Scottish Government Free Boiler Scheme

[OneWildBiscuit]

My mum is a pensioner who lives on her own and is eligible for the Scottish Government free boiler replacement scheme.

She's had a surveyor out who was rather pushy and tried to persuade her to get replace all the radiators with bigger ones, and get additional radiators where she doesn't even need them (in the permanently warm kitchen for example) and told her she would need to shift the furniture, pull up her carpets and laminate flooring, and vacate the house for at least a day.

Her radiators are in perfect condition and more than adequate, but her boiler is frankly buggered and needs replaced. For various reasons, shifting the furniture, lifting carpets/floorboards and vacating the house are not an option.

She's told the company involved she only needs/wants the radiator replaced but they've told her that she needs to have new radiators too and can't have just the boiler.

Has anyone else had their boiler replaced under this scheme, and did you have to have radiators fitted too?

Would the boiler be replaced with another boiler or with a heat pump? Heat pumps work differently - lower temperatures but on for much longer so the surface area of radiators needs to be bigger, hence the need to replace. So what has been suggested sounds normal for boiler to heat pump change.

You do need to make sure the company quoting did a proper heat loss estimate. Heat pumps are great, particularly for older people at home a lot, as the heating is on all the time, but the calculations must be correct and there are some cowboy installers out there. The Heatpumps U.K. group on Facebook is worth a look - I learnt a huge amount on there when we were planning our installation.

No, she's been quoted for a combi boiler only but has been told she can't have it without the radiators.

Hmm, that does sound weird unless the heat output from the replacement boiler would be very different. A replacement boiler in the same position should be relatively straightforward!

Is it an old boiler? I just had a 15 yr old boiler + water tank replaced with a combi and although the radiators are the same I've been told I need to use it differently, ie on a lot more. The old boiler made the radiators really hot so we had it on just a few hours a day and it was fine. The new one puts out much less heat so we need it on longer. I can imagine that if we used to have the old one on a lot then the only way to get as much heat with the new boiler would be bigger radiators - as it is, we're youngish, healthy and out all day so we're fine.

Yes, close elderly family member is about to have boiler and radiators replaced. However, they are quite happy as the wet system went in 30 years back and various bits do need replaced. The boiler is newer but needs replaced too.

I'll be one of the folks helping shift the furniture etc as our family member ain't going to manage that. Their house is relatively modern and lots of access hatches so shouldn't be too bad but I can imagine the hassle involved would be considerable in some properties. I'm still not looking forward to trying to move the futon, it's blooming heavy.

Have they given any reason why both have to be done? Or if there's no alternative can they do the lifting and shifting themselves?

I'm guessing cost will be a factor as they'll get a lot more labour for fitting the full system than just replacing a boiler.

It's not so much moving furniture that's the issue - we could arrange help with that - it's the need to lift the laminate flooring that's the main issue. It would effectively result in needing to replace the flooring entirely as you can't relay the type of laminate she has once it's been lifted. She's also not keen on being told she has to vacate the house for the entire day and takes her cat with her!