New smart meter has left us with a broken boiler 3 weeks before Christmas

[JustCantTakeItAnymore]

I just don’t think I can cope anymore. Going through crap and now we have a broken boiler three weeks before Christmas.

DP has had a major crisis related to something that happened in his past (I posted about this about a month ago on another thread under a different username, it was a 30 day only)...It’s been one of the toughest things I’ve ever gone through but I was just about coping myself, trying to stay calm and look after my own well-being and the DCs etc.

So roll on Wednesday, following endless hounding I had finally agreed to have a smart meter installed. We have/had a very old but reliable baxi boiler but unfortunately something happened when the new meter was installed and it looks like the circuit board has blown. In short, the plumber’s opinion is that the whole boiler now need replacing, if he replaces the circuit board, the likelihood is that there will be a knock on effect and something else will go wrong. I am in agreement and honestly think if he could just fix it he would.

Yes it was an old boiler but my argument is is was working perfectly fine that morning and has broken as direct result of having the smart meter fitted. If the engineer hadn’t been round to install the meter I’d have a fully functioning boiler now.

I’ve spent hours on the phone to the energy supplier and it’s becoming glaringly obvious that I’m going to have to fight for any reasonable compensation. I have a young DC who needs my attention, where am I going to find the time and energy for this?! I’m too busy trying to get help for DP.

In case nobody’s noticed, there’s a pandemic going on and we’ve had to spend our savings. A relative has kindly offered to lend us the money for either repair or a new boiler.

So DP in crisis, boiler is broken but we can borrow the money to sort it out, it’s not the end of the world....the same day on Wed Dd2 comes home from school. Her good friend’s parents have tested positive for corona and now her friend’s twin sister has (they share a room etc), the friends test is inconclusive. We are expecting that DD will be sent home by Monday to self-isolate. Obviously can’t have the plumber in the house under those circumstances and it looks now we are now facing going through coronavirus and Christmas with no heating 😱 i know in theory we’re allowed to visit family at Christmas but it’s been a pretty unanimous decision all round that everyone is staying put this year, we can’t risk spreading it to older relatives. This is just so so crap.

I feel like I’m about to snap. I was just about coping and now this. I’m going to speak to the doctor tomorrow and ask for ADs although I’m still BFing - not sure if I can take them if I am?

Have googled the smart meter/ boiler thing and it is an issue which has happened to others. The engineer should have taken one look at our aged boiler and refused to install the smart meter on the basis that it wouldn’t be able to cope with the switchover. They really should not be installing these new meters at the moment, if at all, if there’s any risk to the boiler whatsoever. I really think they need to halt the installation programme, at least temporarily.

So I have DP in crisis
Broken boiler
Potentially coronavirus
It’s three weeks to Christmas (been so stressed with DP we have no decorations up, haven’t bought a single present, we’re staying at home to avoid giving it to older rellies and I haven’t even thought about Christmas food, turkey etc)

If I hadn’t had the smart meter installed the boiler would still be working. I would be focussing on DP and Christmas

I know other people have it worse but just just can’t deal with it all anymore. I’ve been lying in bed unable to sleep, sobbing because in 1-2 hours I have to get up and deal with a lively toddler all day. I have numerous calls to make for DP, plus the usual food shopping etc to do and now I need to spend hours getting advice and writing letters re the boiler. I just can’t cope, I can’t do this anymore :-(

I know it was an old boiler, I know that but if the smart meter hadn’t been installed it would still be working now. This is so unfair.

Im not sure the boiler is actually the issue Op is it, I think you said you could borrow the money to get it sorted so its not the end of the world, apologies if I'm wrong but I think your dp is the issue and the rage at the boiler situation is something you feel you can legitimately be angry at
Feel free to pm , don't be on your own xx

Read the links that PP have made to The Guardian/Observer - it's happened to lots of other people. Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean that it can't have happened!

Just because it's happened to lots of people doesn't mean the installs did anything untoward to the boilers.

If boilers are more likely to break when electricity is restarted or gas supplies reconnected, and boilers operate for years at a time without those things being done, then a national program that involves both those events is going to break a large number of boilers.

I am curious if installs could actually actively be breaking boilers. It doesn't make sense to me, but there could be some factor I'm not seeing.

As an example of things not being as simple as simple logic dictates, I used to think that the advice that running your heating 24x7 could be cheaper than putting it on a timer made no sense, based on a simple understanding of physics. Then, many years after I first read thread on the subject. I came across an explanation that made sense. If your walls are prone to damp, then 24x7 heating keeps them dry, and dry walls transmit less heat than water-logged ones. So in that scenario, running your heating for longer can reduce your consumption.

It could be another one for the tinfoil hat brigade but there does seem to be quite a few people claiming that smart meters cause problems with appliances.

For example...

www.smartmetereducationnetwork.com/index.php

Don't report yourself to Social services, do as others have said and maybe your MP?

Kids are resilient, you'll just have to keep them very wrapped up and boil the kettle for bathtime. Your partner needs to help as much as he can and you do what you can. It sounds like you're overwhelmed right now.

If boilers are more likely to break when electricity is restarted or gas supplies reconnected, and boilers operate for years at a time without those things being done, then a national program that involves both those events is going to break a large number of boilers

^^ This. But there's probably a good few people happy to do a sad face in a national newspaper if it gets them a 35 year old boiler replaced for free.

The Boxt recommendation upthread looks like a good one, I went through the price for a new boiler for us (we don't need one currently but ours is 14 years old so its not going to last for ever) and the prices looked quite good - around £2k for a good boiler, which is less than I thought it would be.

As an example of things not being as simple as simple logic dictates, I used to think that the advice that running your heating 24x7 could be cheaper than putting it on a timer made no sense, based on a simple understanding of physics. Then, many years after I first read thread on the subject. I came across an explanation that made sense. If your walls are prone to damp, then 24x7 heating keeps them dry, and dry walls transmit less heat than water-logged ones. So in that scenario, running your heating for longer can reduce your consumption.

You see this in old churches. Seems stupid and expensive to heat them outside of services but its actually really hard to get a cold, damp building hot. So it can be more efficient to keep a low level of heating 24/7 and boost it at key times. (Though there are also risks to overheating depending on the building so as you say heating gets complex).

OP, I think you need to speak to your GP and also decide where to focus your energy (as it sounds like you have more going on than you can deal with right now). Maybe talk it through with someone (here or in real life) because when you are really overwhelmed it can be difficult to prioritise/decide what to ignore.

[quote BIWI]@JustCantTakeItAnymore Contact The Guardian/Observer consumer team - they might be able to help you, given the number of other readers who have contact them about this.[/quote]
That's a very good idea. A call from the press often stirs companies into action.

Mind you, I suspect that in this case, action would open up questions of liability, so it might not get anywhere.

@RandomLondoner

Read the links that PP have made to The Guardian/Observer - it's happened to lots of other people. Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean that it can't have happened!

Just because it's happened to lots of people doesn't mean the installs did anything untoward to the boilers.

If boilers are more likely to break when electricity is restarted or gas supplies reconnected, and boilers operate for years at a time without those things being done, then a national program that involves both those events is going to break a large number of boilers.

I am curious if installs could actually actively be breaking boilers. It doesn't make sense to me, but there could be some factor I'm not seeing.

As an example of things not being as simple as simple logic dictates, I used to think that the advice that running your heating 24x7 could be cheaper than putting it on a timer made no sense, based on a simple understanding of physics. Then, many years after I first read thread on the subject. I came across an explanation that made sense. If your walls are prone to damp, then 24x7 heating keeps them dry, and dry walls transmit less heat than water-logged ones. So in that scenario, running your heating for longer can reduce your consumption.

If boilers were more likely to break when electricity is restarted, wouldn't we see a crop of broken boilers every time the leccy comes back on after a power cut, or after people on prepayment meters have run of credit then topped it up?

But I've never heard of that happening, and where I live we had several power cuts a few weeks ago, and used to get them frequently until they replaced a sub-station (oddly, they used to happen when it was very windy, feck knows why that might be).

The smart meter has not broken your boiler.

Any installation of any element which means an interruption to your electricity and gas supply can lead to issues with older boilers; either they fail to restart when the electricity is switched back on or air is introduced into the gas pipes which means the boiler won't fire.

It's an installation and old boiler problem; not a smart meter problem.

Other posters upthread have given good advice on who to speak to and about having tradespeople over to fix it with someone self isolating (which has not happened yet; try not to catastrophise something before it's actually happened) so I won't repeat that here.

You can get this sorted before Christmas.

You see this in old churches

We keep our church (c.1200) heated to a minimum of 12 degrees year round, and as you say just bump up the temperature when it is being used. We don't do it because it is hard to heat the church up, it is to reduce long term deterioration, particularly from damp and beetles.

The cost of the fuel is offset be reduced maintenance and insurance charges.

(oddly, they used to happen when it was very windy, feck knows why that might be)

The wind causes shorts on the supply lines to the substation, blowing the circuit breakers. They used to need to be manually reset but are now mostly replaced by the auto resetting type so the duration of the power cuts are much reduced.

Book the pkumber in and keep daughter in her room.
We had to do this recently.

Not sure how helpful this is but our boiler packed up in Summer and we were just about managing with shallow baths etc but with having a small baby we couldn't keep the house cold anymore so we went with a company called Boxd to replace our boiler. British gas quoted £3,095 and this company did it for £1,850 all in on a monthly payment plan. I'd highly recommend them. Also, depending where you are we have 3x electric heaters that are really good on energy if you'd like to borrow them in the meantime. I'm Lincolnshire =)
Sending and strength for you

Meant to say Boxd replaced ours last week for that price...not in Summer

I really feel for you - we had something similar happen last year. Not a smart meter but our old boiler (to be fair, we knew it was 20 years old and getting to the point where it would be beyond economical repair) died in the process of being serviced.

Worked fine (and had been serviced annually) until the plumber sent a junior round who clearly had no experience of that type of boiler. Three visits later, by plumbers of increasing seniority, they managed to get it working again. Cost £500 in parts - would have told them not to bother if we’d known in advance (they had the decency not to bill for labour).

It then died three months later, a few days before it was due to be replaced, leaving us with no heating in February and a 5 week old and a 4 year old. That was fun.

I’d focus on today’s problem, which is the boiler. Christmas will wait until next week. Try to focus on the replacement - look into grants first - and then start looking into how to pursue this with the smart meter people. Get your daughter to self-isolate and warn the installers.

You can definitely breastfeed on Sertraline if you feel ADs would help. Sounds like you have a lot on your plate.

Five years without a service on an old boiler could have been fatal. I agree with others, no record of maintenance will almost certainly mean no compensation as you really can’t prove it was in good condition to start with.

Ours packed in a few weeks ago on a Saturday evening. It was replaced on the Monday by a company called Warmzilla. Found them a bit cheaper than Boxt for what we needed.

Hope things improve for you, and gently, get the new one serviced. Every year. If you don’t and that breaks you invalidate any warranty.

Oh yes, and we found oil filled radiators useless. The best were little electric fan heaters - also much easier to move round the house. Doors to rooms shut and warm clothes on, hot water bottles, etc.

We have a Glo Worm boiler, which our plumber recommended as being the same as a Vaillant (I think) but cheaper and with a longer warranty. I think it’s guaranteed for 7 years as long as it’s serviced annually. It’s a combi. We ended up getting the old hot water tank ripped out, some pipe work replaced and most of the radiators replaced too.

Boxt are great but they won’t come in while OP has self isolating people at home, I don’t think.

@JustCantTakeItAnymore Is the boiler up to date on services? Looking at the energy ombudsmans responses, as long as it has been serviced on time each year, you’re likely to win a complaint against the energy provider. They’ll be somewhat reasonable, but you just need to show you were maintaining it and it hadn’t skipped services etc.

It’s not immediately clear from your comment about five years earlier if that’s the case, but I hope it is.

For everything else, is there anyone you could talk to for a while and offload? Is DP getting all the help he can? This is a lot to carry. You’re doing really well, even if it doesn’t feel like it right now.

If your dc is told to self isolate could she remain n her room while plumber is around? It is far from inevitable that she will either catch it or pass it on. As to whether a smart meter caused it, any interference with power could trigger a breakdown. We had a phase of regular power cuts which played havoc. Hope your dh recovers, it all sounds very stressful for you. Is he able to support you as well as you him?

Ok so I’ve spoken to the doc, he was really lovely about it all and he’s given me a prescription for Sertraline, told me to get a CV test so I can hopefully go in and see him face to face next week to and also get the boiler sorted if I test negative. People are right, i do need to deal with the DP issue, it’s very hard, he’s so caught up in his own issues he’s not able to register how stressed I am. I need to just accept I’m dealing with this without him for the time being.

I’ve also spoken to a relative who is a bit of an expert in consumer issues and very good at complaining effectively. He’s given me a clear game plan and put it into perspective regarding liability etc.

Thanks so much for kind offers of radiators etc...you’re nowhere near me, but I will take the Just trying to work through it all slowly now, thank heavens for cebeebies!

Good luck OP, I woudl definitely not give up on pursuing the energy company. Maybe worth also seeing if you can get in touch with Miles Brignall who wrote the story about the 94 year old woman?

It stands to reason that these smart meters may not be compatible with very old boilers and the energy companies need to be held to account for not acting reasonably in these cases.

I’m really glad your GP was helpful. One thing at a time is all you can do.

Call your plumber and ask him how quickly he can supply & fit a new boiler.

@myusernamewastakenbyme

Thats crap Op....i live in fear of my boiler breaking down.....i have a very old cold house so it would be a nightmare....on another note what is the point of these smart meters....my energy company keep trying to get me to have one but so far ive resisted.

The man who came to do the obligatory annual meter read gave me the spiel on smart meters, which I declined for the zillionth time. His response was Don't blame you!