No heating in tenant's living and dining room

xylophone

I would assume an engineer being called out would check this first?

My favourite quote from The Thin Blue Line


"I've booted up, I've patched in, I'm online, offline, downloaded
and extremely cheesed off!


You need to integrate your power supply at source, sir.

What?

Plug it in!"

[Deleted User]

To be honest OP if no one else will do it, spending time and money on petrol to bleed the radiators could have easily saved you £350. Even if you live in Scotland! The recommended plumber doesn't seem up to much.

agarnett

G_M wrote: »

Air is one possible cause, but it is not established.

As the OP said earlier:
I would assume this too. But given the on-going problem, I would now check.

I of course agree, but in the short term to get some heat, checking to see if significant air can be bled will almost certainly work unless the circuit for the tenanted parts is very odd. It can't do much harm, can it? And if no air is there to come out, or if lots does come out and it still doesnt work then you have more information to help the diagnosis

Xylophone did of course in his penultimate post, summarise the checks for a logical approach:

You have bled the radiators?

Checked any thermostatic valves on the radiators and that the radiators have not been turned off?

Checked that the pump isn't faulty?

The first two are the most obvious and almost anyone can do those. If they don't work, then you can wonder about the third and other problems and start worrying about real cost instead of moneysaving almost cost-free management :money:

anotheruser

Turn off all the other radiators and run the central heating. See if the radiators heat up then.

I have two that take a while to heat up so did the above and forced the water through. It must have cleaned out something as they work a charm now.

[Deleted User]

Remember that a LA won't care about this property.., its just a revenue source..., its your property. I think you have to go and sort the problem out yourself, if needs be, get in a local plumber if all the things you can do (that a LA won't be bothered with because it won't give them a revenue) don't help.

At the end of the day, the buck stops with you because its your property.

penny_crayon

Just updating the thread as the problem is still ongoing. I wold appreciate any helpful comments or suggestions.

The radiators have been bled, this is not the problem. The pump is fine. There is either a blockage or a leak which is causing the problem with the heating.

My problem is this. I am getting an extremely poor service from the maintenance company (not British Gas, it begins with H). They eventually sent an engineer out again who said the first power flush hadn't been done properly?!?! My account was then suspended until we sent paper copies of the power flush engineers report, which caused another delay.

I called the maintained company who said it was unnecessary to have another power flush done, and arranged for another engineer visit.

The third visit resulted I the engineer saying the floors need to come up but as he didn't have permission to do it he left having done nothing. Again. He also told the tenant that the work may not be covered under our policy?!?

As you can imagine, my patience is wearing very thin at this point. The engineer said only the maintenance company can say if it's covered or not, the maintenance company are saying only the engineer can make the decision, so we are stuck in limbo again! It I important to note that no one knows what the problem is yet.... The problem has been going on for almost a month, has cost me a £50 excess and a £350 power flush, and three engineers visits have done nothing. I am waiting to hear if the repair is covered or not.

I have put in a complaint but I feel like I should ask for a refund too? Given that they have taken so long already? Is there anyone else I can complain to or contact about this?

penny_crayon

I just wanted to add that I have 2 young children who are currently unwell, so I really can't visit the property myself at the moment. My agent is actually very good and has spent a lot of time chasing up the maintenance company and the engineers.

thegrind

Well if the company is Homeserve you needn't say more.

Powerflushing wont do a thing if the chemical flush cannot push through a radiator, this can happen if the often restrictive holes in rad valves are blocked completely.

Un-screw the TRV head and you will see a metal pin, get a pair of pliers and see if you can move the pin up and down as they sometimes get jammed shut.

Secondly check where abouts in the system the rads are located; are they the furthest rads from the pump? if they are this could mean the system is unbalanced and will need rebalancing through your lockshield valves which could also mean your pump speed is set too low, undersized or on its way to pump heaven.

The list goes on...

Theres so many problems that need to be dealt with and some of these maintenance contract companies dont pay the money to attract the more experienced people in the industry as they just wouldnt make a profit.

jhs14

Honestly, I can't see what the problem is here, unless the maintainence company (Homeserve?) are just trying to fobb you off. As has been said, it's not rocket science. I refuse to believe a plumber worth his salt can't fix the problem.

Forget the maintainence contract. Find a local plumber who comes recommended. Show him the faulty rads, ask him what the problem is, and how it can be fixed. He'll look at the rads for five minutes and tell you what the solution is. As said, it can only be one of a small number of things.

pmlindyloo

Since you live so far away I can imagine what a problem this is.

Let your tenants and letting agent know that you are contacting a local plumber to sort this issue out and then get on with it.

Once the local plumber has dealt with it get him to write on the invoice what was wrong as well as the cost.

Then continue with your complaint with Home Serve using the invoice and faults found as evidence that they did not fulfil the terms of their contract. Ask for a refund/compensation whatever and tell them you will writing a stinking review of their service.

As well as copying the letter of complaint to Home Serve find out the 'top man' (a bit of googling required) and copy to him.