Boiler leak not fixed by plumber

Jimmy_Boy

I had a leak on my boiler (BAXI) and called a local plumber to see if its something he could fix to which he replied he would come and have a look.

He called round and diagnosed the fault as the diverter valve and said he would see if the parts where available and get back to me with a price.

He got back to me with a price of £95 for parts + approx 2 hours labour, I agreed for him to carry out the work.

He called round to install the diverter valve and thats where the stress started.

He was an older guy and had very poor customer care skills. My boiler is in the kitchen and is by my glass cooker hob which can easily scratch. He starts taking things apart and placing everything on the hob, put parts and tools on the hob too, then trying to undo stuff with a spanner on the hob! I told him to move his stuff and I put a towel on there to cover it.

Throughout the visit he was waffling 'Where does this go?', 'How does this come off', 'How do I get to that?'  'Have you got a spanner I can use?', 'Have you got a screwdriver I can use? I had zero confidence in the guy at this point but the boiler was already apart and felt committed to him completing the job.

Then he re-connected the electrical connection and it started smoking because he got water all on the connections. He had a second hand part in the van and replaced it.

He finished and to be honest I was just glad he was gone!

Then I notice, there is now a small leak from a different place, thought I would give it a wipe down and give it a couple days to see if it cleared up but it hasnt. Then this morning as im getting ready for a Job Interview I go to run a bath - no hot water!

It appears as though the boiler is reading a constant 99 degrees so in turn the boiler is not kicking in to heat the water. I believe he's damaged something when he connected the wet electrical connector.

So... what do I do? I REALLY dont want him back, but as he was the one who done the 'repair' I feel it is his responsibility to put right the wrongs but I also have zero confidence in his ability and feel that I have gone from having a leaky boiler to needing a replacement boiler.

I havent paid his bill yet (£200). Do I HAVE to give him an opportunity to fix it? If so, should I have to pay for this second visit for him to put things right ?

cx6

don't let him anywhere near the boiler.

Get another plumber in, try and find out what the first plumber did wrong.

don't pay the first plumbet's bill unless you are happy this second fault is not caused by him.

if it was, deduct the cost of second plumber putting it right.

Jimmy_Boy

I am quite confident this new issue is due to his work. Never had a problem before other than this leak which he came to fix. Now it leaks elsewhere, and like I say the boiler is reading up a consistent 99 degrees (wrongly, so it doesnt try to heat as it thinks temperature is high), along with some error codes now and then... never done this before.

I fear the fix will likely be more than the plumbers bill of £200. Talking to a friend it sounds like the main board might of got fried by the water getting onto the electrics when he carried out his repair (although I cannot confirm at this point if that is the case).

Should I phone the plumber and inform him I am unhappy with the work carried out and that I am getting another plumber ?

Not the best time of year to have no hot water or heating.

Im just unsure of the legal side of things if this gets messy... do I have to give the original plumber an opportunity to fix it if came to having to take some action against him?

cx6

Yes you have to give him a chance but since it is a boiler do you **really** want to take that risk? Definitely notify him though.

Jimmy_Boy

But if I don’t give him a chance I will still have to foot the bill for his work? AND pay someone else to put right what he made bad

bris

Ok I,m not going to defend the guy but there can be other ptroblems that arise when disturbing parts in a boiler.

When it comes to water carrying parts they are all more or less sealed with orings. These rings being old tend to become brittle with age and when removed simply wont seal again leaving small drips. 

When you say you got a plumber do you really mean you got a gas safe registered engineer to fix the boiler?

Most engineers doing repairs tends to carry orings of all sizes for this problem, a bit silicon grease and a new oring stops this from happening.  It's normal practice to look for leaks when finished whether it.s an oring or not., pretty obvious really so he can't do many repairs.