New Worcester Combi boiler leaking

Monica78

Hi there, I like to get some advise on our new 1,5 year leaking boiler. Living in council property we have repeatedly  ontacted council saying our heating wasnt workings every two weeks which left us with cold temperature in the house.  Council sent out smith&Byford who fixed the pressure each time but didn't resolve the main issue and that was the leakage of water from the boiler. Now council booked boiler manufacturer to come and inspect the fault after 1 and half year. Our gas bill seems to be very hight in spite of the fact that radiators weren't working to the full capacity,having them on highest settings and they were getting colder until the boiler pressure fell down completely. Thanks to this inconsistency in heating the meter reading was rising rapidly every time we moved just slightly the settings on radiators. We like to put a claim fir compensation for this high cost that we need to pay to British gas. I like to ask what would be the best way,or who should we go contact for the compensation? Should it be council and if so which department or should we speak to British gas our main supplier. Do we stand any chance in getting anything back at all as clearly it is a faulty boiler causing such high bill.? Any advice would be appropriated  Thank you

Gerry1

No point in contacting BG, you've used the energy so you'll have to pay for it.  There's no point in complaining that your bill is too high without providing hard evidence, and that means thinking in kWh not ££.

Do the basic meter sanity checks such as turning the supply off at the meter and making sure the reading doesn't increase, checking that the meter serial number is the same as that shown on the bill.  If the meter is in a communal cupboard or plant room, make sure your appliances go off when you switch off at the meter.

As you're with BG you're probably paying far more than you need to, so start comparing with Citizens Advice and 'Which? Switch', using annual kWh consumption derived from actual meter readings.

Monica78

Thanks Gerry1 for the advice.
Just few things to check if understood correctly.  We have smart meter installed and the boiler is in our flat directly. How do we switch the meter readings off? Could I get an independent checks done by BG to do this for me before raising a dispute?

Not sure what's the best way to do in this  case. 

Gerry1

You need to switch the supply off at the meter by using the lever.  Best done overnight.  Have a look at this thread where the meter went crazy because of a failing battery.

However, don't assume that the meter is faulty just because it's costing more than you would like.  You can have a meter tested, but if it's found to be OK it'll cost around £120 IIRC, so you need very good evidence before choosing this course of action.

TBH, disputing the bill seems to be a bit of a wild goose chase: unless the meter is clocking up when there's no usage (unlikely, but certainly not impossible) then that gas will have generated the appropriate amount of heat unless there's a massive leak.  If so, you'd have smelled it (Covid permitting) before your house exploded !

MWT

Monica78 said:

Now council booked boiler manufacturer to come and inspect the fault after 1 and half year.

Do you actually have a pool of water under the boiler, or is it just that the system pressure is dropping causing the boiler to stop?

If there is no water near the boiler the problem is most likely elsewhere in a radiator or the pipes to the radiators, if this is the case then the boiler manufacturer is not going to fix anything as the boiler itself is not faulty...

Monica78

Thanks MWT for advice.

The boiler is leaking (s&b confirmed it)hense they called manufacturer to check what can be done,whether they repair a part of it or change whole boiler.

But the situation is the boiler pressure due to leak is dropping regularly and as a results radiators are cold in spite of being at the highest settings. Sometimes hot water not running too.

What is the reason this is happening as the boiler is only 1,5 year old?

[Deleted User]

Monica78 said:

Thanks MWT for advice.

The boiler is leaking (s&b confirmed it)hense they called manufacturer to check what can be done,whether they repair a part of it or change whole boiler.

But the situation is the boiler pressure due to leak is dropping regularly and as a results radiators are cold in spite of being at the highest settings. Sometimes hot water not running too.

What is the reason this is happening as the boiler is only 1,5 year old?

Boilers can lose system pressure for a number of reasons. All boilers have a high pressure release valve: sometimes this valve seal leaks. There could also be a pinhole leak in heat exchanger or a leak around one of the pipe unions. When the boiler is on, pressure normally increases. It is possible that you have a very small leak and the water is evaporating off a hot component. If the boiler pressure falls below a given level (c<1Bar), then the boiler will throw up an Error Code and not fire up to provide heat. It does this to protect the heat exchanger.

FWiW, WB engineers are excellent. They will have the original boiler test parameters on a laptop and they can test the boiler against these parameters. They changed a fan recently on my 2 year old boiler under Warranty.

Tallerdave

The boiler's expansion vessel is probably leaking and needs replacing or it's lost all its pressure and water's leaking out from somewhere under high pressure before the pressure relief valve kicks in.

Monica78

Now taking all the suggestions above into consideration would you say that any of them could cause a higher gas bill unnecesarily? 

[Deleted User]

Monica78 said:

Now taking all the suggestions above into consideration would you say that any of them could cause a higher gas bill unnecesarily? 

No - that just isn’t possible. How many kWhs a day having you been using? It has been unusually cold and most of us will have seen an increase in energy usage. 

Gerry1

Let's introduce a few hard facts.

• What is the cost per kWh and the daily charge, including VAT?

• What is your daily consumption in m3, from the meter on the wall?  (Obviously the first result will be available tomorrow.)