Eco4 grants

[sandspider]

Hi folks

Anyone had anything done to their houses under the above? I keep getting offers through the post for it, seeing ads on the internet etc. Seems to me that the suppliers are very keen to get me to sign up for something - presumably as they (the supplier) can then rake in government money while doing an overpriced sub-standard job! Am I being unfair, is it worth looking into further?

Our house is old, cold stone - not suitable for cavity wall insulation, and I don't want a heat pump. Oil boiler was new in 2017 I think. Oh, and we only receive child benefit, so may not be eligible for much anyway...

Thanks.

[old man]

Looked very complicated to me on first inspection. Keeps popping up here too.

Sadly everything now seems to have the potential to be carp.

[oldypigeonpopper]

Hello, if your house has no cavity what are you looking for, The only one would be Loft Insulation ??

[udderlyoffroad]

See my thread on having it done here:

In fact I need to update it.

Assuming you can cope with the disruption, the internal wall insulation is definitely worth having, made the house much warmer and easier to heat.

[Shambam1962]

My shooting mate living in Haverfordwest, recently had the Eco4 grant on his farmhouse.

To qualify for the grant it depends on the type and age of the boiler.

You don’t have to be in receipt of any benefits to qualify for the grant !

 I know my mate isn’t in receipt of any benefits and works.

He purchased the property 2 years ago and gutted the house and did a very nice refurbishment job on the property.

Shortly after completion, he received details regarding the grant scheme and he applied.

He has had solar panels fitted, air source heat pump installed and the internal stone walls insulated with insulation boards, and attic insulation.

He previously had an oil boiler for central heating and the house is a solid stone farmhouse construction.

The hardest part of work, was having the interior walls insulated and he moved out of the house and into the caravan in the yard for 4 weeks whilst the work was carried out.

The quality of work is excellent in his property, and he is over the moon with the result and didn’t cost him a penny.

[Dave-G]

Being on a low income we qualified for a new condensing boiler to replace our almost 40 years old heating/ copper tank system, cavity wall insulation top up and additional loft insulation in our small 2 bed semi. I think the council payed for it. I have to say it's nice to get something back from all the council tax we pay them every year.

Edited February 23 by Dave-G

[Scully]

Have recently been to price a job in a local sandstone terraced house where the owner says she has had ‘over 30,000’ grands worth of work done through a government incentive for people like her on a certain income. She and her husband are pensioners.
I’m always quite sceptical about these government schemes specifically where they involve insulation. 
Anyhow, they installed PV’s and then dug into the internal front and rear walls, created a ‘cavity’, inserted insulation, sheeted it over then lined that with an internal thermal membrane ( I’m hoping they put in an external membrane also, none thermal but breathable ) but she didn’t know about that. She didn’t know what insulation was used either, when I asked her, but showed me a photo’ of the bales they’d stored in her shed. 

Obviously this meant all the skirts had to come off and any electricals such as sockets and switches had to be removed and replaced on the new walls, which meant each room has lost about 150mm front and back.
The windows and doors weren’t removed so I’m not sure how the reveals, cills and lintels were insulated.
I had a look for the company name on the bales of insulation when I got back home. Knauf is the company name and the insulation is rock wool. It’s better than nothing I suppose, but as one of the most inefficient insulation products on the market in terms of performance, only just. 🤷‍♂️
 

[sandspider]

Thanks folks - food for thought. More loft insulation might be useful, but it's not too expensive to DIY. I'd like solar and battery, but I don't think they supply batteries, just solar panels. Internal wall insulation might be worth doing, but massive upheaval, and would probably increase damp. Hmm. Plus the faff of finding a decent installer, not a government-funding-hoover cowboy... Maybe it's not worth it.

[udderlyoffroad]

1 hour ago, sandspider said:

but massive upheaval, and would probably increase damp. Hmm. Plus the faff of finding a decent installer, not a government-funding-hoover cowboy... Maybe it's not worth it.

Having now lived with it for 10mths including a (fairly mild) winter:

I'd certainly agree with the massive upheaval part, but  I would suggest in an older property it's definitely worth doing.

For the cost to you, and given what the material costs are if you try to do it yourself (room by room) I think there's a lot more in the 'pro' camp than the 'con'.  Just need to watch the installers and be strict on 'snagging'.  Ask a tame builder to have a look round before final sign-off if you don't trust yourself to spot everything.

As for damp increasing, not if it's done right, if anything it should decrease.  In my system, they ensured trickle vents were fitted to all windows, and installed an extractor in any room with a sink, all as part of the package.  The extractors are the modern humdity sensing type, and spool up as needed.  None of this turning remembering to turn the light on in the bathroom to run the fan nonsense.

1 hour ago, sandspider said:

I'd like solar and battery, but I don't think they supply batteries, just solar panels.

Indeed, there is, or was, a 12-panel limit and no batteries.  I'm currently looking at options for increasing both my system's capacity (there's room on the roof for 4 additional panels) and buying a battery, now these are no longer subject to VAT.  There wasn't the option to pay to upgrade to have a system that maximises your roof's capacity.

But again, for the net cost to you, £0, in my mind you might as well do it, and expand the system when the warranty runs out...

[oowee]

On 23/02/2024 at 13:08, udderlyoffroad said:

See my thread on having it done here:

In fact I need to update it.

Assuming you can cope with the disruption, the internal wall insulation is definitely worth having, made the house much warmer and easier to heat.

I have this (50mm celotex) as part of the house remodel. It's a great improvement although sight lines on the window frames are a little reduced. 

[sandspider]

Thanks folks.

One more question, please. Someone said if you go for it, you have to have everything they offer - I don't want this, I need to be able to pick and choose. Does anyone know if it's all or nothing? Maybe it varies by supplier.

If anyone is able to recommend a supplier, ideally in the South Wales / Bristol area that would be useful?

[udderlyoffroad]

8 minutes ago, sandspider said:

One more question, please. Someone said if you go for it, you have to have everything they offer - I don't want this, I need to be able to pick and choose. Does anyone know if it's all or nothing? Maybe it varies by supplier.

Not as far as I'm aware; the grants are discrete blocks of funds as it were.  So, in my case, they did the internal wall insulation first, took before and after pictures, and claimed for that.  Then they did the heat pump, took before and after pics, claimed for funds, and finally the solar.  I was offered my choice on all 3.  I took all 3.

I know you said you didn't want a heat pump.  FYI, the reason I accepted was because my house was previously heated with storage heaters.  So, I got a complete set of radiators and associated plumbing all fitted, and the heat pump to power it.  If for whatever reason the heat pump  didn't work out, my thinking was, I could subsequently swap it for an oil boiler or whatever.  As it happens, I'm so far happy with the heat pump, it had no issues heating the house to toasty warm during the -5 cold spell.  There's an airlock somewhere in the system I keep chasing, that causes it to trip out occasionally; but I suspect that may be self induced as I've temporarily disconnected a rad.

Obviously, it might be different in your case, as you said you have a recently fitted oil-boiler and therefore are already piped up with rads/UFH.

The lot I used were http://www.consumerenergysolutions.co.uk/  They do get mixed reviewes but all the crews they used to seem to come from just the other side of the bridge so local to you.

[sandspider]

Thanks for the continued input, UOR. Will have a look at CES / helptoheat.

[Profzarkov]

On 27/02/2024 at 10:18, udderlyoffroad said:

Not as far as I'm aware; the grants are discrete blocks of funds as it were.  So, in my case, they did the internal wall insulation first, took before and after pictures, and claimed for that.  Then they did the heat pump, took before and after pics, claimed for funds, and finally the solar.  I was offered my choice on all 3.  I took all 3.

I know you said you didn't want a heat pump.  FYI, the reason I accepted was because my house was previously heated with storage heaters.  So, I got a complete set of radiators and associated plumbing all fitted, and the heat pump to power it.  If for whatever reason the heat pump  didn't work out, my thinking was, I could subsequently swap it for an oil boiler or whatever.  As it happens, I'm so far happy with the heat pump, it had no issues heating the house to toasty warm during the -5 cold spell.  There's an airlock somewhere in the system I keep chasing, that causes it to trip out occasionally; but I suspect that may be self induced as I've temporarily disconnected a rad.

Obviously, it might be different in your case, as you said you have a recently fitted oil-boiler and therefore are already piped up with rads/UFH.

The lot I used were http://www.consumerenergysolutions.co.uk/  They do get mixed reviewes but all the crews they used to seem to come from just the other side of the bridge so local to you.

Thanks for that. We're about to get the grant via CES. I've looked into this quite a bit - for example, we don't need a tank, we only use 5 litres of HW a day. We use an immersion heater overnight on cheap electric (9p/unit). So the heat pump should connect directly to to the rads. Shame they don't supply a battery but they said they'd make it "battery ready". I'll keep you posted.