Keep my Baxi Bermuda 552 or have a new Warm Front boiler?

[Cambridge Mum]

Warm Front have said I can have a new boiler with a grant but I've been reading this forum and it seems they may well put in an unreliable boiler (not-so Ideal). Now I should like to get my gas bills down - my boiler isn't even included in the energy efficiency tables it's so old, I guess no more than 55% efficient. But I gather from this form that some of you like the old Baxi Bermuda. It has been very reliable these last 19 years, but it is very inefficient.
My house is a small 3 bed mid terrace but with a side passage between us and the neighbours on one side.
If you were me, what kind of system would you go for, bearing in mind the grant's limitations and the fact that the house is tiny and there isn't anywhere convenient to wall mount a boiler? One installer said they couldn't put the boiler in the attic. It looks as though the only place to put a wall mounted boiler would be next to the front door, directly under my child's bedroom. I would then have nowhere to hang our coats. The installer suggested putting the boiler in the dining room or in a bedroom. I really hate that idea. There is nowhere in the kitchen it could go, except over the sink, the kitchen really is that small. I have a Trevi Therm shower over the bath, with a Stuart Turner pump, by the way.
Thanks,
Mum.
PS can I trust the installer Warm Front insists I use?

 

[Cambridge Mum]

PS,
My child has learning difficulties and is guaranteed to fiddle with the boiler controls if he can get at them

 

[gas4you]

If they insist on an Ideal then I wouldn't bother with it.

They have been fitting a few Vaillants in and around the Norwich area, so possibly they could do that for you as well.

I would have thought an Ecotec Plus 831 combi would be good for you.

Don't know who your warm front installer is so can't say if you can trust them

There is usually always somewhere the boiler can be fitted to mutual agreement and compromise.

 

[Cambridge Mum]

Thanks,Dave.
I am nervous of combis because I'm not sure what the water pressure is like round here. We are big water users - the washing machine (cold fill, mains tap) is on about three times a day, 7 days a week, and we use a lot of hot water because he needs frequent baths/showers to clean him up. Because the airing cupboard is shallow we have a torpedo hot water tank, and although it is small, there has never been a real problem with this, although you can't have a really deep bath as the hot water runs out. I wash up by hand several times a day, because I can't leave dishes lying around and there's no space for a dishwasher. I understand that if we have a combi the shower would need replumbing, because the pump would be redundant and the hot water tank would go. I looked at the Vaillant site, thanks, and see they also have an optional hot water tank to go with the combi boilers - not sure how that would work. Of course I'd love to stick everything in the attic so it was out of the way and His Nibs would than not be able to fiddle with the controls, but the eaves aren't very high, so not sure whether this could be done. 2 of my neighbours have their boilers in the attic but the chap from Warm Front said these installations were illegal - too near the chimney, or something.
I assume it's bad etiquette to name the nominated Warm Front installer, but I can say that they are not from Cambridgeshire, nor from Norfolk!

 

[Corgigrouch]

A Warmfront fitter up here fits Worcesters but I have heard bad things about this Warmfront thing

 

[gas4you]

If they are too close to a chimney then all the installer would have to do is extend the flue further away from it or any adjacent wall.

Can't remember offhand if it is 300mm or 600mm from a fanned flue roof terminal

 

[bengasman]

I have heard various stories about warm front, varying from not so good to total disaster.
If half of it is true, I would not touch them with a barge pole.

 

[Agile]

My Bailies has made me a little more responsive that usual!

Its such a pity that this Cambridge mum can so clearly explain the situation but is obviously within the catchment criteria of the Warmfront scheme.

There is obviously a wide range of possibilities of different units available under this scheme.

My advice is that you stand firm and do NOT have anything installed which you are not totally confident with. After all its where you live and where you will be paying the bills!

There is an associated installation firm called Iguana which share the same address as Warmfront which is in itself suspicious!

To ny

 

[simond]

Iguana Heating is the 2nd largest boiler installation firm in the UK (BG is 1st).

When DEFRA were looking form an impartial firm to administer Warmfront grant allocations of the taxpayers money they chose the Eaga Partnership.

Eaga Group own Iguana Heating and a number of other heating companies.

For every £300 grant they deduct £50 for handling the voucher, so the heating installer gets just £250. They keep £50 for their trouble.

Any idea who is the largest Warmfront installer? I'll leave you to guess.

I would have thought that the first prerequisite on DEFRA's list of suitable people to administer grant allocations on heating would be that they are not a heating contractor themselves. But what do I know?

 

[Cambridge Mum]

Thanks.
The firm they want to use is called Cosytop. As I think I shall end up having to pay extra to have a decent boiler and to have it in the loft I wonder whether i can insist on my own installer... the thought of having my house turned upside down by a contractor I don't know and from many miles away fills me with anxiety.

 

[giblets]

I have recently been down the same path with a customer who was entitled to the full grant. He insisted that he wanted me to do the job but Warmfront would only pay out if their installers did the work. In the end, for obvious finacial reasons, he had them do the job. One thing that did surprise me was that WF do not put inhibitor into the system.

Another customer in the same position managed to get a grant from her local council (nothing to do with WF) for me to do the work so it may be worth making some enquires in that direction. Some councils offer this grant, others don't.

 

[Cambridge Mum]

It does sound as though the scheme is unsatisfactory and that people eligible for some form of grant ought to be able to choose their own CORGI-registered fitter. It's shocking that EAGA owns several of thew plumbing firms!

 

[gas4you]

And you will always get charged more than the grant by the installing company.

 

[bengasman]

£1200 for the boiler swap in itself plus additional costs for extra pipework because the boiler “had to be moved” in my friend’s case.
this whole thing reeks of conflicts of interests and/or kickbacks.

 

[Corgigrouch]

I have also heard that stuff like TRVs on your rads are to be charged as extras.....Errm excuse me but why did I have to pay for the privilege of sitting in a class room to get a little tick on my CORGI card next to Energy Conservation.. TRVs are mandatory when a system is upgraded...NO???