What sort of tradesman do I need - a heating engineer or an electrician?

missbunbury

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hi.

Post 27;)


Were you shown the boiler when he changed the cable. Was it clean, as in not sooted up as suggested by him?

GSR.

It was super-dusty, he hoovered it out with my hoover but did say it was safe.

Same man came back for a second visit and said the reason the problem had reoccurred was that he had left the new wire touching metal so it had burned through again. He replaced it, then headed upstairs to the airing cupboard where he said that the immersion-looking switch had melted as it wouldn't switch at all; however on investigating further he actually replaced the timer unit with a new one which somehow fixed the other switch. He then said he would not charge for the visit or the new timer unit as it was his fault, and then slightly worryingly said "and don't tell anyone I fitted that unit cos I'll have to cover it myself". The new unit has some black tape around the wires going into it which seems mildly dodgy. I was also slightly taken aback that he kept sending his apprentice to switch the fuse even though the kid was getting shocks off it as he did.

I now intend to have an electrician out as soon as I can (sadly not straight away as the £150 for the first visit has left a dent in this month's finances) to check the whole house as I feel uneasy about the shocks that the kid was getting. Meanwhile, the heating and hot water are back working (better than before in fact as the timer now works which it never did before) but I am so freaked by the whole experience that I am going to try to come up with some way to afford a new central heating system ASAP. Apparently this job is complicated by me not really having a wall suitable for a combi boiler (no space on the only outside wall in the bathroom and a velux window in the kitchen apparently means it can't go in there even if I have the window sealed so it won't open.)

missbunbury

Canucklehead - is this the pic you were after?

http://s1209.photobucket.com/albums/cc390/missbunbury1/?action=view&current=IMAG0013.jpg

Can't really see the hot water tank itself due to plywood in front of it, if you want I can have a go at taking a sheet off to take a pic of that but not tonight cos I am shattered.

Canucklehead

Hi,.
Thanks for the photo.

I would want to see the dome of the cylinder to know for certain about an immersion but more out of interest and to understand the system you have, as it's not really relevant any more. It would seem that you have no cable to an immersion. The one from programmer going up in a loop would be cyl stat although it has the look of butyl (heat resistant) cable.No way would an immersion be run from this programmer.

I wouldn't have that bloke back again. It shouldn't have been left with cable touching metal.
I would have brought my own vacuum cleaner.
There is no problem changing a programmer so why the secrecy?
Insulating tape might just be to keep the cables tidy.Can't tell much from the photo.
Hopefully the kid getting shocks was during the exploration phase not after he finished?
Lack of an outside wall is not a huge problem, flues can run just about any distance you need. Could a boiler be fitted in place of the cylinder and the flue run vertically through the loft and out the roof?
Mains water pressure/flow need to be checked before you go the combi route.

GSR.

PS
Has the switch near the floor been changed for a fused one?

missbunbury

Canucklehead wrote: »

I would want to see the dome of the cylinder to know for certain about an immersion but more out of interest and to understand the system you have, as it's not really relevant any more. It would seem that you have no cable to an immersion. The one from programmer going up in a loop would be cyl stat although it has the look of butyl (heat resistant) cable.No way would an immersion be run from this programmer.

Yeah I think you're right, I can't have an immersion from what everyone has said.

Canucklehead wrote: »

I wouldn't have that bloke back again. It shouldn't have been left with cable touching metal.
I would have brought my own vacuum cleaner.
There is no problem changing a programmer so why the secrecy?
Insulating tape might just be to keep the cables tidy.Can't tell much from the photo.

Glad to hear the tape is probably not dodgy. I agree about not having him back, I thought I was doing the right thing calling a biggish local firm rather than just some guy, but obviously this is no guarantee of anything!

Canucklehead wrote: »

Hopefully the kid getting shocks was during the exploration phase not after he finished?
...Has the switch near the floor been changed for a fused one?

Yes, only while it was being messed about with, still though I was surprised he kept sending him to get shocked again, I was terrified the kid was going to drop dead or something!

When you say switch near the floor, do you mean in the cupboard, that I thought was an immersion one? That switch is the same one as was there before. At one point the guy took it off because it had stopped switching, and that was when he replaced the programming unit which seemed to fix the switch too.