Would you consider boiler rental ?

pooch

pandapaws wrote: »

.I'm sure there are laws against that anyway - they'd need warrants or something, I'm sure.

Shouldn't you have looked into that before signing up? :cool:

zzzLazyDaisy

pandapaws wrote: »

Not used this site for ages, but thought I'd see what people were saying about Everlasting Boilers before we get one fitted by ASG on Friday!

4. In the event of breakdown, no need to wait for parts as they are only fitting one type of boiler so will have everything in stock for immediate repair/replacement..

I am sorry, but that is a very trusting comment.

The Warm Front scheme (government backed) only fits Ideal boilers. You'd think that they would have readily available parts, but you'd think wrong. You only have to google to find lots of stories of people whose boilers have broken down and are waiting for weeks for parts to arrive.

What happens when your boiler breaks down and the engineer has to order parts which take weeks to arrive? Do you still have to pay the rental for a non-working boiler, whilst at the same time paying out for expensive electric heaters?

Also, the rental contract is for 14 years, but the accepted life of a combi boiler is around 10 years. Are they really going to replace the boiler for free during that time, because the chances are, they will need to. And what happens at the end of the 14 years? Do you get to keep the boiler or are you tied into another 14 year contract because you can't afford to lose the boiler, even though it may be on its last legs?

Also, check that the rental and the maintenance agreements are not two separate agreements, as you can find yourself tied into a rental agreement for a duff boiler, if the company providing the maintenance contract goes bust.

pandapone

dash_rendar wrote: »

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.

I currently pay 36.37 a month to British Gas for a service contract on a boiler installed in 1994 which is bound to be pretty inefficient. BG will put the cost of this up from time to time. I would be paying these people 38.00 per month fixed and get a new boiler installed which is seldom possible for less than 2K. Seems to be a no brainer.

S

Cardew

pandapone wrote: »

I currently pay 36.37 a month to British Gas for a service contract on a boiler installed in 1994 which is bound to be pretty inefficient. BG will put the cost of this up from time to time. I would be paying these people 38.00 per month fixed and get a new boiler installed which is seldom possible for less than 2K. Seems to be a no brainer.

S

Is that £36.37 for Boiler only or Central Heating System?

Presumably your 1994 boiler is not a combi??

wobblyprop

Richie-from-the-Boro wrote: »

Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhush !, oh - ok - go on then - good point - bringing up the 'goldfish' payback sales economics of a deal

Laughed at asking a 'smoggie' if he was from Chelsea, only one Boro,,

I have ASG solar panels, had em for over a year, they were free, generate loads of electric and our meter spins backwards as its analogue, so very happy

Stumbled across this Forum as got an email offering the everlasting boiler deal, not that we want one but just to get some info other than that which asg offer, seems on here to back my thoughts up, too expensive and as we are getting on a bit (60's) seems silly going for an 'everlasting' boiler, now if they could offer me an everlasting heart? different proposition!:A

pandapaws

zzzLazyDaisy wrote: »

I am sorry, but that is a very trusting comment.

The Warm Front scheme (government backed) only fits Ideal boilers. You'd think that they would have readily available parts, but you'd think wrong. You only have to google to find lots of stories of people whose boilers have broken down and are waiting for weeks for parts to arrive.

What happens when your boiler breaks down and the engineer has to order parts which take weeks to arrive? Do you still have to pay the rental for a non-working boiler, whilst at the same time paying out for expensive electric heaters?

Also, the rental contract is for 14 years, but the accepted life of a combi boiler is around 10 years. Are they really going to replace the boiler for free during that time, because the chances are, they will need to. And what happens at the end of the 14 years? Do you get to keep the boiler or are you tied into another 14 year contract because you can't afford to lose the boiler, even though it may be on its last legs?

Also, check that the rental and the maintenance agreements are not two separate agreements, as you can find yourself tied into a rental agreement for a duff boiler, if the company providing the maintenance contract goes bust.

No, totally different. The Warm Front scheme order their boilers in from Ideal just like any other boiler installer. There are dozens of different models, and any installer would have to order the parts in the normal way.

The ASG scheme only supply and fit one single model of boiler. They carry every individual part in stock on their van as it's all they do. That was part of the agreed contract. If, for any reason, they don't have a part or fix my boiler in the specified timescale, then I simply won't pay them for that part of the month.

And yes, if the boiler dies at any point within the 14 years, they ARE going to replace it, that's in the contract as well. We have the option at around the 9-10th year to upgrade the boiler for a new one for no lump-sum cost if we choose to sign up for another 14 year contract, but we're not obliged to, and if we don't then our contract will continue to run with nothing changed for the remainder of the 14 years.

The installer and maintainer is all the same company. I think you're getting confused with the Warm Front scheme, which was basically a bit of a disaster for a lot of people from what I hear. A friend of mine had one, and has had no heat for the past 6 months - I don't know the full details, but basically it sounds like the installer is blaming the guys who should be maintaining it, and they're blaming the installer. The Warm Front people themselves are washing their hands of it, and she's stuck with a boiler that doesn't work!

I appreciate the concern, and these are the sort of questions that we were asking ourselves before we signed up, but there seems to be a bit of Daily Mail syndrome going on here. Just because the deal is a good deal, doesn't mean it's a con. The company will make quite a lot of money out of us over the 14 years, so great for them, but we've got the complete peace of mind at the same time, as well as it saving us a bit over the alternatives we would have had.

pandapaws

pooch wrote: »

Shouldn't you have looked into that before signing up? :cool:

Not really, no. Because if things are so desperately bad that I can't afford to pay £38 a month it'll probably be because we've all dropped dead, in which case I won't need central heating. I can't forsee any reason, ever, where I wouldn't pay it - if things had ever got to that sort of desperate stage I'd already have sold the house, so it's something that's pointless investigating.

But I do know that there are laws which protect things that bailiffs are and aren't allowed to remove from houses, and I'm sure that there's something that would prevent some boiler man entering my house without my permission and then spending the next few hours dismantling and removing my boiler! What they are, I don't really care, because it's never going to happen.

Cue the Daily Mail brigade...

pandapaws

On a completely seperate note, has anybody else got one of these yet? Anyone worked out how to work the thermostat?!! I've sussed it for now... if I'm cold, I put it in the fridge to make the heating spring into life, and then when I'm not I put it on top of the radiator and it shuts everything down

Really should ring ASG and get them to explain it to me. They would have done as part of the install, but the guys were here till 9pm and although they were quite happy to demonstrate, we just wanted them to finish and let us defrost.

Irishcuttie

I'm thinking of getting one of these boilers but am concerned as several people have said combi-boilers are not suitable for large family homes; I have a 4 bedroom house, 13 radiator.
Has anyone any experience on whether comi-boiler is suitable? Any feedback much appreciated.

Cardew

Irishcuttie wrote: »

I'm thinking of getting one of these boilers but am concerned as several people have said combi-boilers are not suitable for large family homes; I have a 4 bedroom house, 13 radiator.
Has anyone any experience on whether comi-boiler is suitable? Any feedback much appreciated.

Welcome to the forum.

Combis cope well with heating and 13 radiators wouldn't present a problem, it is hot water supply that is their 'achilles heel'.

They simply don't supply the copious amounts of hot water avaiable from a tank. In winter - when inlet water is very cold - their output is not IMO satisfactory, especially if you want hot water at two places i.e. shower and a tap.

There are plenty of threads on this subject and opinions vary greatly.