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Waiting for the gas engineer - want to wait with me?
trailingspouse
Posts: 4,042 Forumite
Somewhat bored with it now...
2-3 weeks ago we noticed that our hot water supply wasn't quite right - the water was hot enough, to begin with, but went cold after it had been running for a little while. Showers were particularly challenging...
But, our annual gas service was due (on 5th Jan) so we decided to just shower quickly for a few days and mention it when the engineer came. Which is what we did. He tried to fix it, but it needed more attention than he could give it during a service, so we left it.
As it only seemed to be the shower that was affected, I asked our local plumber (who fitted the shower 4 years ago) to come and have a look, just in case it was the shower itself that was the problem, rather than the boiler (and hoping we could avoid the £60 British Gas excess on our Care plan). He confirmed that it was indeed a problem with the boiler. He doesn't 'do' boilers, so back to British Gas we had to go.
I rang British Gas, and their engineer came out on Friday (19th) - she fixed what she thought was the problem, but it didn't fix the problem, if you see what I mean, so she arranged to come out again yesterday afternoon (20th) to have another go. Which she did. Still couldn't fix it, and is due to come out again tomorrow (Monday 22nd).
Are you with me so far?
Anyway, she left at about 2.30 yesterday afternoon, and at around 5pm I noticed that our heating had gone off. Looked at the boiler controls - everything seemed to be in order, but still no heating on. I rang British Gas, asking if they could send an engineer out immediately (it was below freezing). Escalated to duty manager, who apologised and said the earliest they could get someone out was the next morning between 8am and 10am, as we weren't vulnerable. Offered us £50 in compensation, and we parted friends.
The gas engineer didn't turn up between 8 and 10 this morning. I waited until 11am, then rang them - they had no record of the intended call but promised an engineer would be with me today before 6pm :eek:
So here I am, waiting for a gas engineer who may or may not turn up, it's snowing outside, and I'm not happy. I'm warm enough, I guess - gas fire still works, and I have a fan heater as well, and my fleece on - but apart from the room I'm in, the house is just getting colder and colder.
Just want sympathy really.
2-3 weeks ago we noticed that our hot water supply wasn't quite right - the water was hot enough, to begin with, but went cold after it had been running for a little while. Showers were particularly challenging...
But, our annual gas service was due (on 5th Jan) so we decided to just shower quickly for a few days and mention it when the engineer came. Which is what we did. He tried to fix it, but it needed more attention than he could give it during a service, so we left it.
As it only seemed to be the shower that was affected, I asked our local plumber (who fitted the shower 4 years ago) to come and have a look, just in case it was the shower itself that was the problem, rather than the boiler (and hoping we could avoid the £60 British Gas excess on our Care plan). He confirmed that it was indeed a problem with the boiler. He doesn't 'do' boilers, so back to British Gas we had to go.
I rang British Gas, and their engineer came out on Friday (19th) - she fixed what she thought was the problem, but it didn't fix the problem, if you see what I mean, so she arranged to come out again yesterday afternoon (20th) to have another go. Which she did. Still couldn't fix it, and is due to come out again tomorrow (Monday 22nd).
Are you with me so far?
Anyway, she left at about 2.30 yesterday afternoon, and at around 5pm I noticed that our heating had gone off. Looked at the boiler controls - everything seemed to be in order, but still no heating on. I rang British Gas, asking if they could send an engineer out immediately (it was below freezing). Escalated to duty manager, who apologised and said the earliest they could get someone out was the next morning between 8am and 10am, as we weren't vulnerable. Offered us £50 in compensation, and we parted friends.
The gas engineer didn't turn up between 8 and 10 this morning. I waited until 11am, then rang them - they had no record of the intended call but promised an engineer would be with me today before 6pm :eek:
So here I am, waiting for a gas engineer who may or may not turn up, it's snowing outside, and I'm not happy. I'm warm enough, I guess - gas fire still works, and I have a fan heater as well, and my fleece on - but apart from the room I'm in, the house is just getting colder and colder.
Just want sympathy really.
No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...
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I hope they've turned up. Make yourself a huge mug of hot chocolate if not!0
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Not yet!!
But just had a call to say they will be with me today.
I've just put a stew in the oven, so that'll keep the kitchen warm!!No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...0 -
Basics: what sort of shower and type of boiler do you have? Electric, pumped, combi, conventional?
I don't understand why you thought that an RGI is going to fix a shower-that is a job for a plumber, or an electrician, if an electric shower.
If the hot supply is going cold after a while on sinks/bath as well as the shower, then it's clearly not a fault with the shower, but with the hot supply.
My best guess in the absence of any other info is that you have a combi boiler, and the diverter valve is sticking. That's a simple 1 hour job for an RGI, and not expensive. But of course once you let BG loose on the boiler, expect them to simply replace components ad nauseam, rather than do any proper fault-finding.
My advice is to ditch the Homecare policy, and use a local independent GSR RGI who knows your model of boiler.No free lunch, and no free laptop
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BG will do the usual and tell you, you need a power flush, don't worry it's only £650.0
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macman - I'm inclined to agree with you. Any idea why the heating isn't working, granted the original job was just for the hot water?
It's a combi boiler. Yes, the hot water peters out on the sink taps as well, but when we originally called them it seemed to just be the shower (I guess we just don't run a hot tap for the same length of time as we run a shower).
Engineer still hasn't arrived.No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...0 -
Gas engineer has just rung to say he'll be with me in 20 minutes. I'd resigned myself to having no heat until tomorrow morning at the earliest, so that was a pleasant surprise.
Kettle's on.No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...0 -
He's arrived. Fingers crossed he can do something about it.No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...0
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Off topic slightly but did you get the 50 quid compo ? If you did then they are clearly lying about having no record of you phoning up ..Just a thought
Hope you get it sorted ,nothing worse this time of yearHave a nice day
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Fair point well made Lincoln Imp - it isn't in the account yet, but as they only offered it yesterday afternoon, and it's the weekend, it might yet arrive. I'll check again tomorrow.
The house is warming up nicely now. Fan heaters have been turned off. I'm going to leave the heating on over night (we normally have it switched off), just to warm the house up thoroughly. Happy days.No longer a spouse, or trailing, but MSE won't allow me to change my username...0 -
Did you ask engineer what the fault was?"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Ride hard or stay home :iloveyou:0
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