No hot water, CH brilliant, BG says powerflush?

confusedleo

So no hot water but central heating; a poweflush will solve it, if not, new cylinder!! Should I give in? Annoyed because
2 engineers, one said new cylinder then denied it, another said notes say PF I agree, if it doesn't work they'll do something else.!

Long story. father has Homecare 200, no hot water but central heating great (radiators boiling)

Engineer comes on Thursday says checked "pump, motorised valve and air lock." Its none of these the cylinder coil or cylinder needs replacing, ...me or my manager will call this evening to decide what to do, either come tomorrow or Monday to fix it"

Fine, hear nothing call Monday morning to enquire,
BG "he quoted you for a powerflush"
ME "er no he didn't "
BG "we just called him he did, you refused"
ME "oh whats the price and wheres the paperwork he should have left if that's true"
BG "we can't see it" later phone call "it comes by post"

Multiple calls to complain, told they will investigate and call back (don't) lastly transferred to boiler quotes. I threaten to cancel and move to EON, new engineer booked immediately.

Nice chap says hot water feed in to tank is boiling, feed out cold. Blockage in cyclinder needs powerflush and pipes upped to 22mm. Also says "don't quote me" and states, "if u get a PF and doesn't fix it they'll have to fix the problem as they've taken the money."

To be fair he says its hard to diagnose could be the "Calorifier" (or something sounding like that) inside could be blocked coil. I give up

roy62

It may be your header tank needs topping up sometimes the ballvalve jams.

confusedleo

I should say the radiators were all manually flushed last year when the house got renovated. The radiators are boiling now

dav964

Same happened to me on a property I rent out. Tenant complained that heating wasn't working so I sent in BG on the homecare contract. BG said it needed a powerflush (£600). I got my own plumber to check it out and it turned out to be a blocked pipe. He fixed it, but then BG said they wouldn't continue the homecare contract as I'd had work carried out by a third party. I cancelled the contract.

I've spoken with 2 other plumbers who all tell the same story - BG engineers will recommend (a) a powerflush and (b) one of those stupid magnet things that goes round the pipes. Rumour is that they're on commission for these items...

ollski

Is this not two posts saying they were advised they had blockages (not covered), offered a quote to repair, refused and basically cleaned the system enough themselves to get it limping through thus proving the initial diagnosis?

confusedleo

We did not refuse anything and no diagnosis has been given. My radiators were flushed by home insurance company (LV) after the house needed renovation and they got taken out. We did not have them cleaned in relation to any blockage, as none was there.

This new problem with hot water only, they are saying maybe a blockage, maybe coil failure, maybe something with a "calorifier". the first engineer "said replace the cylinder", the second said "powerflush then if that does not work they'll have to do something as they've taken the money" I recorded him on a Dictaphone.

confusedleo

I should point out I get hot water if I have the central heating on or if I have the immersion on but not on its own.

keystone

I know you said engineer said he checked valve but please say do you have one of these:



or perhaps one or more of these:



in either case the actuator head might not look exactly like these pics.

Is it possible to see a pic of the pipework round the cylinder please? There will be more questions after seeing that.

Is your cylinder vented or unvented? Does it have any markings to identify it? Manufacturers Name / Model Number etc.

If its a standard indirect vented cylinder (which is a reasonable guess from the description thus far) and you get DHW whilst CH is on but not when DHW only is selected then that sort of indicates that certainly under one condition you are getting circulation via the coil which sort of suggests that the coil in the cylinder isn't blocked. There may, however, be a blockage somewhere else.

Have a look at this:



The three way valve shown is the same as the first image I posted (note the immersion isn't shown but please say if you do have a bypass valve on the primary as shown. In some installations the towel warmer in the bathroom is connected across the primaries and doubles as a bypass). In what order do the pipes get hot on your installation if you just have DHW selected. Same for CH. How far from the boiler to the cylinder do the pipes pipe get hot whenDHW selected on its own and ditto for CH selected.

Cheers

Andy_WSM

confusedleo wrote: »

I should point out I get hot water if I have the central heating on or if I have the immersion on but not on its own.

In that case it's not a blocked pipe! The water has to flow through the same pipe whether or not heating is on. If it's not flowing when HW only is selected then it sounds like a 3 port valve is stuck or not fully opening.

notbritishgas

confusedleo wrote: »

I should point out I get hot water if I have the central heating on or if I have the immersion on but not on its own.

If that is the case then ask British Gas how you get hot water in a blocked cylinder when the CH is on. Like others I suspect the motorised valve,check to see if it moves over to the HW position when the water is on.

ollski

Ok, your post when you said the radiators were flushed and 'are boiling now' suggested there was indeed a problem with sludge but it doesn't now seem relevant.
I am a little confused with reference to a calorifier, it suggests it's not a standard system. Is the (a) pump running when you turn on the hot water on its own?