Syd Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 The government,s warmfront scheme seems to be failing it's customers around here, an old lady, aged 83, her Combi has gone kaput yesterday and they cannot get anyone out until next Tuesday. No heating and no hot water. Our next door neighbour has also had the same failure and warmfront cannot get anyone out until next Wednesday, they are of course over 65 years of age and again no hot water or heating. Is this their normal way of treating thier elderly customers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightrider Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Syd - 2010-01-09 10:15 AM The government,s warmfront scheme seems to be failing it's customers around here, an old lady, aged 83, her Combi has gone kaput yesterday and they cannot get anyone out until next Tuesday. No heating and no hot water. Our next door neighbour has also had the same failure and warmfront cannot get anyone out until next Wednesday, they are of course over 65 years of age and again no hot water or heating. Is this their normal way of treating thier elderly customers Syd, you will notice that it is the so called modern combi boilers that have gone kaput, they are RUBBISH you can't beat a conventional gas heating boiler. If on the very rare occasion a componant on a conventional boiler fails they are easily replaced at a very reasonable cost. I would also remind members to turn off the internal stop valve to any garden taps otherwise you might find yourself having to pay a plumbers bill for a burst pipe. K.O.T.R. a time served plumber (one of the old school) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
breakaleg Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Our last combi boiler gave good service for 15 years, (valiant) the new one (Worcester bosh) recommended by many heating engineers when we were getting quotes is working well so far (three years) so I'm not sure where the rubbish statement is coming from. Pete Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syd Posted January 9, 2010 Author Share Posted January 9, 2010 As far as I am concerned it isn't the fact that this or that one is the better it is the fact that here we have a "Government" concern that is leaving the elderly without heating during this global warming that we are currently experiencing. At 83 years of age, lady on her own, I would have expected something a little better from them than this. I have cleaned her paths for her three times today and each time I had finished we received another heavy fall of snow so I have given up and it has not snowed since Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightrider Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 breakaleg - 2010-01-09 2:00 PM Our last combi boiler gave good service for 15 years, (valiant) the new one (Worcester bosh) recommended by many heating engineers when we were getting quotes is working well so far (three years) so I'm not sure where the rubbish statement is coming from. Pete The rubbish statement comes from experience, how many people have come to you and asked you if you can repair their broken down combi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malc d Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Syd I've just had a look at the "Warmfront Scheme" website ( as I've not heard of it before ) and it doesn't mention anything about emergency callouts. It's a scheme under which people on certain benefits, and over 60, can apply for grants to improve their heating systems. I would think that the ladys' inabililty to obtain a plumber/ engineer is more to do with local demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightrider Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 breakaleg - 2010-01-09 2:00 PM Our last combi boiler gave good service for 15 years, (valiant) the new one (Worcester bosh) recommended by many heating engineers when we were getting quotes is working well so far (three years) so I'm not sure where the rubbish statement is coming from. Pete You have had two boilers in 18 years, a conventional boiler with a cast iron heat exchanger will last a lifetime with regular servicing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowtelse2do Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Syd' My mum had one put in by Warmfront when she was 81.There was the 12 months guarantee as usual, a year later the boiler started acting up (middle of winter) took 3 days for them to come out and mend it, they were about 40 minutes. Mum renewed the guarantee for another 12 months, same happened again (middle of winter) only 1 days wait this time, took more or less the same time to fix. All this happened again last year, same routine. Mum's house is now empty so I decided to turn the c/heating on low all the time and yes you've guessed it, Boiler packs up. She hadn't renewed her guarantee so I called out our local plumber a very busy man at the moment, took him 2hrs to come out and have a look, Told me the condenser outlet pipe was running uphill so the water in it was freezing and not letting the boiler ignite (safety precaution)He as now done a temporary fix and when he as seen to some more emergency jobs he's coming back and replacing the outlet pipe with the correct size pipe, apparently it should be 42mm on the outside and it is only 22mm and not lagged. None of the other plumbers that came out said it was wrong, so this would have been a on going problem every winter. I hope it is now curred. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nightrider Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 In order to combat the constant rise in the price of gas I am thinking of fitting a woodburning boiler in the utility room, this will be linked up to the existing heating system which will give us heating and domestic hot water. There is no problem in installing the system that I want the only bugbear is the cost of twinwalled insulated flue pipe, its one hell of a price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Tracker Posted January 9, 2010 Share Posted January 9, 2010 Syd - 2010-01-09 10:15 AM The government,s warmfront scheme seems to be failing it's customers around here, an old lady, aged 83, her Combi has gone kaput yesterday and they cannot get anyone out until next Tuesday. No heating and no hot water. Our next door neighbour has also had the same failure and warmfront cannot get anyone out until next Wednesday, they are of course over 65 years of age and again no hot water or heating. Is this their normal way of treating thier elderly customers As in all things there are good makes of boiler and bad boilers and good installers and bad installers! It would be interesting to know what make of boiler is involved as the better makes have websites and phone contact points to help, advise and provide a suitably trained technician to resolve faults - in theory. I have lived in many houses mostly with older types of boilers and have never had a real problem either with parts or finding an engineer when needed - but then I am able to handle such situations. My understanding of the Warm Front scheme was that it used cheap boilers and newly trained or inexperienced fitters to install them to keep costs down? This may well be a false economy to apply to needy and/or elderly people unable to resolve future problems both in and out of warranty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 nowtelse2do - 2010-01-09 5:16 PM ......... Told me the condenser outlet pipe was running uphill so the water in it was freezing and not letting the boiler ignite (safety precaution)..........Dave I'm very grateful for that bit of information, Dave. Coincidentally, our boiler went to into reset mode last night, and locked out. I thought of your post at the time, and went out to have a look at the condense pipe. Sure enough, it was full of water because it had frozen, just before it discharges to the drain. A kettle of hot water later the pipe freed; a full reset later and away went the boiler again! Brilliant!My question is, how on earth did you know just when to post the information?Good forum this, it even has clairvoyants contributing! I'll see if I can think a free pint into your local boozer. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowtelse2do Posted January 10, 2010 Share Posted January 10, 2010 Brian Kirby - 2010-01-10 6:28 PM nowtelse2do - 2010-01-09 5:16 PM ......... Told me the condenser outlet pipe was running uphill so the water in it was freezing and not letting the boiler ignite (safety precaution)..........Dave I'm very grateful for that bit of information, Dave. Coincidentally, our boiler went to into reset mode last night, and locked out. I thought of your post at the time, and went out to have a look at the condense pipe. Sure enough, it was full of water because it had frozen, just before it discharges to the drain. A kettle of hot water later the pipe freed; a full reset later and away went the boiler again! Brilliant!My question is, how on earth did you know just when to post the information?Good forum this, it even has clairvoyants contributing! I'll see if I can think a free pint into your local boozer. :-) Cheers Brian, You helped me once so glad I'm able to return the info.Now this is what a forum is about, eh!!Oh by the way. I'm not Clair Voyant, As Eddie would say "she's probably on the dark side." :-DAnd please keep thinking hard. 'Royal Oak' is the local :-DDave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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