New House: stinking fridge, broken shower

Naf

We just moved to a new house a week ago, and discovered a few things that the LL needed to address. Obviously contacted him about them and he came over pretty fast - I thought this looked pretty promising.
The loose extraction hood he fixed right off
Also the sticking back door.
The shower he claimed 'worked when he used it to clean before we moved in' - but said he would get someone else to come and have a look.
And the fridge he said he would replace, indicating the end of the week.
This was last Monday...
Since then he has been completely uncontactable - doesn't answer his landline, and mobile is switched off.

The fridge smells overpowering and disgusting, even after cleaning with chemicals, lemon juice and bicarb - I am not prepared to use it for any food. But because I now have nowhere to keep fresh food, my milk from Saturday had gone off this morning.
The shower is a mixer tap fed from the hot tank (immersion heater). Firstly its difficult to get any hot water out of the tap in the first place because the thermostat knob is damaged. Even when it gets warm, and even on full temperature, it doesn't get very hot: despite the hot tap on the sink being scalding. Having got warm water, switching it to the shower just makes it go cold again.
And it was a good job I didn't need to be in work this morning as when I fist tried to get the bath filled I couldn't get anything warmer than tepid... Despite the sink tap still being red hot.

Does it seem reasonable that it's taking this long to get those two things fixed? Considering they're pretty essential it would be nice if he'd give it some priority.

HappyMJ

You might consider them essential but they are not really so no need to do it ASAP. Only if you had no hot water at all would it be considered a priority. I would be turning the hot water temperature down so it does not scald you. That is very dangerous. The thermostatic shower will manage the temperature and the input temperature of the hot water only needs to be above 40 degrees.

If you don't get a response quickly then attach a hose to the sink and fill the bath using that water until the thermostatic tap is fixed or fill a bucket.

As for the fridge....if you don't like the smell of the one provided then use your own.

poppysarah

Put your complaints in writing.

Naf

HappyMJ wrote: »

I would be turning the hot water temperature down so it does not scald you. That is very dangerous. The thermostatic shower will manage the temperature and the input temperature of the hot water only needs to be above 40 degrees.

Immersion heater: no thermostat!
Thermostat knob on the shower not working!

HappyMJ wrote: »

If you don't get a response quickly then attach a hose to the sink and fill the bath using that water until the thermostatic tap is fixed or fill a bucket.

Tap ends are flared so I can't get anything to fit.
Seems reasonable that if the property is provided with something that it ought to work.

HappyMJ wrote: »

As for the fridge....if you don't like the smell of the one provided then use your own.

My own? I don't have one! Again, it's with the property so it really should be in suitable condition to use.

missile

You should have an address for LL.

Go visit him, explain your concerns and ask him to fix as a priority. Do not go round shouting, try to be reasonable.

real1314

Is the fridge actually a fridge/freezer, and is it a frost free freezer?

If so, the drain at the back of the fridge compartment might have leaked something down it.
Pull the fridge out and check the condenser at the bottom, it should only have water dripping through to it, but if something like milk has got through, it will stink. :cool:

Naf

Well: after a week and a half, finally a plumber turned up on Wednesday. Walked in, turned the tap on and off then left saying he needed to speak to the LL. Nothing since. I can see this taking a long time to get fixed: and costing me a hell of a lot heating extra water for baths every day...
New fridge freezer arrived today; second hand and also smells, but not so strong or disgusting so hopefully will clean up OK.

sofaspud1234

Naf wrote: »

Well: after a week and a half, finally a plumber turned up on Wednesday. Walked in, turned the tap on and off then left saying he needed to speak to the LL. Nothing since. I can see this taking a long time to get fixed: and costing me a hell of a lot heating extra water for baths every day...
New fridge freezer arrived today; second hand and also smells, but not so strong or disgusting so hopefully will clean up OK.

Try vinegar and water, wipe it with that and it should go away.

Naf

The vinegar seems to have done a better job than anything else, so thanks for that. Although there is still some smell left lingering :-(

So technically the two problems are 'fixed'. He gave us a 'new' fridge/freezer (using new loosely as its clearly second-hand) and has finally had the mixer tap in the bathroom replaced so it now has a seperate knob for hot & cold, but still mixes and has a button for changing shower/tap.

Thing is, it's still not really working how I'd expect.
Firstly the mixer is incredibly sensitive: it is virtually impossible to get a usable temperature from the shower: the choice is icy cold, or scalding hot - the slightest touch of the cold tap changes from one to the other. Even having arrived at something, it's far from constant and suddenly changes to cold or hot for no apparent reason. Difficult enough for myself or my wife to use, far too unreliable to use for the kids.
The other thing is that the flow of water is still barely more than a trickle - making showering quite difficult - especially for rinsing out hair (not so much a problem for me, admittedly lol). I tried fitting our old shower head, but that made it worse not better.

Are these both things I can still go back to LL to get fixed, or can he rightly throw it back and tell me that it works now so he's not doing any more?

cattie

A cup or bowl of cat litter sat in the fridge is said to help combat nasty smells.