Gas Man broke my Boiler......

JenBrown85

Hi Guys

Was wondering if someone could give me some advice...

My Mother and Farther in Law have just had a new Gas cooker fitted, they used a Gas engineer recommended to them by the company they bought the cooker through, He is CORGI registered, However after he had fitted the coooker and they paid him, The next day they realised they had no hot water or heating, they figured the pilot light wasnt igniting on their boiler...

They called the gas man, hetold them he was very busy and couldn't come round for two days, leaving them with no hot water, when he eventually came round he took the cover of their boiler had a bit of a fiddle round and scratched his head made a few "oh" "errrrmm" noises then told them it was a very old and dangerous boiler and they shouldn't attempt to turn it back on as it would leak carbon manoxide.. they also haven't been able to put the cover back on, So it has been left completley uncovered. He has since quoted them £2000 for a new boiler.

It seems obvious to me that although it may be an old boiler, It worked before the cooker was fitted, My In-Laws had it serviced 18 months or go or so.

It seems that surely this Gas man had some liabilty to either fix their boiler properly or provide them with a new one, Free of Charge or a large discount atleast, As its obvious he has done something for it now not to work, or if it is because the boiler is old or not compatable he should have told them before fitting the cooker.

Does anyone else have any advice or opinions

Thanks
Jen

mo786uk

Relevant law is Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982.

Firstly I will assume that they hired him directly on recommendation and NOT that the shop sent him as part of the package. If they hired him directly then the contract is obviously with him.

Work must be carried out with reasonable skill and care. If he has caused the boiler to break he should fix it to his cost, and you should give him a chance to do so. If he cannot fix it then get a second opinion - if they can fix it then bill the original person (will have to go to small claism court if he refuses).

If the second person can prove that the first person broke the boiler than you can pursue him for a replacement - but you would need cast iron proof which may be difficult.

For services there can be consequential losses, so if he did break the boiler he may liable to pay out more to repair it than what he got paid to fix the cooker.

Gas workers have to be GasSafe registered now, not CORGI, but I will assume he is.

arcon5

You would need to be able to prove he has damaged the boiler.

Assuming timing isn't a coincidence that it.

NCISROCKS

Fitting a gas cooker does not involve going near the boiler. CORGI registration is meaningless as it's been superceded by Gas Safe Registration.

texranger

JenBrown85 wrote: »

He is CORGI registered,

he needs to be Gas Safe registered now or the gas engineer is breaking the law if he worked on any gas appliances. Corgi registration means nothing now

i would suggest you look on here http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/ to find a local Gas Safe regsitered engineer, so you can get a second opinion and if the engineer who did the work on the cooker is not gas safe registered (you can check on this site too) then report him

My In-Laws had it serviced 18 months or go or so

this is too long a gas boiler should be serviced every 12 months

bod1467

The most he would have done that could affect the boiler was isolate the gas at the mains whilst fitting the cooker. If doing this I would expect the boiler to be turned off before isolating the gas. I'd be amazed if such actions caused the boiler to fail - unless it was just ready to fail.

I think this is an unfortunate coincidence.

System

i agree that it could be just a sad case of coinsidence - or it could be a bit more of a con. Sorry to be the doom and gloom merchant here.

To think logically about the process. He would turn off the boiler to fit the cooker. He would need to re set and fire up the boiler after turning the gas back on. If the boiler was dangerous and could potentially leak, surely he would have said something on the day.

I am a property developer and I have NEVER paid £2000 for a house boiler to be purchased and fitted even when I have had the boiler repositioned and moved to a different room or when I have upgraded the diameter of the piping. I buy Bosch boilers mostly.

My recommendations are

1) Get another engineer in for a second opinion on your existing boiler.
2) If he says the boiler needs replacing get a quote from him
3) Get a further 3 quotes from other engineers. Have British Gas a one of them. (They will fully understand that you are shopping around and good tradesmen will expect you to do this. )
4) Dont have this Gas Man back.

Good Luck.

PS - If the boiler is old and it does need replacing you may be able to get a scrappage discount. In 2010 it was £400 approx.

George_Michael

One possibility could be that when the gas hob was connected up to the gas feed in the kitchen, the fitter used a tee piece or other union which was of an incorrect diameter.

This may have reduced the gas flow or pressure to the boiler hence it now not lighting up.

Harryo

I would suggest you find out exactly why the technician considered the boiler was unsafe before you worry about whether he has a responsibility to repair the boiler. You state he mentioned CO leakage would occur. If he believed that was the case then he had a duty of care to either disable the boiler and / or advise it should not be used. You say the boiler worked before the cooker was fitted. Well I am afraid that applies to all the boilers (and other gas appliances) which cause poisoning / death from CO - they work but not well enough!!. That guy may have saved your parents from a nasty occurrence. However bear in mind that being CORGI (GasSafe Registered now) does not mean that the guy is adequately trained, skilled and qualified to work on a gas boiler. His job may really just involve connecting up gas cookers. In which case he may know less about boilers than you do!! You can check that out on Gase Safe website. Although he has given your IL's a price for installing a new boiler so I would hope that is not the case. So talk to the guy and find out more. Then call in another technician (I would strongly suggest a CIPHE Registered Plumber if you don't know a suitable person, who also of course is GasSafe Registered) to get their advice and a price to repair and / or replace the boiler. That should give you more confidence on the extent of the problem and options available.

texranger

Harryo wrote: »

However bear in mind that being CORGI (GasSafe Registered now) does not mean that the guy is adequately trained, skilled and qualified to work on a gas boiler. His job may really just involve connecting up gas cookers. In which case he may know less about boilers than you do!! You can check that out on Gase Safe website.

get your facts straight.

GORGI is a different organisation to Gas Safe and is not longer accepted.

ANYONE working on gas appliances must by LAW be on the gas safe register. their is a strict procedure before you are placed on the regsiter it is not a case of heres my fee can i join.

shaun_from_Africa

There are 2 things that would make me a bit suspicious of the original gas engineer.

He has since quoted them £2000 for a new boiler.

£2000!
I had a new boiler fitted about 6 months ago, and the work involved removing the old until from under a worktop, capping some pipes, fitting a new, good quality wall mounted boiler and running in new water pipes to the new location.
The total for this, inclusive of VAT was £1600.

told them it was a very old and dangerous boiler and they shouldn't attempt to turn it back on as it would leak carbon manoxide

Just because a boiler is old doesn't mean that it is dangerous and would leak.
The only way to check it is to turn it on and use a CO detector, and I certainly wouldn't use the same engineer for this as it sounds like he is using scare tactics to get new work for himself,

Even if it was leaking, this doesn't explain why it was working before the hob was fitted but won't turn on now.


IMO it sounds like the engineer is trying to use scare tactics to get himself new work.