Would you consider boiler rental ?

kiwikaz

We've had a couple of trusted mates round who both install boilers. One employed by the council and another who is self employed.
Amazingly British Gas had previously been servicing the boiler but I cancelled their service contract because of the expense.They were always trying to get us to get a new one installed because of the age and obsolete parts. Allegedly that is !!
It's a Worcester 240 and has done rather well and, up until recently we'd had very little trouble with it.
We've no family that we can ask to lend us the cash for a new one and unfortunately can't apply for a loan as we're on a DMP. We've managed to pay 2 months token payments to our creditors in order to help towards paying for one but we're quite a way off.
I was hoping that this would've been the answer and that a bit of luck had come our way. I suppose it does sound too good to be true.
I'd forgotten about that other company advertising with Johnny Ball.
Best stay clear by the sound of things.

Thanks to all of you who've taken the time to respond. Very much appreciated.:think:

ollski

if your 240 just needs a new hot water diaphragm you're talking a 40 quid job.

beerbellybrian

Everlasting boilers are a part of a shade greener who do the solar panels and have a good reputation so they are probably okay. According to their chat line they do not charge for upgrading supply pipes to suit modern boilers so that is good BUT totally misleading to double their charges and not make mention of it on the website. £4.44 a week for ten years would be pretty much the same as a boiler installation by a Gas Safe engineer so would be very good value but twice that isn't unless you take into account the service costs and call-out guarantee but then a new boiler can have a five year guarantee and servicing is as little as £60 a year. I am pretty sure that the costs WILL be fixed at an agreed rate, though. These boilers cost about £600 retail so if they are massive bulk buying them £300-400 I would say, so there is plenty of room for profit even at £4.44 a week. I have a call-back coming from them so will let you know any more info I get.

beerbellybrian

Had the callback, £8.79 a week for 14 years (except first three months free then £4.44 for six months), only have 36kW boiler which has no eco mode so way too powerful for std central heating radiators unless you have a mansion but good for constant hot water if you have a large family. I would never get any kind of payback on it even if it is more efficient than my eleven year old boiler. It is the kind of deal that will appeal to people who shop at Bright House, ie they have no credit rating and don't want upfront costs.

As I have solar panels I am looking at heat pumps...

kiwikaz

beerbellybrian wrote: »

Had the callback, £8.79 a week for 14 years (except first three months free then £4.44 for six months), only have 36kW boiler which has no eco mode so way too powerful for std central heating radiators unless you have a mansion but good for constant hot water if you have a large family. I would never get any kind of payback on it even if it is more efficient than my eleven year old boiler. It is the kind of deal that will appeal to people who shop at Bright House, ie they have no credit rating and don't want upfront costs.

As I have solar panels I am looking at heat pumps...

OMG... That's horrendous.:eek:
Thankfully I've never shopped at Bright House either !

Thanks for posting back your findings BB. I'll get someone else in to check over it again and hope that it might be a diaphragm.It's unlikely to last forever coz of its age but if ( fingers crossed ) it does turn out to be the diaphragm as posted earlier then at least that'll give us some breathing space to save for a new one.

30ish

I also got an email from ashadegreener today advertising this new boiler programme (had their solar panels over a year and perfectly happy). I've rung them and got someone coming out on Friday to see if our house it suitable (we need quite a big boiler for 16 rads) and to give us all the info about how it works.

My thinking is that we can't currently afford a new boiler, and the one we have is about 30 years old and while it's working ok, it worries me that if it broke down we wouldn't necessarily be able to afford to replace or repair it. I've therefore been considering taking out a comprehensive boiler insurance but those are pretty expensive in themselves. Additionally, I've been told that our old boiler is probably running at about 60-odd percent efficiency, therfore the £100ish a month we spend on gas is costing us about £30ish more than it would if we had a new boiler (which won't happen at the moment, simply because I don't have the available funds and don't want any more loans). So it would kind-of pay for itself for the first few years, and the cost would be worth it for the insurance price for the remaining ones?

The fact that this is a fixed price of about £35 a month with no loans/finance interest, and includes ALL the installation, maintenance, servicing and repair costs does seem very tempting to me. I don't yet know whether it will be fixed (although their website implies this) but with inflation that figure will decrease in real terms as years pass, whilst the cover will remain the same for breakdowns. If it had been a random company offering the service I'd have been extremely skeptical, however ASG are well and truly on my 'above board' list, so I'm very hopeful.

Incidentally, I've never set foot in a Bright House :rotfl:but I'm still very tempted by this deal... it would get us the new boiler we need NOW with the peace of mind for life, for not a helluva lot more than the cost of a fully comprehensive insurance policy.

30ish

Also... you guys call it 'boiler rental' - I did wonder how the legalities worked. What would happen if I stopped paying (not that I would) - would they just come out and rip it out?!

dash_rendar

I've been looking at these Everlasting Boilers through ASG too. I'm wondering what would happen if you moved? Would the 'contract' pass on to the new owners?

While it does like like a hefty monthly amount, it's not far off the cost of British Gas boiler and heating cover. So, at a glance, it looks as though I would continue to get the same amount of cover, but a new boiler on top. Question comes down to whether that would be a saving in the long run. Based on monthly payments alone, there's not much in it. But if I save £200-300 per year through boiler efficiency, then that's a massive saving.

spinningsheep

who actually makes these boilers?

george1939

beerbellybrian wrote: »

Everlasting boilers are a part of a shade greener who do the solar panels and have a good reputation so they are probably okay. According to their chat line they do not charge for upgrading supply pipes to suit modern boilers so that is good BUT totally misleading to double their charges and not make mention of it on the website. £4.44 a week for ten years would be pretty much the same as a boiler installation by a Gas Safe engineer so would be very good value but twice that isn't unless you take into account the service costs and call-out guarantee but then a new boiler can have a five year guarantee and servicing is as little as £60 a year. I am pretty sure that the costs WILL be fixed at an agreed rate, though. These boilers cost about £600 retail so if they are massive bulk buying them £300-400 I would say, so there is plenty of room for profit even at £4.44 a week. I have a call-back coming from them so will let you know any more info I get.

As well as heat output to rads very important to me is the output of hot water to taps in litres/minute Can anyone give me this? is it 9litres ,13litres or 19litres etc Thank you