British Gas Power Flushes

jammy40

BE WARNED!!!!!...... British Gas are hard sell and crap service!!
We have an energy extra insurance cover with British Gas which we pay £3 per month and then a £99 flat fee for calling them out and mending our heating system. Our boiler came up with an over heat code and cut out, we rang British Gas and an engineer came out. He came in, told us it had over heated, got out a magnet which he tapped on a few pipes and told us we had sludge in our system. He tripped the switch in our boiler which fired us back up and said he would arrange for a quote for a power flush, oh, and probably be best if we had valves put on our radiators at the same time. Next day boiler over heated again, luckily in the mean time we did lots of research on what might be causing the over heating and noticed how many people had complained about British Gas and their over sell on power flushes. Another engineer came out and yep you guessed it, the first thing he did was get out the magic magnet!! "you've got sludge in your pipes and unless British Gas do the power flush your insurance will be invalid". The quote had come through from British Gas....Power Flush £700 and new valves £600!! An independent corgi registered plumber said he could do it for us for £200. We told the engineer we didnt think it was sludge and asked him to check other things, like the pump or the heat exchange as we had no cold spots in any of the radiators. He agreed to change the pump but wasnt happy and still insisted it was sludge making any new claim invalid, he wouldnt check the heat exchange as he wasnt allowed to order expensive parts without doing cheaper ones first, in this case the pump. We asked him to leave the old pump with us so we could check it out, he refused saying he wasnt allowed. Heating back up and running I asked my independent plumber to nip in and have a look. He said no sludge, and he didnt need a magic magnet, he thought it was the pump and advised us never to bother with British Gas again, in the plumbing trade they are very well known for selling things you dont need. I can honestly say I have never left anything on a forum before but am so angry that we could have used all of our savings on something we didnt need, oh and be overcharged at that!! I want to warn anybody else in a similar position....Do your research and NEVER EVER trust British Gas!!!

ollski

What did your plumber do to decide there was no sludge?, it seems he verbally provided a cheaper quote and thats it.
Bg are bound by the insurance code, if they sell you something you do not need then you get refunded.

rogerblack

ollski wrote: »

What did your plumber do to decide there was no sludge?, it seems he verbally provided a cheaper quote and thats it.
Bg are bound by the insurance code, if they sell you something you do not need then you get refunded.

If you notice, and can prove this.
Which may be tricky, in some cases, if they take the parts.

ollski

Yes it can be difficult but they are obligated to take away trade waste although there is no problem to show you first. The problem in cases like this is that a new pump will probably prevent the problem from reoccuring for a period of time until the water quality damages the new pump.
Bg should test the water quality in a turbidity tube which gives a visual indication of debris in a sample. A magnet, magic or not, is a very good indicator as there should obviously not be enough ferrous material inside the pipes for it to stick to.

jammy40

I would be more than happy to have a power flush if BG could show me that this is what was required. Using a magnet is not conclusive proof for anyone, I would also be more than happy to pay a proper price to have this done but a quote of £700 is extremely high and being told by BG that if I dont have the work done by them will invalidate my insurance really 'holds me over a barrel' doesnt it. The approach of both BG engineers within a minute of being here, was a power flush was needed without any further testing or investigation. My plumber used to work for BG and the main reason he left was because he hated going into houses doing work that he could see didnt require doing after people had used all of their savings due to BG hard sell tactics.

ollski

They don't seem to have been particularly clear that's for sure. The 700 cost is because the flush comes with a lifetime guarantee as long as an insurance cover is maintained, it also includes pipework alterations if required to replace blocked cold feeds and similar which usually go hand in hand. It invalidates any further sludge related faults but not faults which have nothing to do with restrictions / blockages. The vast majority of pump failures are caused by system water.

C_Mababejive

What is this mystical magic magnet?

southcoastrgi

C_Mababejive wrote: »

What is this mystical magic magnet?

copper pipe isn't magnetic, sludge/magnatite is so they run a magnet over a copper pipe & see if it sticks

[Deleted User]

last year an independant registered engineer suggested we needed a power flush for £400,i laughed as the system was only 7 months old,BG fixed the problem for £99

diywhynot

woodbine wrote: »

last year an independant registered engineer suggested we needed a power flush for £400,i laughed as the system was only 7 months old,BG fixed the problem for £99

What was the problem?

C_Mababejive

southcoastrgi wrote: »

copper pipe isn't magnetic, sludge/magnatite is so they run a magnet over a copper pipe & see if it sticks

I see. It seems a bit hit and miss. I think you;d need a lot for it to stick. Far better to take a water sample and use a test kit ?