Warm Front advice

far

jellymid wrote: »

Hi Far,
I believe Warmfront aim to put five radiators in a house - lounge, kitchen, main bedroom, bathroom and hall. You can pay for extra radiators in the other bedrooms ( £300 each we were charged). When the assessor came to visit my Mum she had 3 working storage heaters and one erratic one. He told her to get the erratic one disconnected - then he could approve the new central heating. He didn't go around testing anything - just took Mum's word for it. He carried on with the approval and my brother only disconnected the storage heaters just before the installation.
I'm sure they wouldn't replace the wall heaters - it seems to be just combi boiler central heating systems.
As to pitfalls, there are many. It was quite a long drawn out process, very stressful, you need to be very much on the ball throughout. I wouldn't use Warmfront if you were looking to add value to the house - pipes surface mounted, drops down the corners of rooms and the like. We had an awful lot of remedial work to do after they had gone. But you do get a warm house at the end of it. With hindsight I would have requested all correspondence and phonecalls to come direct to me, not to my Mum as the stress was too much for her. Be prepared to assert yourself ( in a polite way;) ) . Hope that helps,
Al

That's very interesting. They only need radiators in the five rooms that they use that don't have heating - the 3rd bedroom is not used at all and is currently used for storage. I wonder if in that case they'd fit radiators in those rooms only and ignore the 2 rooms that have good heaters and the 3rd bedroom. The issue of surface mounted pipes might be a problem as might the issue of remedial work - Mum and Dad have very little spare cash as it is and live a very basic existence even with help from me and I don't really have much in the way of savings to get much remedial work done. I shall try and be assertive but not much good at it (even had to be pushed to help mum/dad get money they were entitled to thanks to a utility company mistake recently and mum wanted to just leave it). Another thing my parents made very clear is that they want the gas fires in the first bedroom and living room to not be disconnected or disturbed - will have to make sure that doesn't happen either.

Guess we'll have to keep our eyes open.

mum2one

If its any help we had back boiler replaced, to a combi boiler and 2 of the radiators replaced, as well as the valuesput on all the others they dont touch the gas fire.

We had no probs with them, only annoying factor was the time it was 6 mths from inital review to fitting, we had 2 great guys doing ours they tidyed up after themselves, no mess no unsightly pipes etc

DenBo_4

eileenjo wrote: »

I had a new condensing boiler fitted under the warmfront scheme four months ago. Great. Really hot water for the first time in years. Fab latest digital thermostat fitted in lounge.



I sometimes get the fan of the boiler going off for a few minutes when the heating isn't even on - in the middle of the night. Not sure why.:rolleyes:

Do you leave your hot water on all the time? If so, it will be the hot water heating up again, so that you have hot water instantly. I turn mine off at night.

I have just had a Warmfront boiler put in, after the intial 6 months hassle two really nice blokes came and fitted the boiler, they were tidy etc. Also the boiler is guaranteed for two years, so if any of you have any problems with your boiler in the first two years call them up.

sebastianj

Very many thanks Jellymid, it helps a great deal. The Assessor wanted the insulation work to start soon, but I wanted the heating sorted first, in case there is no money left to change the boiler.
Warm front are organising a surveyor to come round to look at the heating. The boiler and the pump is making all kinds of sounds. I am hoping for the best.

seb

far

The Warm Front assessor came and said he'd been here before! He did a nice check of the house after checking the benefits mum and dad are getting. He measured up the house, had a look outside and in the loft and said we had plenty of insualtion but we qualified for a central heating pack - 5 radiators plus a combi condensing boiler. The radiators will be fitted in the bedroom, hallways and living room plus 2 we can install in rooms of our choice - he suggested having an extra one in the hallway plus one in the bathroom - however that is up to us. We'll now get an installer to come and talk to us about how everything will be done and from there the work will be booked. Very good so far

mum2one

Thats brilliant news, well done, makes a massive difference with the combo boiler, def reduced our gas bill x

margaretclare

sebastianj wrote: »

Very many thanks Jellymid, it helps a great deal. The Assessor wanted the insulation work to start soon, but I wanted the heating sorted first, in case there is no money left to change the boiler.
Warm front are organising a surveyor to come round to look at the heating. The boiler and the pump is making all kinds of sounds. I am hoping for the best.

seb

I would have thought it was best to get the place well-insulated first. No insulation, and any heating flies straight out into the atmosphere.

Can I just say, we had the new condensing combi boiler last January. It replaced a back boiler in the sitting-room, the new boiler is in the loft. The little gas-fire in front of and part of the back boiler, is still there and could still be used if necessary, but the place is so lovely and warm, I doubt it ever will be. It had only ever been used in really cold weather because this little house has always been well-insulated and when it gets warm, it stays warm - or cool, in summer. The little gas-fire is a feature more than anything - I didn't want all the mess of removing it and leaving a gaping hole which was unsightly.

Our gas bills have tumbled, we're warm, there's all the hot water we'll ever need, and the job was done quickly, neatly and efficiently. There's also a new wireless thermostat controller in the hall which controls the heating very efficiently according to the times that we set.

Margaret

far

The contractors who are doing my parents work are called Fenhams in Newcastle - anyone have any experience of work done by them?

mum2one

far wrote: »

The contractors who are doing my parents work are called Fenhams in Newcastle - anyone have any experience of work done by them?

Hi
Fenhams are the contratcers they are absolutely super, basically they have contracters who are contracted to set areas.

We Shropshire, had 2 blokes from Wales, they wereabsolutely brilliant, never met 2 nicer tradesman, also Fenhams are great if you have a query, sometimes if your having a job done say for a grantsome companies can ameke you feel arkward as thou you shouldnt be asking questions as you havent paid, but not Fenhams, your treated like royalty.

x

sebastianj

Hello all,
Have had a survey for loft insulation done today. The nice gentleman told me that the cost is £320, so I assume this leaves about £2400 for Central heating. Have not yet got the name of the contractor and central heating boiler has not been mentioned.
rgd
seb