Help- has an engineer just broken my boiler !!

ruthxxx

I have got an old boiler admittedly but have had british gas homecare cover for years and over that time they have practically rebuilt it with spares. It has been running fine but blew a fuse this morning.

I rang them and the engineer came out and changed the fuse and then started bashing around and scraping with a screwdriver to the extent that debris was falling off.

He then said there is a little hole in the flue behind the boiler and condemned it!

i have a detector in the room that has never gone off.

Do you think he could have damaged it or would it just be wear and tear?

Please help as I may try and take it further Thanks

ruthxxx

I forgot to say it worked fine after the fuse was changed.

When he left he said although the gas is disconnected the boiler is still live as he hadnt disconnected the electric supply to it which also seems dodgy???

Browntoa

if it was rusty he has just used the screwdriver to see if the metal is sound, which obviously it was'nt

he HAS to turn it off if the flue is damaged

undaunted

Can this flue not be repaired?

ruthxxx

Thanks for the reply
thats what I said and he said the parts are obsolete. I then said is there no such thing as a universal part and he
said no???

ruthxxx

but does he need to whack it?

ruthxxx

how do they rust in a box?

undaunted

Metal does rust over time and may genuinely have resulted in a small hole / weakness which he has identified via scraping etc. Whether he is justified in banging about I'm not sure - mechanics may do likewise for car MOTs for example, seems to me that some go further than others.

Either way, I'm not a gas engineer but am still not convinced that nothing that could do the job in replacement is available or that the existing metal part could not be repaired if necessary though (eg if its metal can it not be welded?)

ruthxxx

Thanks undaunted thats what i think too but he wasnt interested in discussing repairs he was too busy offering me £400 off a new boiler!

undaunted

Surprise surprise. I'd try ringing a local independant gas safe engineer or two for advice / quotes if I were you.

macman

ruthxxx wrote: »

Thanks undaunted thats what i think too but he wasnt interested in discussing repairs he was too busy offering me £400 off a new boiler!

That's after the 40% odd that they quote in the first place over and above what a local independent GSR RGI would quote you.
Find one who knows your boiler and see if they can source the required parts.