British Gas & Power Flush

Canucklehead

ihateyes wrote: »

Powerflush takes a good day to do. most gas engrs charge around £60 and hour for labour..... so id be somewhat sceptical.

Hi: my OH quotes by the job ....time required is determined by the size and state of the system as well as the equipment used.

Perhaps Winchy will fill us in.;)

Canucklehead

billstickers

Had to call out British gas recently - took them 4 days before they finally arrived and then did not have the parts and had to call back another day!
SO
Engineer (as expected) said that the system would benefit from a powerflush - reminded him that it was a new boiler - he said that it was the radiators - advised him that the radiators had been replaced when new boiler was installed - he said that it was the pipes - advised him that the pipes had been replaced also and that they were plastic
E[URL="file://\\engineer"]ngineer[/URL] then produceda small brass thingy and asked for some kitchen towel - he then smeared it on the kitchen towel and said see that on the towel thats corrosion. Asked if I could keep the part but he said that I couldn.t as he had to dispose of it safely.
He said that we should have a 22mm Magnabooster Combi fitted and that a written quote would follow
The quote arrived and it was for £209.00 and this did not include making a space for the fitting of this large brass "lump" so we would have to dismantle and remake the boxing in underneath the boiler ourselves
How genuine is this Magnabooster
Is it just the latest add on to produce extra revenue for British Gas

ollski

billstickers wrote: »

How genuine is this Magnabooster
Is it just the latest add on to produce extra revenue for British Gas

Check the website of the manufacturer spirotech, Bg fit 'em they don't produce them.

peter.hardly

heating-eng wrote: »

I am also a member.

Using a member of the Power Flush Association is not a guarantee that you won't be ripped off as the association itself has no credibility in the power flushing industry. It seems to be run by one man who is using it to make money out of heating engineers and provide himself with some flushing work. Members are only "approved" because they have paid a membership fee. Don't you think it's odd that none of the major power flushing pump manufacturers want anything to do with the association? There is a good reason! I'm sure there are a lot of very good heating engineers who have joined the association in good faith, believing it to be commercially credible, but it really isn't. They should save their hard earned money and find other ways to promote their power flushing service.

Owtthasgotleft

This is a long story, I'll try to get to the point.
BG survey November 2011 for fitting of new boiler.
Recommend Worscester Boiler.
We pay £3,330
Engineers call on the day arranged to fit boiler, they say, sorry but because it's LPG we are not qualified. Had another day off work for some sub-contractors to do the job. They fitted a limescale filter, charged me £40.00 didn't think that was bad for BG. Few days later, filter blew off and flooded all house. BG couldn't care less, paid me £50 back and made su-contractors fit another lime scale filter. We were up 'til 4am drying two settees out and carpets! nightmare.

Pestered by BG to take up Homecare at quite a cost to us however, it did include a service.

Friday 15th February, heating engineer called to service boiler, ''Oh, no, it's not an LPG boiler, is it?'' He wasn't qualified to do the job. I queeried this as he was the heating engineer that called after the flood to balance radiators and sort boiler out (so he wasn't qualified to do it???)

Anothe engineer turns up and tells us that we have a major problem!!! da da darrrrr

''You have plastic pipes running all through the barn conversion!''

I replied, OK, well, how come BG have never picked up on this before? BG surveyed the house/boiler/job, BG fitted the new boiler, how come now they are saying that the boiler is knackered due to us having plastic pipes and it's all our fault.

We are not heating engineers so totally reliant upon their service and advice. We are now told that the boiler is knackered due to sludge/muck (it will last about another 12 months) and if we had had a power flush we would be covered. A life time guarantee was mentioned?

However, we did have a power flush by BG so whose to blame?
More to the point, BG are now saying that all the floors need to come up and all plastic pipes need replacing for copper. This would cost thousands as all the down stairs is tiled. They are suggestiing that the insurance will be invalid due to this.

I haven't slept since their visit to 'service' the boiler and to be honest feel so let down by BG, whey the hell didn't they act on this before now, why let me pay £3.300 for a new boiler only to tell me that all my floors need to come up becasue I've got plastic pipes (which they have insured !!!) and now say are not insured

Please, please take pitty and advise

ollski

If the plastic pipes are unbarriered mains water plastic then they will allow the ingress of air, and subsequently sludge, into the system. If that's the case they need replacing.

Glaswegian

Quoted over £700 for powerflush and magna booster… small 2 bed flat. Engineer also quoted to get a new boiler entirely. £2,000.

Does the boiler need replaced or not? Now have 0 faith in BG, which was kinda the point in getting insurance in the first place. Every one of their engineers has named a different fault when they come round. Each time recommending an expensive way to fix it.

clever_clogs

heating-eng wrote: »

if there is no circulation a powerflush is unlikly to work

...which is why a British gas powerflush includes any cutting out of and repiping of any pipe work that is not cleared along with all the chemicals and filter to prevent further build up of debris in the future.. Some people are quick to bad mouth when they no very little if nothing about anything I had one done and the engineer had to remove my cylinder to get to puoe work under the boards etc which was solid blocked 22mm pipe which he cut out and repiped at no extra cost (somebody mentioned about how do u no if u need a flush if u ask they will take a water sample and send it to ferric f.o.c. If you don't feel comfortable)

clever_clogs

c_smith wrote: »

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.

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


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

Pfft and I bet that worked a treat pal :-/ if it was that "easy" to do I'm pretty sure everybody would be at it! Plus with sludge and solid debris you are not going to shift it with a bit of chemical and a drain down I.e solid blocked pipe

clever_clogs

cbrpaul wrote: »

I have just had a new worcester bosch combi fitted !

Previous boiler was a 35 year old back boiler, the back boiler itself worked ok , but other factors just caused the system to fail, radiators, pipework , pumps , storage tank ,

So hence i had a brand new install

I went for a complete new install , new pipes , and radiators , with a "combi mate " for cold water supply to the boiler and a Magna-clean for the heating curcuit,

I requested that the new install was flushed with a cleaning chemical to remove flux etc,

I also requested it then be drained filled ran and flushed, min x5 times , then sential inhibitor added.

I didnt require a power flush !!!


Anyway , my point is there is a time i feel that the "whole system" needs replacing , thats boiler , pipes , radiators , the lot !!!

If i bought a car that was falling apart , would i buy a new engine to put in the existing body , when the body etc is falling apart , and needing to be sent to the garage regulary !!

nope, i would just buy a complete new car !!!

Just my personal way of thinking on this

strange !! maybe !!

In an ideal world that's would happen but when u look at the cost to re run the circs new rads extra labour it's a lot of money if flushed and fitted right in the first place everything's hunky Dorey