Can a boiler pass a gas safety check, but not work?

FataVerde

After months of delays, the vendors finally allowed me to book a boiler service. Just today, the estate agent emailed a document saying the vendors carried out one 2 months ago so I shouldn't need a service. It turns out it's a gas safety certificate for the boiler, not a service report.

jonnydeppiwish!

FataVerde said:

After months of delays, the vendors finally allowed me to book a boiler service. Just today, the estate agent emailed a document saying the vendors carried out one 2 months ago so I shouldn't need a service. It turns out it's a gas safety certificate for the boiler, not a service report.

Why would you book a service when you’ve not bought the property yet? GSC has been done so there shouldn’t be an issue. That said, if it’s old and needs replacing, I not sure a service would help.

Sandtree

FataVerde said:

After months of delays, the vendors finally allowed me to book a boiler service. Just today, the estate agent emailed a document saying the vendors carried out one 2 months ago so I shouldn't need a service. It turns out it's a gas safety certificate for the boiler, not a service report.

Can't answer the direct question but there is a big difference between safety and reliability... people get confused when a just MOT'ed car breaks down but the test doesn't require the car to be reliable, just safe.

I would be surprised if a non-functional boiler can pass a safety test, a non-functioning car cannot pass an MOT because emissions have to be tested, but just because its safe doesn't mean it'll last a long time.

PS. you won't have to wait months for me to agree if you want to do a free service on my boiler

hangryconsumer

The basic answer is yes, the gas can be safe, but the boiler not work. There are lots of things that can go wrong with any of the components within a boiler. If the boiler is serviced, they check it is working after the service, make sure it (a combi) produces hot water etc.

Also, you should be saying that you require the vendors to get a service, not for you to be arranging one. I'm not sure I would be wrong in saying that most homeowners don't service their boiler annually and it works perfectly fine. Sounds like the EA and vendors are being difficult. I was pretty much forced into getting a boiler service done when I sold my house but never once serviced it when I was there.

FataVerde

hangryconsumer said:

The basic answer is yes, the gas can be safe, but the boiler not work. There are lots of things that can go wrong with any of the components within a boiler. If the boiler is serviced, they check it is working after the service, make sure it (a combi) produces hot water etc.

Also, you should be saying that you require the vendors to get a service, not for you to be arranging one. I'm not sure I would be wrong in saying that most homeowners don't service their boiler annually and it works perfectly fine. Sounds like the EA and vendors are being difficult. I was pretty much forced into getting a boiler service done when I sold my house but never once serviced it when I was there.

Many thanks! That's what I wanted to know and what I suspected anyway. It's a 12-year old boiler and, according to the vendors, never serviced. They didn't even know the age. I learned how to check here on MSE.

I did ask them to do the service, but they just ignored the request for months. Now I found a good gas engineer, highly recommended and very modestly priced so I think I'd rather use my own. The company they used for the gas safety check has a 2 star rating, but actually barely any reviews for being in business for 10+ years. I'd probably not trust the gas engineer they'd use.

The electrical inspection I had done in February found it needs some rewiring and the vendors already agreed to a decent price reduction so I won't be losing much in the service. I just want to know if it's currently working, knowing it won't do so for a long time likely. If it gets condemned, I'd ask for a price reduction, otherwise I'm happy with this as is.

eddddy

The boiler would have to work to some extent for a gas safety check. But there could still be problems with the boiler - for example, a water leak or a dodgy thermostat

And the heating system as a whole wouldn't have been tested - for example, to check that the radiators get hot, the water gets hot etc.

So the components like the pump, motorised valves and roomstat could be faulty, and/or the radiators and pipework could be sludged up.

canaldumidi

eddddy said:

So the components like the pump, motorised valves and roomstat could be faulty, and/or the radiators and pipework could be sludged up.

though it's rare for a boiler service to check these unless specifically rquested.

badger09

My genuine personal experience, which I've posted before:

We had concerns over old boiler & CH in proposed purchase. Arranged a boiler safety check by our own engineer before exchange. He confirmed that it was safe & functioning. A few weeks after moving in in February, boiler developed a fault on Bank Hol Friday. Managed to get it fixed, but as it was at least 16 years old, we'd already decided to replace it so had a new one installed in September.

Long story short - it will probably work when you move in, but anything can happen after that. Depending on its age, budget to replace it. 

hangryconsumer

eddddy said:

And the heating system as a whole wouldn't have been tested - for example, to check that the radiators get hot, the water gets hot etc.

Might not be a full evaluation of the heating system, but the last BG service that I had to get under duress, the engineer wanted access to the kitchen to test the hot water. This was a combi boiler. I personally didn't want them to have access to the house (the boiler was in a utility room outside the house) at all but they insisted on testing the taps. I guess with gravity fed systems testing the hot water won't be so easy. Can't imagine many gas engineers waiting around for 15 mins to test the water gets hot, especially not for fixed fee work like BG.

Robbo66

No a non working boiler cannot pass a gas safety check as part of that check is CO2 levels. If the boiler isn't working they cant measure the CO2 output

hannahcolobus

Yes and no- the gas safety check is a minimum and you really only need the boiler to be able to work for enough time to be able to do your safety checks. 

So it won’t be a guarantee that the appliance itself works as well as it should. Also, it could quite easily develop a fault after the check so if it’s done really far in advance then it’s not really much use.

I’d be more inclined to ask for the benchmark which will show if they’ve had it serviced each year, proof that it’s been looked after and serviced each year will be a far better indicator of whether it will
work when you get in there.