Gas boiler service problem

mondello

Sounds like a cowboy to me. If a boiler is condemmed it must be capped. I would get another gas safe engineer to service the system.

morgana

Another long story but now it's been turned off today by National Grid and I am left with no heating or hot water But it is getting sorted soon

lemontart

morgana wrote: »

Another long story but now it's been turned off today by National Grid and I am left with no heating or hot water But it is getting sorted soon

They have done the right thing in the interest of possibly saving your live.

Hot water boil kettle or pots and pans and get hot water bottles or splash out on an electric rad - always useful as a back up also means you can use in future to take chill off a room rather than turning heater on.

Report the other guy to the gassaferegister as it appears he left you in danger.

morgana

Luckily I do have the option of an open fire and have just lit that cos it's gone very cold. And I have a fantastic neighbour who has told me to use her shower whenever I want.
Just trying to get quotes now for a new boiler.
Don't seem to be any grants available for pensioners unless also on benefits
I will manage OK but hope it's all soon back to normal. Got a coupla quotes on a Vaillant boiler but have to take pot luck on the installer except for one who did my son's.
Back round the fire now !!

bengasman

morgana wrote: »

Hi
I bought a Groupon voucher for £39 from HomeCallPlus for my gas CH boiler to be serviced.

Without actually checking the situation on site, it is impossible to say whether the boiler was leaking at the time or not.
If it did leak, it should have been repaired or capped.
What sounds odd, is the leak due to RUSTED clips. Rusty clips work just as fine as shiny ones. Most boiler covers are secured with spire clips, and any engineer worth his keep has those with him in case they were broken.
Either way, it was handled very badly. Typical case of buy cheap, get cheap.

morgana

Hi Bengasman. Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing ? I agree totally but we pensioners have to watch every penny and being Gas safe registered I thought it would be OK. I will know better next time

bengasman

Nothing to do with hindsight; buy cheap, get cheap principle is pretty much universal and has been in place since god was young, although I'll admit it has grown worse. The adage " if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is because it is too good to be true " has never been as true as today.
With the absurd levels of costs and taxes introduced in the past 13 years of government by those labour idiots, you simply won't find a registered gas installer who is good as well as cheap. Thanks to Brown/Blair, our overheads and tax will take about half of what we earn on average.

morgana

Hi Bengasman.
I'm also self employed and in an industry that is also feeling the pinch and suffering "cheapo" mearchants downgrading the service. (and I am government licenced so you'd think they'd want to reverse that trend but they don't care)

I have decided on a Worcester boiler that ATM has a 5 year guarantee. The price is reasonable and similar to the other quotes I have but this installer actually came round to look at the job, unlike the others. He is so busy ATM that he can't do it til Friday,is also very local to me and I have seen him around for many years. If he was no good he would have gone out of business thru word of mouth.

I feel happy about choosing him and until Fri I will keep warm with my log / open fire and having a shower at my lovely neighbour's house next door.

Bonus of course will be that this modrn boiler will save money on the 20 year old Worcester one that it is replacing:)

Thank you to all for help and advice.
Back to work now to pay for it !

bengasman

morgana wrote: »

I have decided on a Worcester boiler that ATM has a 5 year guarantee. The price is reasonable

The mention of a WB with a reasonable price, leads to the suspicion that you have been quoted for an i-series or a Junior.
Neither is really bad, but certainly not of the quality level of the CDI. If you chose the model, fine. But beware of installers that heavily promote the bottom range models of WB. I have repaired many in the area where I work, and I have yet to see the first one that was installed correctly.
Common problems are failure to upgrade the gaspipe to today's standards, flue problems, bad condensate drain install, and inadequate cleaning and protecting of the system.
Undersized gaspipes lead to under performing of the boiler, and the other items significantly increase the chances of costly repair and early demise of the boiler.

What model boiler do you have, and what made you suddenly decide to replace it?

morgana

Got a 20 year old Worcester Bosch 208. Replacing it cos when it was being seviced (by a questionable service engineer) the flue was shown to be badly corroded and the Nat Grid turned it all off. At that age, better to replace a boiler than just a flue. More efficient as well.

He is installing a Greenstar CDI with the current offer of a 5 year guarantee.
The word "reasonable" means different things to different people but I am happy with the quote and the man and if he messes up (which I don't expcet) I live in a village where a bad reputation would go fa,r IYKWIM.
Can't wait for Friday