Government Boiler Scheme SCAM!! Underpowered boilers

naedanger

Larry123 wrote: »

This is great to hear. I'm glad my CH won't be affected...

Without someone independent looking at the installation can you be certain there is sufficient power for the coldest days of winter?

On the other hand, I also wonder if the online output figure is wrong. (Sometimes a mistake in a brochure can be repeated online by many different websites.) It may be worth checking with the manufacturer. That said I would have expected BG would have done this already and told you if there was a mistake with the online figures.

Larry123

I spoke with the technical department at vaillant who confirmed the figures in their spec sheet were correct and that BG were definitely wrong. BG admitted they were wrong and their spec sheet is badly populated. I reckon they pulled their figure from the LPG figure.

I'm not at all convinced it is enough but everyone else here seems to think it is. It will be impossible to get it replaced once it's installed but that's that. I hope the hundreds of others that have received underpowered boilers will be ok.

PasturesNew

I'd have stayed quiet until it was all sorted out, rather than writing a big post about it .... wouldn't want to get their backs up before they'd offered me a good solution.

naedanger

Larry123 wrote: »

I'm not at all convinced it is enough but everyone else here seems to think it is. It will be impossible to get it replaced once it's installed but that's that. I hope the hundreds of others that have received underpowered boilers will be ok.

My starting assumption would be that the current boiler is underpowered. The fact that the erroneous output figure is equal to the previous boiler's output seems too much of a coincidence.

I would also not be convinced if two (or more) BG engineers said it was now OK. I would want them to pay for an independent assessment (with the assessor to be chosen by me) before I would be convinced. My reason for demanding they pay would be that they had not told me in advance the new boiler would have significantly lower output and there was reasonable grounds for believing an error had been made.

Larry123

naedanger wrote: »

I would want them to pay for an independent assessment (with the assessor to be chosen by me) before I would be convinced.

Sounds like a good idea. The thing is, I also want to make sure that everyone else who has been affected knows of this error. I will see what this manager says when he comes to visit. I think once I have got mine sorted, I will take this issue to Watchdog and see what their opinion is on the whole thing. What's the point in running a scheme like this if it is just used by big corps to profit on and for the customers to be under served?!

I'm not usually one to go this far with things but the whole ordeal has really wound me up. The fact I really had to squeeze it out of them, the fact they have told me if I want a bigger boiler (aka a like for like replacement that I was supposed to be receiving for £250) I would have to pay a further £200 on top of the £250 already paid, the fact they have tried to treat me well and promised to find a resolution that makes me happy, as if to stop me from making any more of a fuss about it all... the whole thing just really really winds me up.

naedanger

Larry123 wrote: »

Sounds like a good idea. The thing is, I also want to make sure that everyone else who has been affected knows of this error. I will see what this manager says when he comes to visit. I think once I have got mine sorted, I will take this issue to Watchdog and see what their opinion is on the whole thing. What's the point in running a scheme like this if it is just used by big corps to profit on and for the customers to be under served?!

I'm not usually one to go this far with things but the whole ordeal has really wound me up. The fact I really had to squeeze it out of them, the fact they have told me if I want a bigger boiler (aka a like for like replacement that I was supposed to be receiving for £250) I would have to pay a further £200 on top of the £250 already paid, the fact they have tried to treat me well and promised to find a resolution that makes me happy, as if to stop me from making any more of a fuss about it all... the whole thing just really really winds me up.

Obviously listen to what the manager says and get your own installation sorted.

But if, after hearing BG's response, you believe there is a systematic problem that BG are not addressing then please do raise the matter widely.

If there is a general problem then I hope you succeed in getting the matter addressed for others as well as yourself.

gjoseph

Hi, I was wondering how did you get on with British Gas in the end? We have the same boiler Ecotec Pro 28 and since having it installed by BG on their recommendation we have had a loft conversion (now a five bed with 2 bathrooms) done the central heating is not powerful enough. BG have so far just said that the boiler is suitable for the house. We're not quite sure how to go about it as BG just since to be saying it's our builders error when installing new pipes in the system (which we are 100% assured it isn't) and recommend a power flush which is extortionate. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cardew

gjoseph wrote: »

Hi, I was wondering how did you get on with British Gas in the end? We have the same boiler Ecotec Pro 28 and since having it installed by BG on their recommendation we have had a loft conversion (now a five bed with 2 bathrooms) done the central heating is not powerful enough. BG have so far just said that the boiler is suitable for the house. We're not quite sure how to go about it as BG just since to be saying it's our builders error when installing new pipes in the system (which we are 100% assured it isn't) and recommend a power flush which is extortionate. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Firstly the suggestion that a 'powerflush' is required is the standard response from BG. Surely your plumber would have checked this when you had the loft conversion.

I would have thought that a 28kW boiler, if working properly, would be more than adequate to heat most houses, albeit you might have to turn up the water temperature on the boiler, and if all rooms are in use, it might take longer for the rooms to heat up from cold.

The one thing a Combi will not cope well with is two bathrooms at once.

zaax

19.9kW is no were near adequate for two showers. 28kw is just about OK. 13kW is needed in a cold winter to bring the water from near 0c to 40c