Tenant charge electrician call out charge

anselld

ilovepoppydog wrote: »

storage heaters spark, its how they work, some of the newer ones have shields on them so the spark cannot be seen. The smoke and smell was apparently as it had not been used for a while and it was dust inside heating

I also have doubts this is true, but again regardless of this you have simply reported the facts to the letting agent. Presumably it was their decision to call an electrician based on those facts, not yours.

amiehall

I understand a bit of "smoke" or smokey smell the first time the heaters are used after a long time switched off as a bit of dust obviously gets in there and it is hot. I wouldn't expect it to happen after the first night though...

I have never seen sparks from my storage heaters though and am certain that if I did, I would be reporting that as well. I'd be really worried they were going to spark into a fire while I was sleeping...

Kynthia

Definitely follow G_M's advice exactly. Argue that rather the call out being unnecessary and therefore your responsibility to pay, their contractor failed to identify a fault and fix it which has now led to the failure if the unit. Therefore they must urgently send a contractor who has more experience of these storage units as no heating in winter is an urgent matter and the responsibility of the landlord. If there's no action quickly then I'd be talking to the CAB or Shelter.

tberry6686

Ive had storage heaters for years. when you turn them on after they have been off for a while you will get a smell as accumulated dust inside the heater burns off, but you should never have smoke or sparks. I suspect the electrician just doesn't know anything about storage heaters and just came up with some bull to cover his lack of knowledge.

chanz4

Are you sure it wasn't dust burning

Mokka

If I were you I would write:
1) You informed the landlord/their agent that one of the storage heaters is emitting smoke and sparks
2) Your landlord in response sent an electrician to fix the heater
3) Electrician turned up and had a look at the heater but couldn't find a fault. He told you that smoke and sparks are normal (that makes him look very unprofessional- they are never normal!)
4) X weeks/days later the heater broke down. You and your child are now without heating.

Give them v. short time to respond- be very specific about how many days they have.

Send the letter by recorded/registered delivery- I am afraid this will cost! You can claim the cost back from your landlord.

If they are dragging their feet you can arrange for a repair yourself and re-charge them.

If they delay with paying back you can take them to Small Claims Court. (But please get legal advice about this - I am not a lawyer)

Also re: storage heaters

I've done a lot of research on electric heaters and storage heaters are the most inefficient and expensive. They were designed to work on Economy 7 tariff, otherwise they are much more expensive to run and are not allowed in newer properties.

If your flat is not too big and with lowish ceilings I would recommend an oil heater.
There are websites such as Freecycle where you can get stuff for free.

Good luck with everything

Mr_Moo_2

Mokka wrote: »

Send the letter by recorded/registered delivery- I am afraid this will cost! You can claim the cost back from your landlord.
Good luck with everything

Would suggest not sending recorded - the recipient might be out or may refuse to sign for it - in which case it doesn't get delivered. Send it through the regular post (send 2 copies from different post offices if you want to be sure) and get a proof of posting from PO when you send it.

tberry6686

Also re: storage heaters

I've done a lot of research on electric heaters and storage heaters are the most inefficient and expensive. They were designed to work on Economy 7 tariff, otherwise they are much more expensive to run and are not allowed in newer properties.

If your flat is not too big and with lowish ceilings I would recommend an oil heater.
There are websites such as Freecycle where you can get stuff for free.

Good luck with everything[/QUOTE]

I suggest you do a bit more research as run properly storage heaters are more expensive than gas but cheaper than your suggested oil heaters.

They are allowed in newer properties, indeed if they were not then you wouldn't be able to buy modern replacements as there would be no market for them.

As for efficency they are more efficient than any non electric heating system in existence.

Mokka

' From Energy Saving Trust website:

Electric storage heating is one of the most expensive heating options in the UK, and it also emits more carbon dioxide than most. It is also harder to control electric storage heaters than radiators, especially with older systems.

Another quote from another website on ECP:
Storage heaters are recommended as they are cheaper to run, (PROVIDING YOU HAVE ECONOMY 7) making use of low-rate night-time electricity. However the total amount of electricity used by a storage heater system is greater than that used by conventional panel heaters.

OP cannot replace her landlord's storage heaters anyway, so the previous posters' advice is rather useless.
TBERRY- are you by any chance a storage heater seller?

ilovepoppydog

Hi everyone thanks so much for all your help it is really appreciated.
It has gotten worse since monday.
I informed my letting agent they were breaking the 1985 act about not doing repairs so they sent out the electrician on tuesday, sadly I was at hospital due to my pneumonia so didn't speak to him directly.
However yesterday morning the heater was working, slightly cooler than usual however but working, so I assumed he must have fixed something.
Last night when the heater came on there was a MASSIVE spark and a loud crack noise. I was terrified but had to assume this was normal as I was told on friday.
At 5am the mains connected smoke alarms all came on. I went to the lounge and the room was filled with smoke. So much so we had to open doors to get the smoke out. I switched it off at the wall but obviously couldn't sleep after this.
The heater should've been charging for 5 hours by this time. By 6am it was stone cold all through - the input had been set at 6 the output to just 1.
I emailed my agent and was told the following:

"I have spoken with the Landlord this morning and he would like my manager to deal with this matter. As we know we sent our electrician twice and he said the storage heater is perfectly fine. He confirmed both his recent visits, that the storage heater is safe and working correctly. As there is no fault to the storage heater the Landlord should not pay the bill, but because our contractor been called out twice there is a call out payment to be paid. Unfortunately the tenant has to pay call out fees, if there is no fault, i am aware that you are contesting this. This matter is left for my manager at the moment. Elaine is out a lot over the next two days on appointments. I apologise if it will take couple days to get back to you, but my manager will get back in touch as soon as she gets an opportunity."

So I am left with a potentially very dangerous heater and no heat for probably 4/5 days including the weekend.

I did mail back saying it was faulty (how is that much smoke and sparking safe) and suggested maybe telephoning the electrician to save another fee, to ask why it would be doing these things but was told "sorry it has to go through the manager now. She will be in touch over the next few days."

So anyone, what do I do next? If I had the funds I'd call an electrician myself but I dont and I dont have any spare cash for an oil heater or similar (we are in a 3 storey victorian terrace and the faulty heater does the downstairs (upstairs is not so bad but as they are much smaller heaters they are affected by the cold from downstairs). Plus I am just very worried there is something very dangerous in our home that could catch fire in our sleep.
Literally don't know what to do next.

Any help is greatly received. Thanks in advance.