Advice needed re: British Gas Homecare

Dukester8

Hi all,

Just wanting some advice, i'm renting with my partner and 3 children aged 3, 5 and our 11 day old baby.

We are renting a 3 bedroom house with a nightmare boiler in it, a Ferroli HE 31 C.

To try and cut a long story short, we have had numerous faults with the boiler such as it cutting out with many different fault codes, so I contacted Ferroli because the boiler has allegedly got a 5 year warranty (the boiler is 4 years old in February next year) and they sent someone out on the 13th of November who said the boiler was in warranty (backed up by paperwork he provided) and that it needed a new flow sensor (which he didn't have, so he said he'd have to order one) in the meantime Ferroli in their infinite wisdom assigned the work to someone else who came out on the 15th of November who said the warranty was void because the benchmark log hadn't been filled in correctly by the installer, so he wouldn't do anything to fix it and if we had chosen for him to fix it, then Ferroli would be charging us £130 per hour!! We said NO CHANCE! They then charged our landlord £75 for being called out due to the warranty allegedly being void.

Anyway since then we knew our landlord had British Gas Homecare 400 cover, so we contacted the agency we rent through who in turn contacted the landlord who contacted British Gas paid the £50 excess and we were told British Gas were waiting for our call to make an appointment for them to send an engineer out.

The story so far is,

13th November - Ferroli sent an engineer out.

15th November - Ferroli assigned the job to someone else who said the warranty is void.

21st November - British Gas engineer came out and said the boiler needed a new pump and 2 new sensors.

23rd November - British Gas engineer came out and fitted the new pump and 2 new sensors, when he switched the boiler back on the pressure on the boiler wasn't being regulated properly and then the pcb (primary circuit board) went so he needed to order a pcb and new pressure switch.

24th November - British Gas engineer came out and fitted the new pcb and pressure switch, the central heating didn't work properly, radiators hot upstairs but not on at all downstairs! This was then fixed.

30th November - Boiler failed again with the same fault codes it had previously (note 9 days after all the new parts were all fitted which should have fixed the problem) so I phoned British Gas again and they said they could send someone out on the 1st of December.

1st December - The engineer who came out said he couldn't find anything wrong, so noted ALL WORKING AT TIME OF VISIT.

8th December - Boiler failed again with same fault codes (happened twice in the space of a few hours) so I rang British Gas AGAIN and they said they could get an engineer out on Sunday the 9th December.

9th December - British Gas engineer came out and said there were several faults up to and including the hot water staying on intermittently (i.e the boiler was not shutting off/cooling down quick enough) therefore boiler was having issues getting rid of excess heat, this is remedied by turning the hot tap on so the heat escapes when you run the hot water, but we were told we shouldn't have to do that to get rid of the excess heat as the boiler should be able to do it! So the engineer said he'd order some more new parts and said someone from British Gas would come out on Tuesday the 11th of December to fit them. The engineer also said we could keep using the boiler BUT he was classifying it as at risk due to the intermittent faults.

My question is this, how long and how many times do we need to have British Gas out to try and fix a problem which is seemingly unfixable before they replace the boiler, as it states with the Homecare 400 cover if it's under 7 years old they would replace the boiler free of charge if they can't fix it as it's included in the cover.

The main problem is the fact we have a boiler that intermittently fails with the same faults as and when it chooses, we never know when it's going to fail.

We also have a newborn child in the house and if/when the boiler does eventually fail altogether, if it was winter and extremely cold outside we would be without heating with a newborn in the house, surely that's not acceptable?

Anyone got any advice please? As it would be gratefully received.

antrobus

Dukester8 wrote: »

...Anyone got any advice please? As it would be gratefully received.

If you're renting, isn't it the landlord's responsibility to get the boiler fixed? As in "to keep in repair and proper working order the installation in the dwelling for space heating and heating water" - s11, Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

Dukester8

It is the landlords responsibility and the landlord has been sorting this up to a point but it's been easier (and more convenient) especially on a weekend for us to ring British Gas back and keep having them out to fix the problem they have tried to fix, because with it being the same fault it's basically covered until they fix it, with no further charges incurred.

The problem with the landlord is, we have to go through the agency (who are closed on the weekend) and then they contact him with any problems, he then tells them the plan and they then tell us.

So basically the landlord rang British Gas and paid the excess on the homecare cover and I rang up and made the appointment, since then if any problems with the boiler, and because it's still covered under the original job I've rang British Gas and got them to come out, it's much less of a ballache than ringing the agency to ring the landlord for him to ring British Gas for the agency to then ring us etc etc.

Also the landlord has not nor will give us his personal address (I think) as we requested HIS address NOT the agencies address, but after 21 days the agency simply responded to my request for the landlords contact address and just provided the agencies office address as point of contact for the landlord.. Apparently the landlord has said he doesn't want his home address giving out (he could live over the road for all I know..)

Anyway I know the agency have broken the law and they probably know it as well, so if they do choose to issue us with a section 21 anytime in the future I will be sueing the landlord at the behest of the agency for not providing his address, I've heard the landlord can be fined up to £2500! For failing to provide his address. But that's another story for another time.

The boiler is the important thing at this moment in time.

Thank you for replying.

southcoastrgi

do you get a gas safe safety record every yr ? if so the form (cp12) should have the landlords address written on it

southcoastrgi

LL fit these because they are cheap & as you have found out crap, good job you aren't paying for all these parts, i'm guessing sooner or later BG is going to say that the system has sludge in it & thats not covered by them so they will either say it needs flushing (at a crazy price) & if this is the case (in their view) your "new" boiler replacement won't happen because they won't replace the boiler due to sludge.

Dukester8

southcoastrgi wrote: »

do you get a gas safe safety record every yr ? if so the form (cp12) should have the landlords address written on it

Yes we got one on the 15th of August this year when the gas safety check was done but the landlord/agents details section is blank.

Dukester8

southcoastrgi wrote: »

LL fit these because they are cheap & as you have found out crap, good job you aren't paying for all these parts, i'm guessing sooner or later BG is going to say that the system has sludge in it & thats not covered by them so they will either say it needs flushing (at a crazy price) & if this is the case (in their view) your "new" boiler replacement won't happen because they won't replace the boiler due to sludge.

Oh I agree Ferroli boilers are terrible.. I would NEVER have one, they're the worst boiler I've ever known.

Anyway the engineer drained some of the water out of the radiators and out of the boiler itself and it was a browny colour (due to the inhibitor in the boiler) same with the water that came out of the radiator, it was the same colour.

Also the engineer who came out today said there doesn't seem to be a circulation problem when he used his electronic tools to do some tests, and all the radiators get hot with no cold spots and the engineer told me it's most likely not sludge in the system because if it was then the radiators wouldn't work properly, it seems an overheating issue allegedly, so I was told.

The boiler is going to be 4 years old in February next year.

southcoastrgi

Dukester8 wrote: »

Oh I agree Ferroli boilers are terrible.. I would NEVER have one, they're the worst boiler I've ever known.

Anyway the engineer drained some of the water out of the radiators and out of the boiler itself and it was a browny colour (due to the inhibitor in the boiler) same with the water that came out of the radiator, it was the same colour.

Also the engineer who came out today said there doesn't seem to be a circulation problem when he used his electronic tools to do some tests, and all the radiators get hot with no cold spots and the engineer told me it's most likely not sludge in the system because if it was then the radiators wouldn't work properly, it seems an overheating issue allegedly, so I was told.

the brown colour is sludge, the inhibitor is there to stop that happening, with a correctly maintained heating system (with the correct amount of inhibitor in it) the water in it should be clear (exactly the same that comes out of your taps), the overheating could be caused by sludge or scale, if they don't think it's a scale or sludge prob get it in writing they will not cover a scaled or sludged system & then you will be back to your original prob you had with Ferroli

Dukester8

southcoastrgi wrote: »

the brown colour is sludge, the inhibitor is there to stop that happening, with a correctly maintained heating system (with the correct amount of inhibitor in it) the water in it should be clear (exactly the same that comes out of your taps), the overheating could be caused by sludge or scale, if they don't think it's a scale or sludge prob get it in writing they will not cover a scaled or sludged system & then you will be back to your original prob you had with Ferroli

What constitutes Sludge then? I'm not being funny but in a previous house I used to rent (with a Vaillant Ecotec Pro 28 boiler) the boiler was fantastic and when I ever needed to bleed the radiator/s the water is that wasn't crystal clear, it never is in my experience, also the inhibitor put into boilers isn't clear liquid is it? I mean the insides of radiators aren't going to be clean enough for the water to be crystal clear anyway are they?

The reason I asked what constitutes sludge is because I bled a radiator and the water that came out of I put into a jug, I then put the water through a sieve and there was nothing in the bottom of the sieve that could be blocking something up.

I mean sludge is residual, semi-solid material which would have been caught by the sieve but looking at the sieve after I'd poured the water through it you'd think I'd poured clear water through it.

I was told today the engineer didn't think it was a sludge problem but getting it in writing is another thing! Perhaps I should record my conversation with the next engineer that comes and bring up the subject of sludge, and if they say they don't think it's a sludge problem at least I've got proof they said it right.

southcoastrgi

think of a river, take a sample you won't get many bits out of it but stick your finger in the bottom & it's mud, exactly like your heating sludge collects in the bott of the rads & also can block up the small waterways in the heat exchanger which is why BG won't cover it, sludge is caused by the rads rusting & inhibitor stops that process, once the heating is full the oxyegen dissapates & providing you don't introduce anymore water or air & the inhibitor level is maintained no sludge will form & yes new rads are clean enough

Dukester8

How long does the inhibitor last? As theres a sticker on the boiler saying the landlord put it in there on 13th February 2011.

Should it have been replaced by now?