British Gas & Power Flush

Pere_Ubu · 21 February 2006 at 11:38PM

Have elec/gas/heating service/and plumbing with British Gas. last year called thme out to attend a radiator that always needed bleeding. The engineer said in less than 60 seconds that I needed a power flush. Asked BG for 2nd opinion. naother engineer said the same plus if I don't have it my system will rot from inside out. Had it doe cost of £400!! still radiator needed bleeding. Another engineer called aout and fitted a valve near to pump no cost as it was covered under my service contract. I have complained to BG about the power flush as I feel it was unecessary. I ave anewish house (1999) and have since found out that to have a power flush in anew property is unusual. I have complained to BG they have written back saying they are investiagting and will contact me in 10 days. That was up a wek ago. Is this covered by any ombudsman? How do I go about proving that I didn't need a power flush?
Thanks.

ariba10 · 21 February 2006 at 11:46PM

I would not let British Gas anywhere near my system.
They are motovated by bonuses.
The number of people that have had unnecessary work done and systems condemned in this area is nothing short of a scandal.

mancitychick · 22 February 2006 at 12:10AM

My mum has same cover as you and the same happened to her with the exception that her boiler was making a loud rattling noise and they blamed it on Limescale and said she need a powerflush. Noise continued after the flush so she called them out again and like you the 2nd engineer told her it was something to do with Pump (this was covered under the policy) and he said that she needn't of had the powerflush.

So she demanded her Money back and BG tried to palm her off by saying that a power flush is a good thing and it would be of benefit. My Mum told them that is all very well but as there was no actual need for it at the time the £400 would of been of more benefit to her! They then came back and offered to refund half, she stuck to her guns and they refunded all the money. So stick to your guns and insist on a full refund. Good Luck and don't accept anything less than 100% refunded.

botmission · 23 February 2006 at 9:57PM

Was your system heating up ok in the other radiators? A power flush is only for badly sludged up systems where there is little or no circulation.

Pere_Ubu · 24 February 2006 at 12:08AM

botmission wrote:

Was your system heating up ok in the other radiators? A power flush is only for badly sludged up systems where there is little or no circulation.

It worked perfectly else where in the house. The 1st engineer said it was because the radiator in question was the first one on the system and that is why it needed constant bleeding and a power flush would put it right. The 2nd engineer said it was becuase the radiator in qn was the last fitted on the system therefore but a power flush would put it right!! As stated in my post the reason why we had it done is because BG said our system would rot from the inside and the thought of a new heataing system really worried us (the cost!)

ilikepoints · 9 August 2006 at 4:27PM

Just had British Gas come out - I have the central heating cover and they replaced a pump. Said there was sludge in the system and i needed a power flush.

The house is a reasonably size (4 or 5 bedrooms) but even so the quote of £750 is quite clearly a joke :rotfl:

Nice to see that others only paid £400 - what would a fair price be? Perhaps I'll get a 2nd opinion.

I did have the system flushed out when the boiler was installed (6 years ago), but not an actual power flush - and that plumber wasn't especially professional so no suprise that it wasn't done properly.

To be fair to Britsh Gas you do get a lifetime guarantee with the power flush, and they said the job takes 480 minutes, though surely they could just leave it going?

I read that the chemicals for the power flush cost 50 quid, so after labour the rest is obviously pure profit, just concerned that if I don't get it done (at least by someone) then they will refuse to fix the boiler next time it goes wrong.

Pere_Ubu · 9 August 2006 at 7:01PM

who installe4d the boiler 6 years ago?

ilikepoints · 9 August 2006 at 9:51PM

It was installed by some plumber who was registered with every organisation under the sun - Corgi, Institute of plumbing etc. He was still very unprofessional though and didn't install it properly - took over a year until he had it working properly and I had to report him to various bodies to get that far.

Pere_Ubu · 9 August 2006 at 10:36PM

My understanding is that when the system is worked on i.e. installing or taking out a radiator then an "inhibitor" (not sure of spelling) is supposed to be added to system to stop this sludge stuff building up which may result in rotting of radiators system. The plumber you used probably didn't add this therefore you have what you are dealing with now.
You should ask BG how they know you need a PF. What has led them to believe this? The price depends on how many radiators you have. I have 9 radiators in a 3 bed house my PF cost between 400 and 500 can't remember the exact figure.

c_smith · 10 August 2006 at 3:30AM

Tell them to get stuffed and flush the system yourself - it's not difficult. I done it myself and I didn't have any plumbing experience - there are plenty of websites on the internet where qualified plumbers will provide you with advice, such as https://www.diynot.com

There are a multitude of products on the market, one of the best being Fernox DS-40:

http://www.fernox.com/?cccpage=DS40&sub=1

You can buy this from any good diy store or plumbing supplier for less than £20.

Derek_A. · 10 August 2006 at 2:42PM

C-smith is right it is easy to do it yourself, but dont forget to put in a Fernox Protecter when you have finishing the flushing etc.

British Gas & Power Flush

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