Not happy with installation of Central heating-ADVISE

Doozergirl

What I would expect is to have had a conversation beforehand, choosing a location and having it explained how the location affects pipework.

The fact that you have chosen an upstairs location (you did, didn't you?!) means getting the gas up there. You cannot channel out for this pipe without compromising the brickwork and structure. Something like this is inevitable. I can't comment on the materials used.


This is exactly what I would expect to see feeding a radiator. (The trv looks wonky though?). The floorboards are lifted to run pipework underneath amd the shortest lenght pops up. Burying these pipes, I would expect to be an 'extra'. It's not necessary, really.


These ones are where we are really going wrong. Again, because you've opted for upstairs, there is a large amount of pipework to travel down. However, if this is the best location, I would expect to agree on where the pipework should come down. I'd think something like going under the upstairs floor then down through the understairs cupboard, under the floors again and distributed to the downstairs radiators via a short run of visible pipe, as above. If it did need to run on visible walls, again I would expect to agree one location so it could beboxed in.

Running across the middle of a wall is not okay, neither is taking the path of least resistance.





The boiler location is inconvenient in the middle of a wall, as is the choice of running the pipes up to the side (why? I thought this was upstairs already? They should go down?). I would expect to have to box the boiler and also unsightly pipes somewhat similar to what is shown. The kitchen is convenient because you can house them easily in units, but the bathroom is okay in a corner as you can create a unit for it.

I hope I'vebeen of some help - there is some odd advice above, as well as goodstuff, but the word for this job is "cheap" and I would be kicking his backside, but also wondering if I'd picked cheap and got cheap? How much was this fit?

Please don't let them fit thebathrooms.

Seronera

Doozergirl wrote: »

That looks OK to me.That's a standard install practice.and looks neat enough.what else was he supposed to do in that location?

Seronera

Hmmm.....I'm changing my opinion here. Apart from the boiler that installation looks pretty good to me. I don't think you have any cause for complaint about the internal pipework,or the external gas pipe. Everything I see is standard and good practice and exactly what you would be taught at college or as an apprentice.

I suggest you look at other retrofits. At least he has used copper and his pipe clip spacing is good. I'm not getting "bad work" vibes here though the boiler could be neater as previously said

tonyh66

Just a thought, Where's the light switch for this room?

Doozergirl

Seronera wrote: »

That looks OK to me.That's a standard install practice.and looks neat enough.what else was he supposed to do in that location?

Oh my. What?

I appreciate that I was typing my comments after I'd posted the pictures, but I employ and manage people to do this stuff, I did not train in an apprenticeship but I do pride myself on being able to find a solution to a problem.

This house has suspended floors. It is a traditional 1930s house, very similar to my own. My house has none of that and I even have an extension with concrete floors downstairs. The boiler installation is a bit ugly because of the number of pipes, but it is completely enclosed in a bank of larder units in my kitchen and is therefore invisible.

The floors are suspended here. Upstairs really isn't a great location but wherever the boiler is located, the pipes can run straight down under the floor and run to a good location to drop the lot for downstairs. The means either through the cupboard under the stairs or perhaps into the kitchen to be hidden behind units. Or even behind a door where they can be boxed. But you drop all of them together.

We've been using our guy for 10 years and I have never even had to have a conversation with him about how to make the pipework discreet in a house with suspended floors. People don't live like this at all. It is basically what I'd call a 'socail housing' retrofit job where cost comes over style (which I understand).

The installation is cheap and lacks any ingenuity at all. This guy has barely lifted a floorboard, evidenced by the stunning patterned carpet still in place in the room where the pipes are dropped right down the middle.

Seronera

It depends on cost doesn't it. This is money saving expert not I want the very best for my house. Its a low cost boiler....the whole thing cries out "budget install". Well that's what you've got, a budget install. I've seen a hell of a lot worse and I bet BG would do an install much the same as that, but with neater boiler pipework and charge three times the likely price this feller charged.

For all we know the customer dictated the boiler position..There is lots we don't really know. As for social installs I can assure you that plenty of floor board lifting went on on the ones we did, so upstairs the rads were piped from flow and returns under the landing, but if a house is being lived in you have little choice but to do drops,and houses often have mixed floors,some suspended and some solid, like the kitchen,so its not always straightforward by any means

Doozergirl

This is moneysavingexpert - it helps us save money on everything, including the best things. It's about getting what you want for the best price, not cheap rubbish at all costs.

You even asked what the installer could have done to make it better, so you're backtracking. You didn't even appreciate that better quality is available.

And now you're calling it a budget installation. So what is it? A standard install, or a budget install? I think most people don't expect to see pipes crawling everywhere - that isn't wanting the very best, it's wanting what pretty much everyone has.

I commented that I would reflect on what I had paid, as I also suspect (and hope) that the OP may not have paid for a good quality job. But they haven't got what they wanted. It may not have been about cost - they clearly weren't even given the option.

The point is, when you provide a service, is that you talk and agree on what they are getting. If a customer wants invisible pipes, it's up to a tradesperson to provide it, or explain why it can't be done at a particular price point.

You listen, then you find the right level, not just do what you want, or allow yourself to be 'dictated' by a customer like this one who clearly doesn't understand the implications. Some positions would be downright dangerous!

A lot of people don't know what they want until they see something that looks wrong. It doesn't make it the client's fault. It's up to tradespeople to recommend the best course of action. I'd cry if my boiler were in the middle of a wall like that. That isn't even budget, it's plain stupidity.

macman

OP failed to specify remotely properly what they wanted, or to supervise the install in any way until completion. Installer knew that, but failed to query in any way. So the fault is IMHO 50/50.. and they probably deserve each other.

Doozergirl

Thankfully, I am able to appreciate that my clients aren't builders and don't blame them for not knowing things they don't know.

System

everything about that screams "lazy" rather than "budget" imo
I haven't seen a new install done as badly, it might work and be cheap but that looks so bad.
Plumber should have been advising what the options were for this, the boiler area you could probably box out around the pipes but the surface mounted pipes in the rooms are just awful, the last place I've seen that was a 1950s church extension!