British gas Installation

markalderson_2

I need Help please.
18 months,ago my old back boiler heating needed to be replaced, so after some thought i decided to go to britsh gas (Peace of mind?)
I was qutoted and agreed to £3600 for the installation, i had been givn lower quotes, but wanted peace of mind as we had just has a new baby girl and it was nearly winter.

The surveyor came, and the job inclduded
RESITE OLD BACKBOILER TO NEW ROOM
FLUTE TO BE CONVERTED TO STANDARD FLUE
GAS PIPES TO BE FITTED TO OUTSIDE HOUSE
REMOVE AND DESTROY OLD BACKBOILER
CONVERT TO A FULLY PUMPED SYSTEM
NEW CONVENTIONAL CONDENSING BOILER
SYSTEM WATER TRATMENT AND POWERCLENSE

Around 11 months 3 weeks later, the boiler completely packed up
we had not been into the new room it had been installed, as it was pretty much left alone to work, but on entering the room, there was water down the back walls gointg into our electricty.

Anyway gave British gas a phone call, and 3 days later there engineer turned up, the first thing he said was that he had never seen a boiler breakdown in such a short time, and that we would get a new boiler. 10 minutes later and after a phone, the engineer had changed his mind, saying that becuuase we had not had a POWER FLUSH, the installation was not under any warranty?????

This was the first time i had even heard of this, anyway after much discussion, he eventually replaced the whole heater matix, and on his work sheet he just comment that a powerflush was needed..

6 months last (last tuesday) the same has happened again.
This time though the Engieneer has come and done nothing, he said unless we pay £600, for the flush he will not touch it, and that the
District heating manger will contact me shortly, about my options.

I still have not had the phone call, to be fair im expecting it early next week, i just want anybody to please advise me on where i stand with britsh gas, the first time it happend i should have stood up to them more, but it broke down just as the tempature plummented, so we just needed it fixing and we was hoping that it was just a faulty heating matrix

Can somebody please help, what are my legal rights on this.
the boiler did come with a 2 year gurantee, but BG told me that the day of the installation the warranty had gone, becuase we hadnt had the power flush?


Thanks mark

Lorian

See their T&C's, presumably the same as when you purchased:

http://www.britishgas.co.uk/heating-terms

BG wrote:

13. We recommend you buy a PowerCleanse™ with your installation to remove sludge and other waste from your central heating system. If you need a deeper clean, we will recommend you buy a PowerFlush™ which is fitted to the central-heating system. Once you have a PowerFlush™ completed by us, there will be no charge for any future PowerFlush™ work that you may need as long as you keep a continuous HomeCare 100™, 200™, 300™ or 400™ agreement at that property. Our engineer will also tell you what other work is needed to avoid future problems. We may suggest you correct any design faults that may cause the problem to return.

Presumably they recommended "power cleanse" rather than "power flush" at the time, as that's whats in their quote. I haven't looked at the difference between the two services. But they really shouldn't use this an excuse not uphold any warranty.

markalderson_2

Hi Lorian.
Thats what i payed for, the power cleanse
Originally i had a sales person come out from BG
Then we had the Surveyor come out
and finally the Heatinging engineers, but at no time did they ever mention to me that was, "Once this is installed your on your own?"

Im now waiting for the district heating manager as a have said, but not sure of what to do, if he has the same attitude.

do i need to go to there complaints department, and how lenghtly will this,

ollski

What's the boiler?, are you sure no powerflush was charged for? I would be amazed if an old gravity back boiler system was not quoted for it.

markalderson_2

Hi
The new boiler is a Baxi solo 15 he,
When it first first went wrong, just after 11months, the bg engineer said that the heater matrix was corroded, and that as i say we are entitltled to a new Heater, he said he had never seen something of this ages this bad, after i phonecall, he said actaully we are not entilted to a new boilder, as on the installation we hadnt had a powerflush? so from the start you had no warranty ?

This was the first time i had even heard about a power flush, looking at my quotes and what i paid at the time. all that is on the documnets is a powerecleanse at a cost of £80

thanks mark

A.Penny.Saved

That sounds like utter BS from BG to me. I've not heard good things about Baxi boilers, my brother had trouble with one. Powerflushes are not usually needed except in rare cases, they are just a good little earner as I have seen heating engineers say. There is always a little bit of sludge in a heating system, it's just when it gets excessive that a powerflush is needed. Mine is surprisingly clear for such an old and probably uncared for system. Knowing the previous owners financial state, I doubt that heating maintenance was a top priority.

I would advise getting a few electric convector heaters as a backup. About £20 a piece for a 2Kw heater and surprisingly good at heating a room in an emergency. They are always a good investment as you never know when gas heating might fail leaving you without heating.

ollski

Are they saying the heat exchanger is blocked with sludge?, new boilers, especially combis, will not tolerate dirt in the system If bg are saying this is the cause ask them exactly how this sludge has built up on a system they piped and specc'd and chemically inhibited.

markalderson_2

Hi Both.
A.Penny.Saved, this time they have not even mentioned anything about sludge in the system, the enginer actaully said, there is corrosive material in my system, and that has caause the problem with the heater exchange..

The Heating of the house this time isnt a issue, thankfully we got some, the last time this happened ,

The heater hasnt completly stopped working, just a red light on the system, so far we have to just reset, the trouble is we have water leaking down the wall from the heater, and as a say the enginner says the heater exchange is pretty much spent, the leaking is coming from, i preume o-rings?
but he is still saying until we have had flush,he wont fix it

ollski:
As i have just said in the above, they are saying we have corrosive materials in our system,? they havent said we have any sort of blockage, but until we have the flush they wont do anything about it?

I just need to know how to escalate this,and what legal rights i have against BG.

Im trying to have something up front so that when i get this phone call next week from the District heating manager. i have the right questions and answers to ask,

thannks mark

ollski

Get them to explain exactly what the corrosive material is and where it has come from, tell them you are getting the manufacturer in to confirm their diagnosis and ask them why on earth they have left water running down your wall!
There won't be anything wrong with the heat exchanger but it will need to come out to replace the o rings...they are always leaking.

macman

BG...peace of mind.
What gave you that idea?

markalderson_2

ollski: thanks for the input, Good questions being asked by you,
The water running, was a concern of mine, i was hoping when the engineer left, it would be within a reasonable time, the District manager would ring?, this all happend friday about midday, and yep no phone call, it least now i have some questions to ask him.

macman: no idea mate, for some stupid reason i thought British gas would be reputable company.

I have been given the installation more thought, and i can remember that the young (20ish) engineer was running behing schedule and had to work until friday night around 21:00, the thing that now conceerns me more after reading more about what they should have done, when he finally fired up the system, he had it running for a around minutes amd was happy, but i have now been reading that he should have given it one final flsuh to remove solder etc?

How trues is this from other people expertise, and what are the chances that he may have left in the cleaning fluid from the powercleanse.

Secondly when it went wrong the first time around? although water was leaking, all i would say it was clear water? nothing what i would think resembles sludge, and the same appears to be true this time, clear water?

Thirdly, at the time of installation a SPIRA TECH Magnabooster2 was fitted, i have just been reading about this, and the whole point seems to be to remove any future sludge in the system.?

I know this probaly all sounds like that i didnt take more interest when the system was installed, and to be honest i didnt, at the time my parter had just given birth to a baby girl, so my mind was pre occupuried , thats was a big part of why i went to BG as well, i just wanted it sorting, without much disruption......if only i could turn back time.


thanks again mark