Cancelled BG Homecare

vinr

Hello all, I’m new to this forum.
I cancelled our Homecare agreement in December after 20 odd years with BG. They wanted well over £300, just can't afford that. It is an 18 year old Servowarm Esprite 50 that has been serviced annually by BG with flying colours and good reports apart from its location that does not comply with the new regs.

Because of its age I knew that any breakdown would not benefit from this cover because of the unavailability of spares that the visiting engineers repeatedly reminded us. The BG lady I spoke to when cancelling Homecare said that even though I was cancelling there was an outstanding service to carry out.

A service engineer came 15/01/09 and after giving me a long lecture on the age of the boiler and that it was now obsolete with no possibility of obtaining spares he advised making an appointment with a technician who would advise us on grants that could possibly get us a new boiler completely free! He said that he could set an appointment up but I said I would do this myself. He said that only he could set up the appointment and he made the call and an appointment was made.

He continued to do the tests and called me to witness the Co2 exhaust test that he said was 'off the scale'. He said he would turn off the boiler with my permission and report it 'at risk'. I asked what would happen if I did not give him permission and he said that he would report my refusal to the National Grid and that they would send someone to turn the gas supply off! I asked for the usual computer printout confirming the result of his tests but he said that they don't do that any more! just the usual tick off form.

I have now cancelled the appointment that he made and just wondered if anyone had experienced anything like this? Should I pay for a second opinion on the flue gases? I would have thought that Co2 readings from an old boiler have always been excessive over the past 10 years - the BG tests have all 'passed' up to 15/01/09!

bungle4x4

is it co2 or co tests? co2 in the exhaust is normal, its carbon monoxide thats dangerous, and not worth messing with at all.

by the way, i really wouldn't bother with a cheap boiler if you do need a replacement. valiant, or worcester-bosch is all i would buy mate.

good luck

vinr

Thanks bungle4x4, the engineer stated and repeated that the carbon dioxide readings were off the scale, he also stated that it was either due to worn burners that could not be replaced or due to inadequate air mix flow at the burners. maybe the combustion test readings on previous services indicates the CO2 levels - off the scale maybe indicates poor combustion? prious readings were around 0.0005 to 0.0015. Think I'll check to see if this guy is Corgi registered.

bungle4x4

its easy as pie to alter the mixture, i wonder if he adjusted this to get a reading... and did he attempt to adjust the mixture to improve the readings?

gasbag1602

I am a BG engineer, did your engineer try cleaning your boiler to reduce the readings? Even if they are off the scale and can not be remedied by cleaning the heat exchanger/burner/flueways, high combustion readings only constitute a NTCS'S(not to current standards situation) and should not be left AT RISK if your boiler is a room sealed type. (although a boiler with high combustion readings is not ideal)
By the way our engineer gets £12 bonus for making an appointment,(we dont get paid for sales just appointments)

Canucklehead

vinr wrote: »

Hello all, I’m new to this forum.
I cancelled our Homecare agreement in December after 20 odd years with BG. They wanted well over £300, just can't afford that. It is an 18 year old Servowarm Esprite 50 that has been serviced annually by BG with flying colours and good reports apart from its location that does not comply with the new regs.

Because of its age I knew that any breakdown would not benefit from this cover because of the unavailability of spares that the visiting engineers repeatedly reminded us. The BG lady I spoke to when cancelling Homecare said that even though I was cancelling there was an outstanding service to carry out.

A service engineer came 15/01/09 and after giving me a long lecture on the age of the boiler and that it was now obsolete with no possibility of obtaining spares he advised making an appointment with a technician who would advise us on grants that could possibly get us a new boiler completely free! He said that he could set an appointment up but I said I would do this myself. He said that only he could set up the appointment and he made the call and an appointment was made.

He continued to do the tests and called me to witness the Co2 exhaust test that he said was 'off the scale'. He said he would turn off the boiler with my permission and report it 'at risk'. I asked what would happen if I did not give him permission and he said that he would report my refusal to the National Grid and that they would send someone to turn the gas supply off! I asked for the usual computer printout confirming the result of his tests but he said that they don't do that any more! just the usual tick off form.

I have now cancelled the appointment that he made and just wondered if anyone had experienced anything like this? Should I pay for a second opinion on the flue gases? I would have thought that Co2 readings from an old boiler have always been excessive over the past 10 years - the BG tests have all 'passed' up to 15/01/09!

Good evening: Here is the Gas Industry Unsafe Situations Procedures guide see Section 6.4 ....get a second opinion from a RGI recommended to you by a source you trust and start saving for a new boiler as my OH's usual gas spares suppliers don't have any Servowarm parts and the Servowarm website is 'under construction'.

HTH

Canucklehead

vinr

bungle4x4 wrote: »

its easy as pie to alter the mixture, i wonder if he adjusted this to get a reading... and did he attempt to adjust the mixture to improve the readings?

Thanks bungle4x4, did not notice if he had adjusted the mixture and probably would not have known what he was doing anyway - (beyond my DIY capabilities) but certainly after observing the failed reading he made no attempt to carry out any other work other than to put the casing back on, turn off the isolating switch and label it 'AT RISK' surprisingly he left the pilot light ON.

vinr

gasbag1602 wrote: »

I am a BG engineer, did your engineer try cleaning your boiler to reduce the readings? Even if they are off the scale and can not be remedied by cleaning the heat exchanger/burner/flueways, high combustion readings only constitute a NTCS'S(not to current standards situation) and should not be left AT RISK if your boiler is a room sealed type. (although a boiler with high combustion readings is not ideal)
By the way our engineer gets £12 bonus for making an appointment,(we dont get paid for sales just appointments)

Thanks gasbag1602 for this information, I reckon BG have been inundated with emergency calls as this was the 3rd service appointment made by BG. They probably are subcontracting non-BG staff as the lack of the usual equipment showed. I am concerned that he left the pilot light ON.

vinr

Canucklehead wrote: »

Good evening: Here is the Gas Industry Unsafe Situations Procedures guide see Section 6.4 ....get a second opinion from a RGI recommended to you by a source you trust and start saving for a new boiler as my OH's usual gas spares suppliers don't have any Servowarm parts and the Servowarm website is 'under construction'.

HTH

Canucklehead

thanks for that Canucklehead, will check out.

vinr

After writing direct to the MD at British Gas about my complaint I received several calls from BG today and this afternoon they sent an engineer to completely strip down, clean and retest my 'AT RISK' labelled CH boiler. The engineer spent a good hour and then he did the external flue combustion checks that displayed CO negligible and CO2 at 0.0003 - so no problem with the combustion. The engineer did ask what did the original engineer do after his CO2 'off the scale' readings? I told him that he just put the boiler cover back on and isolated it, and labelled it AR. The engineer said that he should have attempted to correct the high CO2 readings but even then it did not constitute an 'AT RISK' label. I also received calls from the Head of Customer Service and the engineers manager checking that all was Ok and apologising for being given the wrong information. And of course NO CHARGE!

Many thanks to all for your interest and guidance on this matter.

Vin.

Canucklehead

Good evening: Great to hear you've had it sorted at no cost to yourself (other than the unnecessary aggravation:eek:)....now start putting aside a few quid every month for that day when your boiler finally gives up the ghost;)

Canucklehead