Boiler moved and doesn't work now - asking for payment

Bigphil1474

If they are coming to fix it anyway, not sure I'd be that bothered tbh. Fortunately my gas guy is really good, so I'd pay up and expect him to come and do the fixes when he said he would.

angelasocks

Gas fitter returned today. Gas central heating working again.

Charged an extra £125 because he said it the fault was due to the electrical work done by the electrician, it was my own electrician and not theirs.

Stings a bit because surely the original gas fitter should have identified this as the fault before he left. I paid up in full as I can't really prove anything either way.

Thank you for comments and moral support - appreciated.

Nebbit

unfortunately, human nature being what it is, non-payment is a much more powerful message than anything else

angelasocks

Yes Nebbit it would appear so, money talks, as they say.

sheenas

I am with others on this one. A bedroom is no place of a boiler due to noise, heat and danger.
anyway that’s not the question. I would simply state the boiler worked before they started. I would like others ask them to fix the boiler before paying. I think you would be liable for repairs as it would be considered not incompetence that it broke?

angelasocks

OK so boiler not working properly, hot water tap in bathroom basin doesn't appear to be firing up the boiler. I have to run the bath tap to fire up the boiler then hot water tap in basin runs hot water.

This is turning into a mess, I have paid the company because they showed me the heating and hot water was working after so called fix but the boiler was already fired up so yeah it would look like it was working. Was this their mistake or were they trying to fob me off?

Sorry posting but partly thinking out loud. Electricians calling up tomorrow, he's a very decent chap and family friend just to see if he can spot anything.

Thanks again.

WIAWSNB

Almost certainly not an electrical issue, but a water 'flow' one. Or lack thereof.

Combi boilers have a flow switch just beyond the mains inlet to the boiler, so when you open a hot tap, the resulting flow of water into the boiler spins a wee turbine and triggers the boiler to fire up. These are usually pretty sensitive, and should - I think - come on with a fast trickle, a couple of litres per minute flow or so. It might need a bit more than this to get it going, but should stay on if the tap is then reduced to this. Roughly.

So, has the visible flow from this basin tap changed at all? Is it the same or less than it was before the boiler move? Is the hot tap completely separate from the cold? If so, do their flows closely match? They shouldish, tho' the cold is likely to be a bit stronger.

The kitchen hot tap comes on with no issue?

Possible causes are; your basin tap is faulty, and is not opening as fully as it should (is it a ceramic 'quarter-turn' type, or multi-turn?) Debris in the boiler's inlet filter which may be reducing the flow rate through it. Ditto in the flow switch (tho' this would tend to just not make it work at all). An isolating valve left partially closed - there is one on the cold inlet to the boiler, and possibly one to your basin tap - was the latter closed of during this job? If your toilet/washing machine/etc is refilling at the same time you turn on the hot tap, then the flow to the tap will be reduced which might have an effect.

silvercar

I had similar when the Water supply company offered free water flow reducers to my basins. They reduced the flow enough that the boiler wasn’t being triggered.

angelasocks

Thank you Wiawsnb and Silvercar

Bit of trial and error found if I turn on the basin tap at a trickle then open up fully it does fire up the boiler and I get hot water. It wasn't like this before I just turned the tap halfway. To be fair the engineer did mention this, I just didn't realise I had to turn tap full blast.

Hot tap separate from cold tap. Water flow the same. Checked isolating valve - fully open. I'm in the middle of a kitchen install so no kitchen sink, in fact no kitchen at all.

So hopefully you're both right and this is just a change in the water flow turbine and nothing to worry about.

Thanks again.

angelasocks

Sorry about this but I have no hot water now. Tried bleeding rads, switching boiler on and off but no change. Just started today. Boiler fires up but water cold from all taps. Rads working fine.

Thing is boiler sounds differently like a bit high pitched when I turn on hot water. This started as soon as boiler was moved.

Gas fitter is coming back tomorrow but worried they are going to bill me for any work given this started 2 weeks after moved.

Any suggestions please?