choosing a warm front contactor

[sammyboyblue]

I assumed it was warmfront as it never cost them anything and it was a grant, although they may of been called something else then. I do know it was not a grant of the council.

 

[D_Hailsham]

The Warmfront scheme started in 2000. Prior to that, it was known as the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme, which started in 1990.

I can't find any details about their contractors on the Warmfront website. Anyone know where to look?

 

[namsag]

In reply to your actual question you usually get a choice of at least 2 installers and you can sometimes stipulate which boiler you want, have seen a few dodgy warmfront jobs but seen more that where done exactly by the book and spot on , just your luck in the end.

 

[londonboy]

What area are you mate?
I work for a warmfront installer and I'll tell you now the quality they require is very high.
They have recently shook up the system and weeded out some of the poorer installers.
You can also have either a Baxi or Vaillant boiler (obviously at extra cost)

 

[bengasman]

I work for a warmfront installer and I'll tell you now the quality they require is very high.

You can also have either a Baxi (obviously at extra cost)

To consider "upgrading" to a baxi proof of "very high" quality, so much so that it justifies a price of more than three and a half thousand quid, says it all.
If that is not a complete rip off, I don't know what is.

For the same money I would provide a real quality whole installation: WB CDI on a 28 mm gassupply, wireless Siemens controls, and half a dozen or so rads all piped up, and guaranteed a damn site longer than the warmfront crap. And that is at London prices.

 

[londonboy]

If you knew anything you'd know the installer doesnt set the prices.

Oh and my company hate warmfront work because theres no profit in it.

£3500 for a combi, 6 rads + pipework, new gas, main bonding, new spur, wired controls, power flush, brickwork and carpentry work?
Doesn't sound that much to me

 

[bengasman]

We all know that warmfront quote around the total of the grant for a like for like boiler swap. That brings the supply and fit of a junk ideal between £3000 and £4000. That, by anyone's standards, is a rip off.

Oh and my company hate warmfront work because theres no profit in it.

So you hate the job, AND there is no profit in it, AND you are extremely unlikely to get any profitable referrals from it, but you still do a very high quality job.
Forgive me for having serious doubts.

 

[namsag]

Who said its his company.... Ben you keep saying if money not high people wont do a good job is this your attitude.??

Gave away a job this afternoon friend asking me to put new boiler in , know her circumstances gave her the warmfront website cost myself a good few bob but saved someone a good deal of money

 

[bengasman]

Who said its his company.... Ben you keep saying if money not high people wont do a good job is this your attitude.??

Experience more than attitude, though not the real issue with warmfront.
The real issue with warmfront is a heap of money coming in at one end, this gets filtered down the system and ends up with a couple of hundred quid for the guys that actually do the work, a couple of hundred quid for the boiler, and between £2500 and £3000 lining the pockets of a select few. Apart from a very small part of the population that are saints, we all are motivated by earnings, and if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.

I could either be right or wrong about my conclusion as to the WHY, but the fact remains that there have been thousands upon thousands of officially lodged complaints, and regardless of whether you search this forum, or google warmfront "customers" the ratio of "boilers from hell" vs "outstanding job" is overwhelming.
What else do you expect from an organisation that uses ideals by default?

 

[Boilerman2]

I got called to a Warmfront installation a few years ago, they had fitted a Vaillant Ecomax in the Kitchen, only problem was it was flued into the Conservatory, Warmfront installer ahad adviced the housholder and elderly gent in his Eighties, to just remove a couple of sheets of glass from the roof of the leanto Greenhouse/conservatory, I was called to give 2nd opinion, in thirty years it's the only RIDDOR form i've filled in

 

[sammyboyblue]

Thanks all we have emailed eaga so waiting a response of them and we will probably ring them monday.
We are in Liverpool and the company that have wrote to us are based in Wigan. After reading alot of stuff on here going to ask them for a Ecotec and hopefully the contribution wont be to high.

 

[izzy eckerslike]

We've had ours done by a company called BGC, or rather a contractor of theirs. I would expect a sub contractor to do the job properly otherwise the main contractor would soon blow them out.

There were two gas fitters & a labourer come basic plumber bloke, the two fitters did an excellent neat job of the boiler, the pump & all the components in a neat square on the wall in our pantry & new cylinder in the loft but left the other bloke to replumb the bathroom rad which was on a single gravity expansion pipe
It's not that bad but it shows he's not competent, then he was given the job of pipe lagging & it was absolute crap with bright yellow tape stuck here & there & bodged up bends. Needless to say I redid the lot with silver tape & mitred the corners properly.

I also saw this bloke not long before they left after a max heat test run go up in the loft with both bottles of system cleaner & protection fluid & bring the empties down so presumably both were tipped in together?

My only concern is that they didn't perform a power flush even tho I saw it on their worksheet & also the gas pipe is very vulnerable running across our loft floor along with the lagged heating pipes, we use our loft as storage & its part boarded, non of the gas pipe has the yellow GAS tapes on either, in the loft the 5 Mtr run of 22mm gas pipe is compression & presumably it's because they won't use blowlamps in a loft?

All in all a mixture of good & bad but I can't really complain about a free upgrade to our heating but I will put thing right myself apart from the gas pipe.

The Warmfront inspector is coming Thursday & I will point out the gas pipe & see what he says.

 

[bengasman]

The controls might be put on the wall neatly, but chucking in the cleaner and inhibitor at the same time is pretty pointless.
No doubt the inspector will tell you it is a wonderful job.

 

[Boilerman2]

If only you got what you paid for?

 

[sammyboyblue]

The guy came out today said they would fit an ideal icos as he has old radiators and they would not take a combi and they would not fit new radiators as there would not be enough in the grant. They would flush the system fit new radiator valves and fit a new thermostat. He spun a yarn about how it is best to keep some money back from the grant in case of future problems. He did not offer us a choice of boiler, what are the price difference between and icos and a vaillant equivalant? My father does not want a combi anyway so he is happy he can keep his cylinder, no mention of a new one though that must be 20+ years old.
He let the company whom we had heard bad things about come and look at it first, the guy said he will send his report back to warmfront who will then send us a breakdown of the work involved and then take things from there.

cheers Sam