advice re central heating please

It is his job to try and sell you stuff. Did he say there was actually anything worng with your current system, specifically?

L
xx

You sound like my husband. No he didn't but I do worry, I think he is probably a jobs worth although very nice and I guess he as you say is doing his job. No there isn't anything wrong at the moment and he serviced it monday i guess it is the fear that if it goes wrong there is nothing we can do and it will cost an absolute fortune which we don't have. I know I am being silly and my husband will be so mad when he gets home because he is really hacked off with them at the moment anyway as we have had no hot water since tuesday.

Thanks I guess I should get some quotes so I know what I may be dealing with.

WLoisS. I've always found Bristish Gas to be pushy and always tell you the worst so they can get work. If you do need a new system don't get British Gas to do it as they charge the earth and often sub-contract the work out anyway.

Get an independant plumber to come around and have a look and quote for a new system. He'll tell you whether it needs doing now or not.

If you're in London I can recommend a company that give free quotes and would be able to advise you on it.

I couldn't fit this on the text but we have had british gas out a couple of times in the past month and both times they have mentioned that we need a power flush which costs between 500-800 depending on which gas man you ask! I'm concerned that if we have to call them again they will cancel the agreement. They say the problems with the bolier are because of sludge. We can't afford that sort of money so if we have to end up having it done I'm going to shop around. I bet he is trying to get some commission and if you do need central heating you can it done a lot cheaper by other people and not BG. Try not to worry about it(I know easier said than done!)

Hmmm that sounds high, the plumber I use would charge about £400 for a 7 radiator central heating system and this is London.

Definitely get a few quotes whatever you do.

Oh's dad is a plumber who sub-contracts for BG. Last year my mums heating was condemned by BG who then quoted her for a system, (it's a big house) and it came out at £8000 and would take 10 days. Oh's dad came out and quoted allowing for EXACTLY the same as BG (cos that's what he uses!) and it came out at £4000 and would take 2.5 days, which it did!

Irony being my mum has little BG logos on all her radiators, cos the stuff comes from the same supplier! Bare in mind this was a whole heating system, fitted from scratch, all new pipes, new combi boiler and 11 radiators......

Hi EN and JC,

WE are kent so a little way from london and I text a friend earlier but she hadn't replyed but she had whole lot done a couple of years ago and she was charged £3000. Her house is bigger too. So that looks promissing still a lot of money but not as bad as I thought (was told by BG) she is going to give me his number when I see her next week. we also know a plummer/gas man who we have always used but he doesn't do warm air hence using BG we will ask him too.

Jc I know what you are saying about cancelling the agreement. I think I will be removing the heating bit from our agreement as if there is a problem and they not going to fix anyway whats the point. AS you know I don't need this at the moment. lol. hey our heating is going to go on forever lol or at least this winter please

our would be starting from scratch too. Boiler, emmersion, plus around 8 radiators. I always new BG was expensive but that is double.

My dad has the warm air heating and they did the same to him, however his mates son is Corgi registered and told dad his heating was fine and not to change it (the ony thing he needs is an outside flu thingie fitted).

We changed form storage heaters to radiators (3 bed house, had 8 radiators put in, boiler and towel heater thingie, new shower and a few bits and bobs) for just under 3k.

I might get them to quote just to have a laugh at their prices.

That sounds about the right price. I pay about £2500 to put it in an average 3 bed semi.

I just noticed my plumber has some prices on his website. Even though you're not in London it's useful to get an idea of how much things cost.

http://www.genesislondon.co.uk/price-list.html

My husband says they don't like working on the warm air thats why they try to get you to change it. However every year we have had it serviced they have come up wiht something wrong but not with the warm air boiler. First year we needed a CO2 detector well that is sensible so I got one last year we needed a out side vent so we did that. this year we need to but more ventalation aby taking the door off. it is madness. He also told me to get another CO2 which I have done. But is as if they want to find something wrong and can't so they make something up.so My WAU is classed as "at risk" because it has the door on there. 3k sounds very good.

I would like to say thank you too all of you I feel so much better now and I now feel really silly for making myself so upset about it. But can you imagine what if I was a little old lady living on my own. It shouldn't be allowed.

I know, dad is on his own now and doesn't understand anything like this, they could see that he said as they kept saying more things that were wrong, but when this other lad came and looked it was perfectly fine. I love the air heating, I used to stand with my toes over the vents on a cold day ha ha!

I love it too I can have furniture in my rooms where ever I want and no big radiators to look at and not obstruct. when we do have to re do the central heating I have no idea where I will put radiators in my main room all the others are fine though. I am glad your dad had someone else that could reasure him.

It's nice to see that there are more people that have had BG telling their heating system will fail and have to be condemed! My parents had them tell them this for 15 years! The boiler and heating system is still going fine!

Yeah we were really shocked at the difference! All we can guess is it was mainly on labour......