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Scottish Hydro boiler protection woes
Hi
I am looking for some advice regarding Scottish Hydro Electric's SHIELD boiler protection.
We moved into our flat Sept last year and the hot water was hit and miss. The bottom of the bathroom and Kitchen radiator was cold but the rest worked fine.
In February the water packed in and we called out Scottish Hydro Electric to look at it. The first engineer who looked at the system said it was the distributor value and he'd send someone out to look at it. He also suggested that we might need a power flush in the future.
The guy that came said it wasn't the distributor, he thought it was the sensors, so he ordered them and said we might want to get a power flush which would be 450 quid. As they had been pushing this idea of a power flush we looked for some independent quotes and several other people told us that the power flush wasn't going to fix it and that some of the pipes into the radiators were too small for a power flush. So we decided against it for now.
The second engineer returned, fitted the new sensor then said it wasn't the problem and was on the phone to his 'friend' asking what he thought it was. They came to the agreement that it was the Secondary Heat Exchanger (the heating was still fine, just the hot water). He said that it was caused by sludge and as such wasn't covered byt the boiler protection. We were charged £260 to replace it but were told that if that wasn't the problem we'd be refunded the money.
The problem returned and a third engineer was despathced out and said it was the distributor valve and replaced it. Still nothing. The boiler was going up to 80° then back down to 10°, and was getting very warm. They thought it was the circuit board. He also looked at the water from the system and said there was sludge but that it wasn't that bad. (He also left the boiler dripping into a bucket for several days because when he replaced the diverter he had
Engineer number 4 came out last week and said it wasn't the circuit board, it was back to the sludge. While making no mention of this to us at the time, when he spoke to the people arranging the work, he claimed it was the worst sludge he had ever seen. So now they are saying it definitely requires the power flush, they not only want the 450 pound to flush it, but they are also saying that if there is a blockage in the boiler then they have to strip it and flush it out which could cost up to an ADDITIONAL £500.
I have tried to get the money back for the part which we paid but so far to no avail. I wonder whether anyone else has had the problem with Scottish Hydro 1. not being able to identify a problem and 2. obsessively pushing power flushing.
Any advice would be welcomed!
I am looking for some advice regarding Scottish Hydro Electric's SHIELD boiler protection.
We moved into our flat Sept last year and the hot water was hit and miss. The bottom of the bathroom and Kitchen radiator was cold but the rest worked fine.
In February the water packed in and we called out Scottish Hydro Electric to look at it. The first engineer who looked at the system said it was the distributor value and he'd send someone out to look at it. He also suggested that we might need a power flush in the future.
The guy that came said it wasn't the distributor, he thought it was the sensors, so he ordered them and said we might want to get a power flush which would be 450 quid. As they had been pushing this idea of a power flush we looked for some independent quotes and several other people told us that the power flush wasn't going to fix it and that some of the pipes into the radiators were too small for a power flush. So we decided against it for now.
The second engineer returned, fitted the new sensor then said it wasn't the problem and was on the phone to his 'friend' asking what he thought it was. They came to the agreement that it was the Secondary Heat Exchanger (the heating was still fine, just the hot water). He said that it was caused by sludge and as such wasn't covered byt the boiler protection. We were charged £260 to replace it but were told that if that wasn't the problem we'd be refunded the money.
The problem returned and a third engineer was despathced out and said it was the distributor valve and replaced it. Still nothing. The boiler was going up to 80° then back down to 10°, and was getting very warm. They thought it was the circuit board. He also looked at the water from the system and said there was sludge but that it wasn't that bad. (He also left the boiler dripping into a bucket for several days because when he replaced the diverter he had
Engineer number 4 came out last week and said it wasn't the circuit board, it was back to the sludge. While making no mention of this to us at the time, when he spoke to the people arranging the work, he claimed it was the worst sludge he had ever seen. So now they are saying it definitely requires the power flush, they not only want the 450 pound to flush it, but they are also saying that if there is a blockage in the boiler then they have to strip it and flush it out which could cost up to an ADDITIONAL £500.
I have tried to get the money back for the part which we paid but so far to no avail. I wonder whether anyone else has had the problem with Scottish Hydro 1. not being able to identify a problem and 2. obsessively pushing power flushing.
Any advice would be welcomed!
0
Comments
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You think they are 'obsesively pushing' a power flush. If it was me and 4 different engineers told me I needed the same thing....I would be pretty confident that it was required!0
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i was thinking the same myself, no major boiler insurance company provides cover for blockages.Pink_fluff wrote: »You think they are 'obsesively pushing' a power flush. If it was me and 4 different engineers told me I needed the same thing....I would be pretty confident that it was required!
poor hot water due to sludge in system/blocked hot water heat exchanger = dirty system simple get it cleaned:T0 -
Well in theory you are right BUT you should remember that each engineer recieves a bonus from scottish hydro for every power flush that they recommend, and is taken up, perhaps this could influence their judgment :think:LEAGUE_CUP wrote: »i was thinking the same myself, no major boiler insurance company provides cover for blockages.
poor hot water due to sludge in system/blocked hot water heat exchanger = dirty system simple get it cleaned:T0
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