British Gas advice

cb1979

Hello
After years of saving my Daughter managed to buy her own flat in October
As she got a mortgage through Nationwide she received a new homeowner’s pack from them

Included was a a British Gas free inspection and service which was carried out on Monday and boiler was given a clean bill of health

All was well until she went to use her toaster on Tuesday lunch time when she noticed it was wet, she noticed the boiler was dripping on it, as she has a wall mounted boiler in the Kitchen

She called me and i contacted BG on her behalf via their web chat, i explained the problem and they sent an engineer out this morning who i met at the Flat

He looked at where the leak was from and decided it was the condensate trap which by some strange coincidence he had a new kit with him.
He seemed to be struggling to fit it and after an hour he then made a phone call and a short while later a colleague arrived and a short while later it was fitted

They ran the boiler for a short while and noticed it still had a slight drip, they then decided the Heat engine (heat exchanger) was corroded and had a small hole in and would need replacing

They then said not to worry as it would be covered by the BG Boiler care cover as it was showing on their system

I then explained that my Daughter did not have Boiler cover and had the boiler serviced by way of the Nationwide voucher

They then explained it would need changing and the parts would be around £600, did we want to proceed, I then told them I would have to talk to my Daughter about it, they mad a provisional date to come back and fix it next Monday

My question is it did not leak before they serviced it on Monday, did they maybe damage something

Thank you

utigers

I very much doubt they have caused a leak to the heat exchanger. Is it a sealed system? They may have topped up the water pressure which they should do....and this was a weakness waiting to happen.

I would ask BG for a second opinion on it.
Then maybe ask another company for a look/quote.
Check your home insurance.

cb1979

utigers wrote: »

I very much doubt they have caused a leak to the heat exchanger. Is it a sealed system? They may have topped up the water pressure which they should do....and this was a weakness waiting to happen.

I would ask BG for a second opinion on it.
Then maybe ask another company for a look/quote.
Check your home insurance.

Thank you for you reply..had another heating engineer have a look this morning..turns out its the condensate overflow pipe thats leaking..not the heat engine..seem the joint on the plastic elbow is where the leak is..looks to have been repaired with silicon sealant in the past

badmemory

Glad you don't need my advice - which would have been to dump BG and get a proper heating engineer in. If they had come back on Monday they would probably have told you she needed a new boiler.

CashStrapped

Sounds like BG up to their old tricks as usual

1) Just before/during winter - check

2) Boiler with a possible fault - check

3) Something we can pretend is terminal - check

4) Home-owner we think we can blag (old person, vulnerable, too trusting) - check

Diagnosis - New Boiler ---


Tried the same to my parents with their 35 year old boiler. They condemned it and capped it. Got a local engineer out to have a look, who re activated it, checked a few things that BG said were un-checkable, made a few minor repairs that BG said were un-repairable. Resolution, nothing terminal (if anything) wrong with it. That was 5 years ago and the thing is still fine.

cb1979

Another thing that was found was the condensate drain pipe was totally blocked, and that is why the fitting was leaking..I would have thought a check to see if the drain pipe was clear would have been part of a BG service

CashStrapped

cb1979 wrote: »

part of a BG service

One thing I found after my experience above is that BG do not consider their yearly checks a "service". Despite what it seems. It is just a "safety check". Or, as I said above, "lets find a fault check".

When the local engineer came out to repair my parents, he found it had not been properly serviced for years.