Drayton TRV4 Valve Heads

Pensioner_1955

I have posted regarding these elsewhere on the forum. From a consumer point of view is a 3/4 year lifetime for a thermostatic radiator valve acceptable? Replacements cost £20 a time (+ an engineers visit if you are 'not young'). Drayton must be earning a tidy income from replacements! They were bought to help me save money on my heating bills but have ended up costing me a lot more! + Is there a professional body that oversees products in the heating industry. A radiator valve that disintegrates on exposure to heat in such a short time cannot be acceptable! Many negative reviews can be found on the internet (see Screwfix etc)

Aylesbury_Duck

Your first port of call should be the retailer.  They're responsible for your consumer rights.  Given the age, you'd probably need to have someone (any heating technician will do) give their professional judgement on your broken valve(s), then go back to the retailer with that report.  The retailer should then partially refund or replace them.

You might write to the manufacturer to complain about the quality of their product, but they're not obliged to respond because they have no contract with you, unless you're still in a manufacturer-backed warranty period.

Otherwise, add your objective and factual review to the others and hopefully it will deter people from buying the product.

powerful_Rogue

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6586096/drayton-trv4-valves

Seems like Drayton have offered to send out a repair kit.

Pensioner_1955

Sorry I meant 'service kit' not 'repair kit'! Taking the heads off the valves regularly and servicing/tightening the seals is the way to extend the life of the valve heads beyond the 3/4 years people are experiencing. Drayton are not telling their customers that this is necessary when purchasing the valves as they are seemingly preferring to sell the replacement heads? I expect to have my boiler serviced regularly of course but know no one else who has to service their valves. As I've said before I'm in my 70th year and getting down on my knees to service 10 valves is difficult, the alternative being to pay someone to do it.
My complaints to Drayton are lengthy, there is no warranty and I guess that I would have to prove to Screwfix (from whom I have now bought about 6 - £120) that it was one of their sales that had failed?
I repeat - these are not fit for purpose!

born_again

I'm bemused why these would need a service kit.

We has other cheaper bands (from Amazon) on our system & have no issues with them at all. Then again they were fitted, set & are never touched. 

Pensioner_1955

This is the experience of everyone I talk to - fitted, set and never touched. With these Drayton ones you periodically find one lying broken on the carpet to a horrible feeling of deja vu. Apparently they are highly rated by the European Valve Manufacturers Association although the box proudly states "Made in the UK for the UK" - what an insult, it makes me feel ashamed (maybe they're not exported as they're not of sufficient quality?)