Gas engineer condemned my boiler

Legacy_user

I have had an engineer come and look at the boiler, the pilot light had a large yellow flame.He said the boiler is faulty, needs a new gas valve and these are not available, so he wanted to fit a complete new system for a modern boiler. .Its a Gloworm and apart from the pilot light it works reliably and has done for years and years.
I did research the Gloworm and he appeared to be correct about the gas valve being obsolete but I found a pattern by Honeywell which appeared to be ok as a copy. Can anyone help with this . I ve no idea about gas valves . Is it just that the jets are worn out ?. It seems a bit harsh to condemn a perfectly working boiler just because of a small brass jet. Is this gasman correct in quickly condemning the boiler to the skip over a minor part like this.
Any advice is really welcome.The house is being sold soon and i cannot sell the house with a boiler which is condemned but I m loath to spend over £2000 at this time in order to get the central heating passed as sound.

Andy_WSM

Ring a couple of different gas engineers, explain exactly what you've posted on here and I'll bet within an hour you'd have found someone willing to take on the job of repairing your Gloworm.

System

Hi Andy, ihe was not the first one to condemn it actually.We had had a couple of others over the years immediately trot out the same line.spares not available and a new (reliable ? ) boiler required .They would not entertain making the old glow worm work. I d just like a bit of advice from anyone on here without a bias to make lots of money fitting new boilers with a lifespan of 6 to 10 years. I had just spent a few minutes on the net imputing the glowworm model when I could a couple of suppliers pattern gas valves , Honeywell which would fit for around £130 .. Could it just be a matter of cleaning the gas valve jets out properly or am I wasting my time following this idea and have to bow to them and spend £2000 in order to sell the house and get a gas safe cert in place.
I will try some more , as you say and ask them only if they can repair the boiler.

tacpot12

The gas jet is a very precise diameter and any cleaning with anything hard could make matters worse, but a new gas jet will be as hard to find as a new gas valve. But the gas jet shouldn't be expensive. I would buy both and get a gas safe engineer to fit them,and if they don't work, you can resell them. You will need to trawl the web to find the right parts at any price.

I'm feeling your pain - my Glowworm Spacesave KFB's fan packed up two days ago. Typical prices are £250, the last time it failed the replacement was about £160!

Londoner_1

Knock some money off the house to account for boiler.

matelodave

Londoner_1 wrote: »

Knock some money off the house to account for boiler.

I find that it's cheaper and easier to sort stuff out yourself than try to negotiate a price with a purchaser - they usually have no idea of how easy or difficult a problem might be and often want a far bigger discount than the cost of the the repair.

When we sold my mum's house we paid £4 k to install central heating. It had been on the market for 6 months and no one was interested, even with a discounted price.

After the heating had been fitted we added £10k to the price and sold it for the asking price within three weeks

System

Yes Matelodave I would sooner sort out the issue before getting involved with offering discounts. If a new gas valve (£120 , plus say £100 fitting ) can get the boiler in good health then that is better than knocking thousands off for a brand new system.These old boilers work faultlessly for years unlike my daughter in laws 5 year old boiler which is nothing but trouble and just gone faulty once again tonight.
I will take the advice from Andy and try and get a straight answer from a gas safe man to replace what is faulty rather than fit a complete new unreliable system which has the only gain that it does not have a pilot light. Its finding one which will be the problem.The three who we have had all said the same thing..can t do it , new system needed..

CashStrapped

I had a situation where, back when my parents had homecare, a BG engineer came to test the 35-40 year old boiler.

This thing had chugged away for many a year without any problems, inefficient yes, liable to ever break down....no.

Anyway, this BG engineer spent about 30mins longer than any other check (just thorough we thought) and he was about to leave when he decided to do one last Carbon monoxide test, got a reading from somewhere and condemned the boiler, no ifs or buts.

He felt that it could have been a failed rope seal (could not prove it), which was no longer produced as a certified part. The one we had probably had asbestos in it and they did not make them any more. He also made the case that it was inaccessible due to the boilers age. If he took it down, it would never go back up.

We asked for a second opinion, the area manager came who repeated the same story.

This was conveniently just before winter.

I was really not happy with their story, it smelt fishy, so asked a local firm to come and have a look. They gave no promises however (which was fair enough). He accessed the rope seal within 5 minutes (it looked old but OK). Produced a modern equivalent of the rope seal (non-asbestos) which was a very common generic part (not manufacturer specific). Applied some heat proof cement to a few areas on the flue exhaust (which seemed fine anyway). Fired it up. Worked perfectly, no Carbon monoxide detected.

I would also point out that the CO detector in the kitchen, never detected a thing. Call me a cynic but I think the engineer went looking for a reading. Nothing to prove it, but the whole situation was odd. Maybe they thought my parents were easy targets for a sale, who knows.

To cap it all off, the other firm said that it looked like the boiler had not been properly serviced in a long time.

Needless to say, a complaint followed and BG, to their credit, refunded the cost of the "repair" and re-activation by the other firm.

I convinced my parents to cancel it shortly after.

System

Thank you Cashstrapped. I remember BG being hauled before BBC s Watchdog with Ann Robinson presiding, accused of exactly the same sort of thing.Condemning boilers because they said the "part was nt available ". They fitted a 6k system to replace the old boiler to this old ladys house. After Watchdog found the part within a few minutes at several different outlets , BG s bosses answer to this was that the part was nt available in their warehouse !. He got off just about from an accusation of fraud by profiteering. I have no faith in many Gas safe engineers when they trot out the same excuse.

worried_jim

Repost your issue here-

http://www.ukplumbersforums.co.uk/

Include your location and I am sure pretty soon you will be recommended someone in your area who loves these boilers.

stevegrass777

The amount prospective buyers will knock off for an old cranky boiler being fitted could be around £4000 ,as that is what BG would charge,also it will effect the energy rating.
Also you will get a guarantee to pass on and can obtain a premium.
People who buy houses and refurbish them to sell don't leave the old boiler in as it adds more than it costs.
In my eyes it's false economy to not replace it,and in the meantime you will get cheaper bills.
My plumber fits boilers for around £400-500 you can fit a basic baxi or main boiler for around £1000 .(500+500)
You don't need a viessman or vailent or WB if you are selling.Although if you want something to last longer for a little more you could get a intergas rapid.