One in five new ‘green’ boilers fail in cold
Saturday 20th February 2010, 10:43AM GMT.
New-style “green” boilers insisted upon by the Government are breaking down at a rate of one in five in cold weather, figures revealed today.
The condensation boilers, required by law whenever a new boiler is fitted, can cost up to £2,500 to buy and install – around £500 more than the conventional models.
Wolverhampton Homes manages around 22,000 council houses in the city and said today it has installed 5,000 of the new-style boilers. It was called out 1,400 times in December and January to reports they had broken down as the country suffered the coldest temperatures for 23 years.
There are 9,500 council homes in Sandwell with new central heating. Engineers from Sandwell Homes were called to repair 400 of the broken boilers in one weekend alone last month.
Shaun Aldis, of Wolverhampton Homes said today: “Since 2005, we have been installing condensing boilers in line with current energy efficiency legislation.
“We received 1,400 calls during December and January relating to them”
Walsall-based HomeServe, which provides insurance and emergency repairs, say if the pipe is incorrectly installed, the boiler may break down as the condensation freezes.
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So my ancient Mum who was getting angry about that is correct.
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I think that the majority of these ‘green’ schemes are a pile of crock and are more about money making than planet saving. As usual it is the low income families/households that will be hardest hit.
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Why are the low income households the hardest hit? Are they forced to spend their money on low energy boilers?
I would have thought those on a low income who qualify for these boilers would actually benefit, given that they should reduce the home owners fuel bills, and likely those who have their boilers upgraded “for free” would also qualify for free engineer visits to resolve any problems.
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Actually you would only have your boiler fitted free if you were in social housing, or qualified for a grant (usually some type of disability benefit required), if you managed to get on the property ladder and work, earning a low income then you would not get the ‘free’ upgrade. Neither would you get free engineer visits to resolve problems.
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I am sticking with my ancient boiler. Do not believe a word of this global warming nonsense.
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Agree with you. Global warming is a crock. Something the government will only go so far with. Note..as long as it don’t affect oil sales!!!
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Correct. They are running out of things to tax us on. A new boiler will take a long time to pay for itself if there is nothing wrong with the old one, not to mention damage to the envoiroment making the new one. However they can tax you on the new one and tax you on the cost of installastion.
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This whole green/saving the planet nonsense is becoming really annoying now.
Britain accounts for approximately 2% of global emissions. If we all committed suicide and Britain returned to oak forests, China builds sufficient coal fired power stations every year to match our 2% Our emissions are like throwing a cup of sand in the Atlantic every year.
These “Green” boilers are gas efficient and save about 30% on your gas bill. Unfortunately they have a shelf life of approximately 7 years. Your doing very well if you can achieve 10 years. They are expensive to repair and buy, so the cash you save on gas is spent on repair and replacement. In my last house the bolier was an old Potterton Kingfisher which had been going for 30 years. A plumber in London said that “the emissions saved in in gas were put out by his vans driving around London repairing them.”
Then we have the nonsense of the light bulbs. Official tests were fiddled to get the public to buy them. You will notice that all energy efficient lamps (EEL’S) are opaque as opposed to clear. It was said that a 15 watt EEL was equivalent to a 60 watt ordinary bulb. But they were comparing opaque with clear. Clear gives out more light. In truth, if you compare an opaque EEL with an opaque traditional you require a 20 watt EEL to give the same light.
In addition, during winter you have the heating and the lights on. Traditional bulbs give off heat into the room but EEL’s are cool. So the heat saved from the lamps has to be provided by the boiler when the room cools. Thus you save energy on the lights and spend it on the boiler.
My advice is, if you have an old bolier which works, leave it alone. Only change it when it is beyond economic repair.
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I think this is a bit misleading.
You can get insurance for less than £100 a year which would cover any costs associated for boiler breakdown and repair, and ours which was fitted less than 3 months ago is covered for 2 years, and was included in the price (£1700). Our Gas bill is almost 30% cheaper saving us around £250 a year if it continues that way.
If you struggle paying for a new boiler you can see if you are eligible for a grant from the The Energy Saving Trust, if your boiler is over 10 years old there seems to be available grants out there, and there are definate grants for over 60, people with a child under 1 and low income families I think if your income is under £17000, also you can try your council.
This isnt just about saving the planet but it is about saving resources to at the end of the day it is a fact that we are running out of oil and gas, and if everyone in the UK switched their old boilers for a new high efficiency condensing boiler it would be enough to supply 1.6million homes for a year (fact).
Also as suggested by the last sentence in the article they are fitted incorrectly.
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I have never flown in a plane, I drive around 20 miles a week, I use old style light bulbs when I can find them and I will be using my 24+ year old boiler until it dies. All these politicians can go to hell with their big cars and transatlantic flights. The same with people like Cameron Diaz and Leonardo Di Caprio.
Save the Planet? Don’t make me laugh.
We’re more likely to be wiped out by an asteroid.
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Have you noticed since we have had this cold weather, all the global warming doom mongers have gone quiet. I read the other day that the reason why global temperatures are said to be rising is due to the location of the weather stations which monitor temperatures. Apparently they were originally stationed in isloated places (good). Unfortunately, they haven’t moved but the area has been built up around them. Consequently some are picking up temperature from surrounding buildings which were not there before. In one case a thermometer is directly in the flight path of aero engines. Like taking the temperature of a room by putting the thermometer in the fire!
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Dear Lyns, please tell me where you had your boiler package from,because even wiyh all my discounts ie.Sale,Over 60,Customer,British Gas still wanted £3000.
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