Free Boiler Replacement with Back Boiler

sniffypup

Asking for an elderly person who has no internet...

The lady wishes to replace her existing back boiler with a gas boiler under the "free gas boiler" scheme for replacing older inefficient systems.
Attempts to date have resulted in the assessor backing off when he discovers the existing boiler is a back boiler and so the new boiler would involve additional work. There is a suitable location for the new boiler, but a little additional pipework would be involved, plus of course making provision for the vent. The lady is prepared to pay for this additional work if necessary.

Questions:
(a) Is there any exclusion in the free boiler replacement deal that excludes provision of a new gas boiler in these circumstances?
(b) Is provision of a new boiler in any way discretionary in these circumstances?
(c) Has anyone similar experience and how was the issue resolved?

tia

captainhindsight_2

Hi this can be done, the problem is the ECO grant in most circumstances won't cover the full cost of replacing the boiler.

And many companies don't want to go through the cost of paying somebody to come out and do a EPC if they know or think its not going to be fully funding.

I would recommend contacting a local installer, many of the large companies won't allow you to top-up the grant they only want to do fully funding jobs.

I would also maybe offer to pay for the EPC (this is needed for the grant) if they are still a bit wary this is going to be around £50

From the EPC they will be able to tell you what the shortfall is and then they haven't gone through any financial risk to see if your eligible. The grant should knock off about £1500-£2000 of the install costs and replacing a back boiler costs around £3000 so you should expect about a £1000 contribution.

The above figures are just from my experience, obviously they may vary

sniffypup

many thanks...