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Boiler/heating breakdown - no cover
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Canucklehead wrote: »Good morning: Not an expert, never claimed to be:think: my OH, Corgi Guy (who posts under my username but always signs his own posts) is the CORGI. My point is.. BG does not provide an annual service and service procedures will vary as outlined in the link I provided in my previous post http://www.miketheboilerman.com/servicingdetail.htm and by boiler manufacturer. If an 'annual service' takes '5 minutes' this does not represent value for money or best practice. Consumer beware.
Canucklehead
PS. Cardew...can't keep up with your edits:D
Hi Canucklehead,
Sorry about the edit, I had missed something - but it didn't change the thrust of my argument!
I really think that we should get this ‘do BG Service’ question settled once and for all.
I have had BG Homecare(and all the other names it went under for many years) in several houses.
I have recently stopped the service simply because it was just too expensive – around £400 for the 2 systems in my property. I have found a Corgi plumber that I hope will do the same job for a lot less.
That said I have found BG excellent over the years. They did fully ‘service’ my 2 boilers according to the manufacturers handbooks(I checked) and I guess took about 30 mins per boiler.
Look at this link.
http://www.britishgasboilers.co.uk/homecare-from-british-gas.htm
It states they carry out:
‘Regular Maintenance Inspection Services.’
The full servicing schedule in the Gloworm link you provided would surely not take an experienced fitter more than 20 mins? Don’t forget it is not even necessary to carry out combustion checks in that schedule – they do on my Ideal Mexico.
The important point is that BG have to repair at their expense anything that goes wrong – and that is the main reason for having Homecare – ‘peace of mind’.
It is not in BG’s interests to neglect any servicing which will result in breakdowns. They have a greater vested interest in getting it right than even the customer.
Your excellent ‘Mike the Boilerman’ link(which I had looked at previously) states:There is a laid down(servicing) procedure in the manufacturers instruction book for every boiler.
The document states:but for when the instructions are lost or missing there is a default service procedure set out is the CORGI 'bible' for gas engineers,
It then gives a generic set of instructions for use if no schedule is available.
What is the purpose of BG doing more than the Manufacturer stipulates?
And that, in my experience is what BG carry out.0 -
Good morning: Until a BG engineer or a representative of British Gas contributes to this discussion I doubt we will reach a resolution(probably not even at that point!) My OH's definition of an annual service (30+ years as a qualified plumbing/heating engineer, long time member of the IPHE www.iphe.org.uk, CORGI registered for gas and electrics) will differ from others as that is the nature of the beast...it typically goes beyond manufacturer's servicing specification..a hallmark of his professionalism and experience. He would never spend only "20 minutes" on an annual service:eek: If he did, we'd be rolling in it:D ...I'd book in 10 'services' for him and he'd be home by lunch. His definitive response to all of this is "it takes as long as it takes"....and there ends my contribition to this thread (and my apologies to the OP for participating in an excessive diversion from your original query.)
CanuckleheadAsk to see CIPHE (Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering)0 -
We've been with BG for 15 years on their Homecare contracts. Boiler broke down last week and we've been without hot water or heating 6 days now.
Customer service diabolical. Broken promises. So much for 'peace of mind in an emergency'
Sorry for sounding off on your thread, but I'm very upset with them.0 -
Well if the boiler is that old - and it is probably a sound old boiler with years left in it, depending on what make and model, there may be issues with getting some parts but on the whole it should be easily repaired. Because the system is old, it could be that the rads are all full of sludge which, will not be doing the pump any good. Lots of probable causes for loss of heat - if the rads are hot on one floor and cool on another, then this could possibly be the pump.
I suspect strongly that BG will try very very hard to get your gran to have a new boiler and i suspect that they aren't bothered if she has a 23 year old boiler because it gives them more scope for convincing that the boiler is on its last legs/parts are unavailable. If they opt to condemn it, ask exactly why and then phone an idependent gas engineer and ask for advice - also ask if they will do a free estimate for repair or replacement - i can not tell you how many boilers we have repaired/made safe when the customer was told the only option was the scrapheap - sometimes they ain't repairable and sometimes customers are happy to have a new boiler but most aren't.
If they'd have been interested in its age, they would have asked already.
Now, if BG do tell you that your gran needs a new boiler on the parts issue, phone a gas spares - B.E.S or Antares and actually Harthills of Wolverhampton are probably the best to phone - nice brummie lads in there, and ask if they do thermocouples for that make and model if boiler, then if they do, ask if they sell the pump or PCB for that make and model - if they do, then think very long and hard about what BG is telling you.
Thing is, if they refuse the contract you still need to know if that boiler is repairable should the worst happen - it is always good to know if you can get parts for older boilers - some boilers have very little inside them to go that wrong tbh and some parts can be repaired and some engineers save parts from old boilers so will often have used spares.
Also check the fine print very carefully for what cover you are getting - does it just cover the boiler or is it other appliances too? Is it parts or is it just labour and waht percentage of parts? Does it also include a service each year/18 months?
I can only go from experience of answering the phone as a gas engineers secretary for the last 8 years and the amount of customers who have to quote been well and truly fedded up by BG's service contracts and some people have lost lots of money because the small print just didn't match what they understood to be correct.
£27 saved every month in a bank account should cover the most expensive repair on a boiler and service it too in a year and might i think leave some money left over. That said, it might be better - if the small print is favourable to take their contract - just make sure that you can be there when the engineer arrives.
I don't know of another company offering contracts like that but if the terms are ok and they agree to repair it for the £27 a month and you are aware of what will happen if they accept the contract but then at some stage can't - or say they can't repair the boiler, within the 12 months, exactly where your gran stands - i think that i would pretty much want to know that if they accepted the boiler that they agreed that the contract was over if at any stayge they failed to be able to repair it - read into that what you will.
Just my opinion0 -
Oh and agreeing with what someone said above - a service does not constitute an engineer sticking a stick into the boiler and deciding that it is safe - a boiler service - a proper boiler service takes time, a lot longer than 20 minutes, sometimes an hour and sometimes 2 hours depending on when it was last serviced - if ever - people are so poor at getting their gas appliances serviced.0
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Sadierhianne wrote: »Oh and agreeing with what someone said above - a service does not constitute an engineer sticking a stick into the boiler and deciding that it is safe - a boiler service - a proper boiler service takes time, a lot longer than 20 minutes, sometimes an hour and sometimes 2 hours depending on when it was last serviced - if ever - people are so poor at getting their gas appliances serviced.
But doing it to the full manufacturer's servicing schedule is OK??
Look at the Servicing schedules of any boiler manufacturer and see what is involved - very little. Cleaning and some checks.
As said above I have left the BG servicing plan - so don't have an axe to grind, but they always serviced my boilers to the full schedule and it doesn't take long. I also accept that some people have had a poor experience with BG.
That said the reason I went for BG was the dreadful experiences with other plumbers who, as a trade earned a justified reputation as rip-off merchants. Before the howls of protest I totally accept that obviously does not mean all plumbers/fitters.
Surely the point is that if BG skimp on servicing, they will 'pick up the bill' if it goes wrong, so it is in their interests to service correctly. In 19 years with my boiler all that BG changed in an unscheduled visit was a thermocouple - and they had replaced that part routinely before.0 -
Please please please someone help me!!!
(Especially anyone with a CORGI qual)
We have a very old back boiler system which runs hot water and heating. On Saturday night we came home to a strong smell of gas, so opened all the windows and doors after turning the system off. Luckily had electric fan heaters in the garage, so used them for bedrooms. On Sunday called a supposedly CORGI registered gas engineer (who happened to be working at a friends that day) and he took the gas fire off and opened up the boiler cover at the back and it was thick with a build up of soot. He said it hadn't been serviced for years - but we had it serviced at a cost of approx £190(!!) at the start of October. So he then proceeded to check various things and said the flame which was supposed to be blue was blue then orange/yello and that the pressure of the gas flowing through was too high. He has said that we can't/shouldn't use this anymore as it's not repairable!!! So we have no hot water and no central heating.
In October when we had the system serviced the engineer replaced a part in the system under the gas fire that links to the boiler and just called it the "Unit". Apparently he didn't check the pressure in the unit(??)
We've called the original engineer but he can't come out till Wednesday and we're so scared of having to fork out around £2k for a new combi boiler system. Apart from this 2 ocaasions, the back boiler system has suited us fine.
Any ideas what it could be???? Everytime the engineer on Sunday put the back boiler system on, there was a strong smell of gas. Our front room is ruined through all the soot...
Any help/guidance appreciated. We too thought about the BG options, but if it's a pre-existing fault would they cover?? What about home insutance - will they cover it???0 -
Hi
There isn't much to a back boiler, in terms of controls,so the only thing it can be is the gas valve. It's quite possible that you could get a new one.
The boiler will need a serious cleaning to get rid of all the soot (I know it's horrible stuff, gets everywhere) with a good vacuum cleaner.
Afterwards it will be tested with smoke pellets to ensure the flue is pulling, burner pressure and gas rate.and obviously, no gas leaks.
BG condemn perfectly serviceable boilers so yours won't stand much chance of getting through their inspection.
You might find soot from the chimney has corroded through a gas carrying pipe possibly the one from gas valve to burner. This would give you a smell of gas only when it was firing
At the earliest opportunity get the thing replaced. IMO any open flued appliances (such as your back boiler) should be banned.
Corgi Guy.Ask to see CIPHE (Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering)0 -
Thanks for the information
I have printed this and will show hubby tonight. We'll then be armed with this when the original engineer turns up tomorrow. BTW is there something saying that when the guy turns up, he should show us his CORGI registration??? We've never thought to ask before!!0
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