Price the job

highrisklowreturn

I had a plumber out today who was to come and fix a burst pipe, try to identify if there were two other leaks, and install a new circulation pump. He came out last night to do this but didn't bring the right equipment (his boss had asked me on the phone was the pipe 1 inch or 3/4 and naively - not knowing anything about plumbing - I responded yeah it's about an inch, so his pipe he brought didn't fit). He came out today and replaced the burst pipe, and relagged it with the lagging he had cut off from the original pipe which had burst, still with the stanley knife cut - six inches - up it. When I got home he had left me the invoice of £190 for this work, being composed of time and costs, as follows:

Call out and labour: £110
New pump replaced: £80
Total: £190

I then tried the heating and it seemed to work. Then I noticed one radiator, right beside where my on/off switch, the first he should've checked, didn't work. The others don't heat to an even standard. And I also - still, having had none since Dec 23 - have no hot water anywhere in the house. Also the burner now keeps cutting out every 10mins, then restarting.

I texted him all this and he responded initally by giving me advice on how to fix hot water myself - ie drain the circ pump, which I did, to no effect. I then mentioned that I'd pay him by cheque for the £190 tomorrow when he returned to fix the problems. He responded by offering to put the cost of this also into total cost so I can claim on insurance.

Am I being taken for a donkey here?

I got a circ pump replaced before and it cost £65. I thought this was reasonable as having checked their prices I knew they were circa £45, and the guy even staid 1/2 hour to make sure it worked. I also don't want to be paying again for him to call when he didn't fully fix the plumbing in the first place.

caz2703

I'm not sure about the total cost but I'd be wary of claiming on your insurance. You probably have an excess of at least £50 on your policy plus your premium will go up next year as you will have claimed.

dmxdave

The price is about right depending on the quality of the pump fitted and he did not show any charge for lagging. Who diagnosed that you needed a new pump? This may be why he wants to charge you more for fixing it if it is something more than that.

On the other hand I would have thought a plumber would have fittings in their van to suit the popular pipe sizes.

ballyblack

Then I noticed one radiator, right beside where my on/off switch, the first he should've checked, didn't work. The others don't heat to an even standard.

Have you tried bleeding the air out of the radiators, simple job

highrisklowreturn

Yeah bled it for about 10 seconds earlier, from both bits, got nowhere.

ballyblack

With the pump running, have you bled all the radiators in turn untill the water spurts out of each of them?

sheerdelight

Can you feel vibration of pump turning and also water moving through pipework adjacent to pump.

highrisklowreturn

I haven't bled all the radiators, just the one which won't heat at all. Should I bleed them all? What am I trying to remove? How can I get hot water coming from my taps again - I can get the hot water, just nothing is coming from the taps - plumber said something about siphoning water back into the tank again?

highrisklowreturn

I can feel the pump working, and water working. But ifI hit one of the different switches on the box at the burner, it does jolt, but I thought earlier it was knocking the burner off after a while too.


I really just need to know for the work, from a plumber's perspective, is this a fair price, and should I pay more for water and 1 radiator if I was under the impression he'd get the whole system sorted by today.

ballyblack

Should I bleed them all? What am I trying to remove?

AIR.

Air will stop the water running freely around the system. It looks like your running hot water is airlocked as well. Don't pay the plumber anything until he returns and gets it operating correctly to your satisfaction

Golden_Anemone

I had no hot water due to air in the system and my plumber switched all the rads off at the valves and opened them one by one, bleeding each rad as he went to force the air out. It took several goes and was very time consuming but fairly non technical so you might want to give it a try yourself rather than pay the plumber a couple more hours. Hope you get it sorted soon.