Warm Front advice

Savvy_Sue

I don't know what sort of boiler it was, but I am sure I caught a snippet on the news some while back about Environmental Health serving a noise abatement notice on someone because their NEIGHBOUR was being woken by the boiler! It is certainly something I would want to look into.

Callumco

I work at an energy efficiency advice centre and we deal with warmfront grants. The problem is that your boiler needs to be either broken down or condemned before you qualify for warmfront - you also need to be on an income related benefit and several other criteria. The time scales for the grant can be quite lengthy too anything from 2 - 9 months and to be without heating and hot water for this lenght of time isnt satisfactory. As previously mentioned in this link, the prices can be quite high compared to an independent quote from a heating installer and generally people can be left with an excess payment to pay and a short time to pay this. Some local councils to have a grant to help you pay this excess but not all of them.

I would recommend that if you are applying for the warmfront grant, don't get your insulation from them as this is taking money away from your boiler being done and means you will have a larger excess payment. Fuel suppliers have an obligation to offer free insulation to owner occupiers and private rented tenants for loft and cavity wall insualtion for people on benefits and there is now a grant for anyone over the age of 70 (you don't have to be getting any benefit) to get free insulation. You can ring a local insulation installer or most energy advice centres should be able to refer you too. The energy advice centres number is 0800512012 and they should offer you free, impartial and expert advice on these matters.

autismmum

savy sue :I don't know what sort of boiler it was, but I am sure I caught a snippet on the news some while back about Environmental Health serving a noise abatement notice on someone because their NEIGHBOUR was being woken by the boiler! It is certainly something I would want to look into


how sad is that council though... thought it would be better for a family to be cold with out hot water for the sae of helping with some sound proofing.. very sad petty council indeed.

p00

My mum had a Warmfront grant and had an Ideal combi boiler and 2 radiators fitted at no cost to herself. And she has £275 left to use up.

The worst thing was the 'cowboy' fitters. The company was chosen by Warmfront who then subbied it out.

What I would say is to watch everything the fitters do as they will only do the minimum. 'what do you want for free' they told my mum and now the top up valve is on top of a cupboard which means she has to climb on a chair then the worktop to reach it. And they left holes in the walls and so on.

The boiler had a few problems to start with but she says its great now to just turn the tap on and have instant hot water instead of a tank and she says her heating is a lot hotter than before.

It is slightly noisy though (but not excessively) but since we dont know how noisy other boilers are we cant really compare.

Oh and her boiler wasnt really condemned either but the man who came out to assess the job said that as her boiler was over 12 years old it was inefficient so could be replaced. He was very helpfull too.

xxp

margaretclare

p00 wrote: »

My mum had a Warmfront grant and had an Ideal combi boiler and 2 radiators fitted at no cost to herself. And she has £275 left to use up.

The worst thing was the 'cowboy' fitters. The company was chosen by Warmfront who then subbied it out.

What I would say is to watch everything the fitters do as they will only do the minimum. 'what do you want for free' they told my mum and now the top up valve is on top of a cupboard which means she has to climb on a chair then the worktop to reach it. And they left holes in the walls and so on.

The boiler had a few problems to start with but she says its great now to just turn the tap on and have instant hot water instead of a tank and she says her heating is a lot hotter than before.

It is slightly noisy though (but not excessively) but since we dont know how noisy other boilers are we cant really compare.

Oh and her boiler wasnt really condemned either but the man who came out to assess the job said that as her boiler was over 12 years old it was inefficient so could be replaced. He was very helpfull too.

xxp

I don't understand about the top-up valve on top of a cupboard. And having to climb on a chair to reach it? This is a contravention of health and safety, surely. No one should have to climb on chairs and worktops!

I asked DH if we have a top-up valve (our system was changed in January 2007 and we seem to be the only people who've been completely pleased with all that is done). DH says if it is a condensing combi boiler then it's a closed system which shouldn't need topping-up. If it needs topping-up then there's a leak somewhere which needs attention. In just over a year there has been no question of ours needing topping-up. We have a valve, but it's part of the boiler and we wouldn't want to have to access it - leave that to an expert! - and in any case it's all in the loft, where we don't go very often!

Has your Mum had a visit yet from the WarmFront inspector to sign off the work? If she has any concerns at all - and having to climb on to worktops would be something I couldn't physically do anyway! - she needs to make a list and make sure the WarmFront inspector is made aware.

No derogatory remarks such as 'what do you want for free' were ever made to us, in fact the 2 guys who did ours were very polite and helpful. Couldn't fault them at all. They did exactly what had been agreed beforehand, what had been discussed with the assessor, did it politely and efficiently and cleaned up what little mess they made before they left.

HTH

M

newleaf

Haven't read the whole of this thread, but my in laws have just had a new boiler and cavity wall insulation installed in their bungalow courtesy of Warm Front. They only had to pay £450 and it was all completed very quickly and efficiently. They are absolutely thrilled to bits. We visited today and noticed the difference in temperature straight away, they are now toasty warm and also hope to save a lot of money with their new fuel efficient boiler.

djohn2002uk

newleaf wrote: »

Haven't read the whole of this thread, but my in laws have just had a new boiler and cavity wall insulation installed in their bungalow courtesy of Warm Front. They only had to pay £450 and it was all completed very quickly and efficiently. They are absolutely thrilled to bits. We visited today and noticed the difference in temperature straight away, they are now toasty warm and also hope to save a lot of money with their new fuel efficient boiler.

Are you saying they had a grant of £2700 plus topped it up with £450 making £3150 in total for just a new boiler and cavity wall insulation? Sounds like another Warm Front rip off to me.

far

I reported earlier in this thread that my mum and dad had applied for a Warm Front grant. Just to update you on this, they were accepted and for 5 radiators, a boiler (no central heating exists), controls and labour and they have to pay an excess of just under £219. A sixth radiator was requested for an upstairs landing and this will cost an additional £180. In the letter from Eaga, the cost of materials is £1,226.29 and the "contractors quotation to complete work" is priced ar £1,653.81 along with £15.07 for "Other work done or due to be done". My parents have already gone ahead and paid the excess but does this seem reasonable for the above work? I shall be trying to enquire on Tuesday (rather belatedly admittedly) what the exact breakdown is and the make/model of the boiler to be supplied as well. Anything else I should be asking for?

newleaf

djohn2002uk wrote: »

Are you saying they had a grant of £2700 plus topped it up with £450 making £3150 in total for just a new boiler and cavity wall insulation? Sounds like another Warm Front rip off to me.

I am saying that they have a new boiler and cavity wall insulation and only parted with £450. I'm sorry, I thought I had made myself clear.

newleaf

margaretclare wrote: »

We seem to be in a minority of users who have been completely pleased with all that was done, how it was done and how it has worked since, especially the effect on our gas bills. Why that should be, I have no idea
Margaret

Don't worry Margaret, you are not alone! My in-laws are more than happy with their new installation