' or something similar, they might be able to help the elderly who find themselves in such a worrying predicament.

downshifter

I'm 59 and threequarters, my heating is broken, I have convector heaters from Argos (less than £20) and netto had an offer, might still have, on electric oil filled heaters. Also several pairs of socks, woolly jumpers and hot drinks. Electric blanket or hot water bottle at night and get rid of drafts. Have a look at the "preparing for winter 2"thread for more ideas.

60 isn't elderly!!! Having a disability will make her life much harder than yer average 60/40/20/10 yr old but I'm sure she's prepared for emergencies like anyone else. If not, you can run up to Argos for her and get whatever's needed. She's lucky to have a neighbour who cares as you obviously do, but I'm not aware of any charities for 60 yr olds!

cave_2

DemiDee,

I would recommend getting some leccie heaters/blankets in case of emergency - Amazon do some good cheap ones.

British Gas do competitive prices on repairs, although I think there might be something called a 'Warmfront discount' of £300 off a new one, for the over 60s. Not sure how likely you are to get it with the gov cuts http://www.warmfront.co.uk/ Maybe ask the Jobcentre if they know anything?

BargainGalore

She may well need a new boiler

In long term she may get a grant from warm front depending on finances and her eligibility but this may take months quit possible 6 months assuming she can get a grant

http://www.warmfront.co.uk/do-i-qualify.htm

The other solution may be to get a loan or if she has any savings. I should think it will be around £800 + labour maybe more

DemiDee

Cave, the Warmfront.co.uk site is excellent. I've just printed out the eligibility page and will post it to my friend now. Thank you so much.

christabell

If she is on IB she would be able to apply for a Crisis Loan to get some temporary oil filled radiators. Which I think are better than convectors/fan heaters. A Crisis Loan is for an emergency like this. She is also eligable for the warm front grant as said above, but that is going to take some time. Meanwhile please also check the home heat hotline www.homeheathotline.co.uk.

Now, is she also on the Social tariff? with the energy company she is with????? There is help out there. Best of Luck for you and your friend.

BargainGalore

Also your friend might be best to wear lots of warm thin clothing, plenty of hot drinks and keep one room at least warm. Oil filled rads are fine for temporary thing but they do take a while to warm up

BargainGalore

Not sure how good these are but I assume they do give instant heat bare in mind electric is 3 times more than gas to heat so watch the meter.

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/ceramic-fan-heater-1800-watt-lidl-1/813297#comments

£11.99 for 1800watt heater from Lidl

That works out roughly on full power 20p-22p per hour

ariba10

If it happens to be British Gas that said the part is unobtainable, I would recommend that they get a second opinion.

Lube

Age concern keep a list of approved fitters so as said in post 10 a independent fitter may help, its worth a try

Pincher

Call up the spare parts department. Sometimes you'll get:
"That part of the business is sold off, now this other outfit is doing the parts, but the product code is different, because a new version superceded it ten years ago."

It doesn't take much time to do a few searches using the boiler name, make, part no. etc.