Annual Boiler Service issues and questions

Brewer21

It's a no brainer for me, the guy who fitted my boiler his price for the annual service is £60, very affordable.

Bendy_House

Brewer21 said:

It's a no brainer for me, the guy who fitted my boiler his price for the annual service is £60, very affordable.

Does this include a condensate trap clean? Filter clean? CombustEngine clean?

I'd agree - at £60 it's a bit of a no-brainer. But personally I think I'd rather pay more than that every few years, and have a comprehensive job carried out.

FreshlyCutFlowers

bris said:

grumbler said:

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

Thanks for the responses. Sounds like I just have to pay up to get them back in then..  

IMHO, boilers don't need annual servicing. I haven't had my serviced for 20 years, 

As for the OP the flue shoud be supported every meter, not only that the hole it goes through should be sealed as well as an inspection hatch of at least 300mm x 300mm fitted into the ceiling so any connections can be inspected.  You need inspection hatches avery 1.5 meters along it's lenth.

If it was "at risk" he would have turned it off so I will assume he has just noted it as required work. In the old days it's a "not to current standards" so was just noted as such and left to the responsible person to fix.

I've bought one of the covers suggested on here and the bracket to hold it in place. I was gonna get a gas engineer to come do it just to make sure its right but are you suggesting I also will need an inspection hatch if I seal the hole? It's a really small void. The flue just goes through the roof there so its less than half a meter of void I believe.. The gas engineer didnt say anything but maybe thats because it wasnt sealed? 

I'm worried about calling them out now because if I get them to seal it and attach the bracket they may suddenly write me up for not having an inspection hatch instead?

This whole thing is getting ridiculous..   I'll have an ugly bracket sticking from the wall, a big panel around the ceiling and now an additional inspection hatch next to that as well.. I wish I had just not gotten the thing inspected in the first place, probably what the previous owner did. Why does the hole need to be sealed? Can I not just leave it open? 

daveyjp

Bendy_House said:

Brewer21 said:

It's a no brainer for me, the guy who fitted my boiler his price for the annual service is £60, very affordable.

Does this include a condensate trap clean? Filter clean? CombustEngine clean?

I'd agree - at £60 it's a bit of a no-brainer. But personally I think I'd rather pay more than that every few years, and have a comprehensive job carried out.

Just had mine serviced with a new engineer after a 2.5 year gap.  He did exactly the same as an annual check with my previous engineer who has moved away.

Check pressure, front off, check for combustion chamber leaks, pulled out a few dead flies from inside the housing, checked expansion vessel, checked it ran, gas analysis, meter check, cleaned trap (which was clean as I have done it myself for the last two years). Also had a quick look at gas hob and fire, checked CO monitor.

He was amazed the boiler was 10 years old as it was showing no signs of problems he would expect at that age, especially combustion chamber gasket leaks as its the original.

Bendy_House

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

I've bought one of the covers suggested on here and the bracket to hold it in place. I was gonna get a gas engineer to come do it just to make sure its right but are you suggesting I also will need an inspection hatch if I seal the hole? It's a really small void. The flue just goes through the roof there so its less than half a meter of void I believe.. The gas engineer didnt say anything but maybe thats because it wasnt sealed? 

I'm worried about calling them out now because if I get them to seal it and attach the bracket they may suddenly write me up for not having an inspection hatch instead?

This whole thing is getting ridiculous..   I'll have an ugly bracket sticking from the wall, a big panel around the ceiling and now an additional inspection hatch next to that as well.. I wish I had just not gotten the thing inspected in the first place, probably what the previous owner did. Why does the hole need to be sealed? Can I not just leave it open? 

Could you explain - ideally with photos - what you mean by inspection hatch and stuff?

bris

Bendy_House said:

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

I've bought one of the covers suggested on here and the bracket to hold it in place. I was gonna get a gas engineer to come do it just to make sure its right but are you suggesting I also will need an inspection hatch if I seal the hole? It's a really small void. The flue just goes through the roof there so its less than half a meter of void I believe.. The gas engineer didnt say anything but maybe thats because it wasnt sealed? 

I'm worried about calling them out now because if I get them to seal it and attach the bracket they may suddenly write me up for not having an inspection hatch instead?

This whole thing is getting ridiculous..   I'll have an ugly bracket sticking from the wall, a big panel around the ceiling and now an additional inspection hatch next to that as well.. I wish I had just not gotten the thing inspected in the first place, probably what the previous owner did. Why does the hole need to be sealed? Can I not just leave it open? 

Could you explain - ideally with photos - what you mean by inspection hatch and stuff?

Hi sorry for late reply
https://my-plumber.co.uk/blog/gas-safe-regulations-flues-in-voids/#:~:text=The guidelines issued by Gas,of any joints or bends.

The link gives you a bit of context.

It's especially important if there is a join in the flue within the void. if the flue was long enough to be connected in one piece then you might get away with it depending on how strict the next engineer is who services it. But ideally they like to see the whole flue for corrosion reasons etc as condensate can eat metal flues, usually older boilers where it can sit in the flue joints.

FreshlyCutFlowers

bris said:

Bendy_House said:

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

I've bought one of the covers suggested on here and the bracket to hold it in place. I was gonna get a gas engineer to come do it just to make sure its right but are you suggesting I also will need an inspection hatch if I seal the hole? It's a really small void. The flue just goes through the roof there so its less than half a meter of void I believe.. The gas engineer didnt say anything but maybe thats because it wasnt sealed? 

I'm worried about calling them out now because if I get them to seal it and attach the bracket they may suddenly write me up for not having an inspection hatch instead?

This whole thing is getting ridiculous..   I'll have an ugly bracket sticking from the wall, a big panel around the ceiling and now an additional inspection hatch next to that as well.. I wish I had just not gotten the thing inspected in the first place, probably what the previous owner did. Why does the hole need to be sealed? Can I not just leave it open? 

Could you explain - ideally with photos - what you mean by inspection hatch and stuff?

Hi sorry for late reply
https://my-plumber.co.uk/blog/gas-safe-regulations-flues-in-voids/#:~:text=The guidelines issued by Gas,of any joints or bends.

The link gives you a bit of context.

It's especially important if there is a join in the flue within the void. if the flue was long enough to be connected in one piece then you might get away with it depending on how strict the next engineer is who services it. But ideally they like to see the whole flue for corrosion reasons etc as condensate can eat metal flues, usually older boilers where it can sit in the flue joints.

I don't find any thing about seal around flue being necessary? Why did you suggest the hole to be sealed? A non gas engineer reason? 

Ibrahim5

We had a gas engineer at the house. He was raving about how good his boiler was. "Goes year after year. Never gets serviced". I have never bothered. My parents had one under warranty. I could never get anyone to service it. The only arrangement I could ever get was that someone would pop round if they had nothing else to do. Not very good when you were trying to get it serviced within a time window for the warranty.

Bendy_House

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

bris said:

Bendy_House said:

FreshlyCutFlowers said:

I've bought one of the covers suggested on here and the bracket to hold it in place. I was gonna get a gas engineer to come do it just to make sure its right but are you suggesting I also will need an inspection hatch if I seal the hole? It's a really small void. The flue just goes through the roof there so its less than half a meter of void I believe.. The gas engineer didnt say anything but maybe thats because it wasnt sealed? 

I'm worried about calling them out now because if I get them to seal it and attach the bracket they may suddenly write me up for not having an inspection hatch instead?

This whole thing is getting ridiculous..   I'll have an ugly bracket sticking from the wall, a big panel around the ceiling and now an additional inspection hatch next to that as well.. I wish I had just not gotten the thing inspected in the first place, probably what the previous owner did. Why does the hole need to be sealed? Can I not just leave it open? 

Could you explain - ideally with photos - what you mean by inspection hatch and stuff?

Hi sorry for late reply
https://my-plumber.co.uk/blog/gas-safe-regulations-flues-in-voids/#:~:text=The guidelines issued by Gas,of any joints or bends.

The link gives you a bit of context.

It's especially important if there is a join in the flue within the void. if the flue was long enough to be connected in one piece then you might get away with it depending on how strict the next engineer is who services it. But ideally they like to see the whole flue for corrosion reasons etc as condensate can eat metal flues, usually older boilers where it can sit in the flue joints.

I don't find any thing about seal around flue being necessary? Why did you suggest the hole to be sealed? A non gas engineer reason? 

If the 'firestop plate' linked to earlier is fitted to the ceiling to cover the hole surrounding the flue as it passes through the ceiling, it should add positional stability to the flue as it passes through, prevent the flue from moving close to any combustible surfaces (tho' I doubt there's any), and also tidy up the whole job - especially if the plate is painted white. The flue will also be fully checkabubble from the loft side, so I don't see any issues about 'voids' and 'access' and 'hatches'.

This is being over-thought.