Faulty boiler and oven in rented house

Lucy11580

Hello everyone!

I don't know if anyone can help advise me on this please...but here goes!

I am a single mum who has been renting a private house for the last 4 years. Every year the heating technician comes to do a gas check. Every time he has completed it, he has told me that there is a "faulty switch" on the boiler. I have never thought to query this until this time, where he told me that it meant that the boiler never switches off, as in it's constantly ON.

Over the last 4 years I have tried not put the radiators on because of the unexplained high bills. Apart from being really cold, mould has grown throughout the house, making my young daughter have Asthma nearly all the time and resulting in many days off school.

I emailed the letting agent who sent me a reply saying that it doesn't cost anything to have a boiler lit constantly. Can anyone tell me if this is correct please?

If it does cost to just run the boiler on it's own, without having the radiators on, then how much would it cost? Surely it must cost something?

Also, that's not all! A few months ago I lit the oven, put some food in to cook, went out the kitchen and on my return, could hear the oven trying to light itself. I heard a clicking noise and the smell of gas (and the sound). It couldn't light but what worried me was that if I had been gone for a longer time, what could have happened?

While the heating technician was here doing the gas check, I told him about the oven and he simply turned the oven on for about 20 minutes and said it seemed fine. This didn't fill me with confidence and I haven't used the oven since, apart from the other day where I tried to cook with it again, only to have the same thing happen again. (The oven going out and trying to relight itself.)

There are other problems that need fixing, but I'm not so concerned about them.

I can't believe how these people sleep at night, knowing that the oven (and the boiler which apart from having a faulty switch which makes it never turn off, doesn't have a thermostat either) could possibly be dangerous? The heating technician told the letting agent that the oven was fine! But how can it be if it keeps going out and trying to light itself without success?

I have spoken to the CAB, but sadly they couldn't help. What I would like to know in a nutshell is, does it cost anything to have a boiler constantly on? If it does, then have I been paying for it to be on for the last 4 years?

I would really appreciate some advice on this, as I don't know what to do.

Many thanks indeed

Lucy x

GwylimT

Gas ovens do sometimes go out, ours does, you just have to be sensible and check them. Normally if they can't ignite well it is due to dirt/grease around the igniter.

It seems silly that you would rather have a moldy house an ill daughter just because you don't want to pay for the pilot light on your boiler. Our pilot light costs around 12p per day.

When you move out you can say goodbye to your deposit as you have made the house moldy.

[Deleted User]

Agree with Gwylim....you're going to have to clean all the mould and probably re-paint if you want to get your deposit back. I also think it's the LL's responsibility to fix the boiler. I rented my flat for a while and the boiler needed a service...gasman said the boiler was knackered and old and would breakdown at anytime and it was worth me saving money on a service and putting it towards a new boiler...which I did. You can't mess with gas and carbon fumes...it kills people. I'd press the LL to get these things fixed.

EachPenny

GwylimT wrote: »

It seems silly that you would rather have a moldy house an ill daughter just because you don't want to pay for the pilot light on your boiler. Our pilot light costs around 12p per day.

It isn't clear to me from the OP whether the issue is with the pilot light control or the boiler thermostat not working properly. There is also an assumption that the boiler actually has a pilot light.

Edit: (i.e. don't blame the OP until the facts have been established)

The statement "it doesn't cost anything to have a boiler lit constantly" is also clearly untrue.

If I was the OP I think I would contact the letting agent on a fairly regular basis saying I can smell gas. This isn't something they could afford to ignore unless they are especially reckless. However, taking that approach may lead to the OP needing to seek alternative housing, so a more cautious approach may be needed.

Lucy11580

It's not a pilot light, the boiler is constantly fired up 24 hours a day and has been for the last 4 years 24 hours a day. I am constantly getting rid of the mould but it comes back and I have to resort to using bleach which exacerbates my daughter's Asthma. When I have used the radiators, they won't get very hot nor is the bath water very warm either. Thanks for your reply.

EachPenny

Lucy11580 wrote: »

Also, that's not all! A few months ago I lit the oven, put some food in to cook, went out the kitchen and on my return, could hear the oven trying to light itself. I heard a clicking noise and the smell of gas (and the sound). It couldn't light but what worried me was that if I had been gone for a longer time, what could have happened?

BTW Lucy, you might be better posting this on the Energy board as it is more likely to be picked up on there by people with expert knowledge of gas safety.

I was at a friend's rented house while their gas safety inspection was carried out and one of the things the engineer told me was that it was compulsory for the oven to have a thermocouple to cut off the gas if the oven flame went out and wasn't relit. Not sure if this is true, or if it applies in all cases, but someone on the Energy board will know.

AdrianC

A boiler that's not putting heat out into the radiators is not losing much (if any) heat from, so will very quickly reach the upper temperature limit of the water coming back - and will then "run light". So, no, it won't cost very much AT ALL. It will cost a little - because the water in the pipework is being kept at c.70deg instead of ambient temp, but not very much. Most of the heat loss is from the radiators themselves.

The oven problem is likely to simply be a faulty thermocouple, and should be cheap and easy to fix.

slightlychilled

If your boiler is providing you with your hot water as well as your heating i.e.is a combi-boiler, then it is normal for it to be switched on the whole time.

GwylimT

Lucy11580 wrote: »

It's not a pilot light, the boiler is constantly fired up 24 hours a day and has been for the last 4 years 24 hours a day. I am constantly getting rid of the mould but it comes back and I have to resort to using bleach which exacerbates my daughter's Asthma. When I have used the radiators, they won't get very hot nor is the bath water very warm either. Thanks for your reply.

What is the make and model of the boiler? It sounds like you have a combi-boiler, which needs to be on all of the time to work.

EachPenny

GwylimT wrote: »

which needs to be on all of the time to work.

On, but not 'lit'. If the thermostat and firing circuit is faulty then the boiler could be running with a constant low flame which is enough to make the radiators and hot water warm, but never enough to reach the correct system temperature and shut the flame off entirely.

But the main point is that if the gas engineer has signed off a boiler which is apparently faulty, and has not identified a missing/defective thermocouple on the oven, then I would be looking to move home very quickly. Either the engineer or landlord, or both, are not taking care of safety.

Lucy11580

Thank you for your replies. It's a Worcester boiler, Greenstar 241 Junior Combi Mk111. That's the information I could see on there. There is a central window on the front of the boiler where the flame is blue and is constantly on. This doesn't seem like a pilot light to me? I really don't know, but you can hear the boiler on all the time.