I don't have a thermostat

macman

A 'BG' one will just be a branded standard programmer from Honeywell or one of the other mainstream manufacturers. But at a much higher cost.
There is no need to employ BG to fit such a simple device. Any electrician or RGI who handles the electrical side of things can do it.

iammumtoone

macman wrote: »

A 'BG' one will just be a branded standard programmer from Honeywell or one of the other mainstream manufacturers. But at a much higher cost.
There is no need to employ BG to fit such a simple device. Any electrician or RGI who handles the electrical side of things can do it.

Thanks for that advise. When I speak to the local company, I will ask for two quotes, a standard programmable one and a one like the BG to get a comparison.

MoneyMate

st999 wrote: »

The hotter the water circulating round the radiators the quicker the house heats up.

Not quite sure on this point ? does it not cost more to have the temperature on full , when we had a combi boiler fitted 4 years ago in a previous house the heating engineer said ideally set at 60% of maximum available on setting dial. :beer:

espresso

iammumtoone wrote: »

I don't know any electricians or DIY'ers who I would be able to ask I'm afraid.

Well how hard would it be to find one! This is money saving expert after all and you found the one company that is best avoided easily enough!

ollski wrote: »

As for being 40% more than an independent

I will give you just one example of BG fitters ripping off customers.

An OAP couple were told that the gas pipe to their boiler needed to be replaced with 22mm pipe. The BG fitter said that he could do this straight away but as he would be on holiday for the next 2 weeks he would not be able to guarantee the quoted price of £400. The couple were confused and he even rang their son at work to try to get authorisation to do this "urgent work" while he was on site.

The son told him that if this work was necessary he would get quotes and arrange for it to be done. A local gas fitter replaced the 3 meters of pipe for £100 and did a better job than the BG fitter would have done because the BG fitter said that the pipe had to go outside along the wall and then back in to the boiler.

The local independent ran the new gas pipe internally from the meter along with the other central heating pipes which were already boxed in, doing a much better job.

Don't try to tell me that BG fitters don't rip off customers when they can.

£400 or £100 which would you choose?

iammumtoone wrote: »

Ah someone who has one great.

Of course ollski has one, he is a BG fitter! Something that he didn't tell you!

iammumtoone

espresso wrote: »

Well how hard would it be to find one! This is money saving expert after all and you found the one company that is best avoided easily enough!

Of course ollski has one, he is a BG fitter! Something that he didn't tell you!

I really don't know anyone I could ask (most of my friends are female and their husbands would not fit one in their homes). I didn't find BG they were coming anyway as boiler had broken, if I had to ask them to come out especially to quote for a stat I wouldn't have done.

Is he? that's interesting, will be even more interesting if I start another thread asking about them if anyone does actually have one fitted who is not a BG engineer then!

quidsy

Do you not get a free newspaper, or have a local shop that has notices of services offered?

I mean there are literally thousands of people advertising their services as tradesmen in my local area through the news shopper or on newsagent windowa, so find it odd that you couldnt find a single person who could quote you.

Have you never seen a yellow pages or looked at one online?

ollski

espresso wrote: »

Well how hard would it be to find one! This is money saving expert after all and you found the one company that is best avoided easily enough!



I will give you just one example of BG fitters ripping off customers.

An OAP couple were told that the gas pipe to their boiler needed to be replaced with 22mm pipe. The BG fitter said that he could do this straight away but as he would be on holiday for the next 2 weeks he would not be able to guarantee the quoted price of £400. The couple were confused and he even rang their son at work to try to get authorisation to do this "urgent work" while he was on site.

The son told him that if this work was necessary he would get quotes and arrange for it to be done. A local gas fitter replaced the 3 meters of pipe for £100 and did a better job than the BG fitter would have done because the BG fitter said that the pipe had to go outside along the wall and then back in to the boiler.

The local independent ran the new gas pipe internally from the meter along with the other central heating pipes which were already boxed in, doing a much better job.

Don't try to tell me that BG fitters don't rip off customers when they can.

£400 or £100 which would you choose?



Of course ollski has one, he is a BG fitter! Something that he didn't tell you!

I am impressed that you judged the job which was done to be a 'much better job' than one which never happened!
Is my occupation a barrier to my experience of the equipment?, or does it perhaps put me in an even better position to advise than others on here who simply advise against it without even knowing what it is? (cue frantic google search!)

espresso

ollski wrote: »

I am impressed that you judged the job which was done to be a 'much better job' than one which never happened!
Is my occupation a barrier to my experience of the equipment?, or does it perhaps put me in an even better position to advise than others on here who simply advise against it without even knowing what it is? (cue frantic google search!)

It is very interesting that you make no comment about the tactics used by this BG [STRIKE]fitter[/STRIKE] salesman!

He insisted that the new pipe had to go though an external wall, along the exterior of the house and then back inside to the boiler, rather than run the pipe neatly internally, as the customer wanted.

You seem to think that BG charging 40% more is unrealistic, this illustrates that you are very wrong and that better quality workmanship was done by a local independent.

iammumtoone

quidsy wrote: »

Do you not get a free newspaper, or have a local shop that has notices of services offered?

I mean there are literally thousands of people advertising their services as tradesmen in my local area through the news shopper or on newsagent windowa, so find it odd that you couldnt find a single person who could quote you.

Have you never seen a yellow pages or looked at one online?

I answered the question above about do I know any friends who could do this (unfortunately no, believe me I would love to be able to get one done for the £40 cost of part plus a few beers). Yes I do know the telephone numbers of independent tradesman. I am quite capable of looking in a telephone directory/using the net. The problem is actually getting hold of one who is prepared to come out to do the work for such a small profit.

I have contacted an electrical company today they would charge £145 (for a standard programmable one), I might get that slightly cheaper from an independent who works for themselves but like I said they are all starting to get busy this time of year and finding one (who wants this type of work) is not easy but I will ring around as you never know

macman

iammumtoone wrote: »

I really don't know anyone I could ask (most of my friends are female and their husbands would not fit one in their homes). I didn't find BG they were coming anyway as boiler had broken, if I had to ask them to come out especially to quote for a stat I wouldn't have done.

Is he? that's interesting, will be even more interesting if I start another thread asking about them if anyone does actually have one fitted who is not a BG engineer then!

I find it hard to believe that none of your friends (male or female) have ever employed a local electrician that they could recommend?
PS: as for 'husbands not fitting one', AFAIK there's nothing in the regs that require you to have a p***s in order to install a thermostat.
If you have a quote for £145 then you have just saved £55 with one phone call.
If you advise whether you have a combi or conventional boiler, then someone can recommend a suitable wireless programmer for it that you can buy yourself if cheaper. My own suggestion (for a combi) would be the Honeywell CM727 or similar.