Repeated power cuts destroyed my boiler

SukhL

Where I live in Kent, the electricity board has issues keeping continual supply of electricity to the area.

 Long story short, the latest cut (of many!) has resulted in the motherboard of my boiler being destroyed which means my boiler isn’t functioning properly. What makes matters worse is that my boiler has been discontinued and I’m unable to get parts to repair it. 

What are my rights?

Mstty

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/knowing-your-rights-power-cuts

Depending on age how can you know the power cuts were the cause?

If it's new and in warranty and the engineer has said that is the likely cause then you may get somewhere.

marcia_

SukhL said:

Where I live in Kent, the electricity board has issues keeping continual supply of electricity to the area.

 Long story short, the latest cut (of many!) has resulted in the motherboard of my boiler being destroyed which means my boiler isn’t functioning properly. What makes matters worse is that my boiler has been discontinued and I’m unable to get parts to repair it. 

What are my rights?

 Must be an old boiler if you can't get parts. Maybe it's just at the end of its life, how do you know it was the power cut? 

cm4ever

Sorry to here that. 

If you've just learnt that the boiler has been discontinued, can I ask exactly how old is the boiler and was it regularly serviced up until it broke down?

Depending on how long the boiler has been discontinued for, you normally find good independent gas service engineers can normally source spares/parts by various means - where as national service companies are generally much less helpful and default to "it's too old/discontinued, to be able to be fixed".

Don't know about your rights sorry, it would probably depend on technically what form of supply issue has occurred.....

[Deleted User]

SukhL said:

Where I live in Kent, the electricity board has issues keeping continual supply of electricity to the area.

 Long story short, the latest cut (of many!) has resulted in the motherboard of my boiler being destroyed which means my boiler isn’t functioning properly. What makes matters worse is that my boiler has been discontinued and I’m unable to get parts to repair it. 

What are my rights?

If you have a smart meter, you could ask your DNO to carry out a ‘pull’ of the 30 minute voltage data. If this data shows voltages above 256V you might have a claim. That said, no DNO is going to compensate you by paying for a new boiler. That said, the most likely reason for the PCB failure is age.

dunstonh

SukhL said:

Where I live in Kent, the electricity board has issues keeping continual supply of electricity to the area.

 Long story short, the latest cut (of many!) has resulted in the motherboard of my boiler being destroyed which means my boiler isn’t functioning properly. What makes matters worse is that my boiler has been discontinued and I’m unable to get parts to repair it. 

What are my rights?

Can you prove the failure is down to the power supplies?
For example, many rural properties get frequent power cuts and don't find their boilers failing.    Your home circuitry should protect your devices unless that is old or in a poor condition or has faults on it.

Some boilers, such as some Potterton/Baxi are prone to eating motherboards as they have insufficient protection from the heat cycle which causes the solder on the motherboard to snap.  You are just playing a waiting game for one of them to die.  The late 90s models, in particular, were prone for it.   

MWT

SukhL said:

Where I live in Kent, the electricity board has issues keeping continual supply of electricity to the area.

 Long story short, the latest cut (of many!) has resulted in the motherboard of my boiler being destroyed which means my boiler isn’t functioning properly. What makes matters worse is that my boiler has been discontinued and I’m unable to get parts to repair it. 

What are my rights?

Not sure if UKPN are your DNO, but they all work under the same obligations...

"Power cuts occur for many different reasons and usually without warning. We're not liable for any damage to electrical appliances such as TVs, computers etc as a result of a power cut. Your home insurance may cover you, so please check with your insurers. Most insurance companies will contact us directly if they require further information about the power cut. For more information please read the Terms of Connections, these are set by our industry regulator Ofgem. 

Some of the equipment in your home are more sensitive than others, here are some tips on how to protect them:

• You can protect equipment such as landline phones and internet routers from voltage variations by using surge protectors. They can be purchased from electrical shops and DIY stores.
• If you're at home during a power cut, you can protect your equipment by unplugging it or switching it off at the socket. 
• Alarm systems need regular maintenance, batteries should be replaced every five years. 
• If you work from home or a small business and use your computer, you may like to consider using a Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) system. UPS systems will provide backup power to your computer until your electricity supply is restored."
  

https://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/help-and-contact/compensation-a-power-cut-damaged-something-in-my-home

Mstty

MWT said:

SukhL said:

Where I live in Kent, the electricity board has issues keeping continual supply of electricity to the area.

 Long story short, the latest cut (of many!) has resulted in the motherboard of my boiler being destroyed which means my boiler isn’t functioning properly. What makes matters worse is that my boiler has been discontinued and I’m unable to get parts to repair it. 

What are my rights?

Not sure if UKPN are your DNO, but they all work under the same obligations...

"Power cuts occur for many different reasons and usually without warning. We're not liable for any damage to electrical appliances such as TVs, computers etc as a result of a power cut. Your home insurance may cover you, so please check with your insurers. Most insurance companies will contact us directly if they require further information about the power cut. For more information please read the Terms of Connections, these are set by our industry regulator Ofgem. 

Some of the equipment in your home are more sensitive than others, here are some tips on how to protect them:

• You can protect equipment such as landline phones and internet routers from voltage variations by using surge protectors. They can be purchased from electrical shops and DIY stores.
• If you're at home during a power cut, you can protect your equipment by unplugging it or switching it off at the socket. 
• Alarm systems need regular maintenance, batteries should be replaced every five years. 
• If you work from home or a small business and use your computer, you may like to consider using a Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) system. UPS systems will provide backup power to your computer until your electricity supply is restored."
  

https://www.ukpowernetworks.co.uk/help-and-contact/compensation-a-power-cut-damaged-something-in-my-home

Good info👍

[Deleted User]

We're not liable for any damage to electrical appliances such as TVs, computers etc as a result of a power cut.

That has always been the case with power cuts but if there is an associated power surge then they will usually pay out. For the latter, they would expect to see numerous consumer claims in a given area.

MattMattMattUK

dunstonh said:

SukhL said:

Where I live in Kent, the electricity board has issues keeping continual supply of electricity to the area.

 Long story short, the latest cut (of many!) has resulted in the motherboard of my boiler being destroyed which means my boiler isn’t functioning properly. What makes matters worse is that my boiler has been discontinued and I’m unable to get parts to repair it. 

What are my rights?

Can you prove the failure is down to the power supplies?
For example, many rural properties get frequent power cuts and don't find their boilers failing.    Your home circuitry should protect your devices unless that is old or in a poor condition or has faults on it.

Some boilers, such as some Potterton/Baxi are prone to eating motherboards as they have insufficient protection from the heat cycle which causes the solder on the motherboard to snap.  You are just playing a waiting game for one of them to die.  The late 90s models, in particular, were prone for it.   

The late 90s thorough to late 2000s were when leadless solder was introduced which had a habit of getting brittle when heat cycled (modern leadless solder is fine). If the issue is cracked solder they can often be fixed with reflow or soldiering iron depending on the extent of the cracking. The biggest example of this was the XBox 360 RROD issues that started in 2005. 

FreeBear

SukhL said:  Long story short, the latest cut (of many!) has resulted in the motherboard of my boiler being destroyed which means my boiler isn’t functioning properly. What makes matters worse is that my boiler has been discontinued and I’m unable to get parts to repair it.

There are companies out there that do refurbished boards for many boilers. Just because a boiler has been discontinued, doesn't mean that parts are no longer available. If push came to shove, there is always "used" parts from ebay. However, many Gas Safe engineers are reluctant to fit parts of an unknown provenance.