British Gas combi boiler trouble

Sukie_2

Can anybody advise please?

My Aunt (aged 84) was advised by British Gas that she needed to replace her boiler. The boiler she had was working without problems, but, was 18 years old. She took their advice and last May had a new combi boiler fitted in her loft, she lives in a bungalow. From the time it was fitted it has caused her nothing but trouble:mad:

The engineers have returned countless times to try and put this boiler right for her, she is consantly without heat from it. She has been through, "it is not set correctly", "the system was not flushed correctly when it was installed", I could go on forever:rolleyes: The latest this weekend has to be the limit, it seems the system was reflushed about a week ago which has caused the latest trouble. They have now told her she has a leek in a pipe "somewhere" causing the problem. They have given her a quote to put it right, having told her the problem will continue if not rectified, for £2,800 approx to fix the pipes.:eek:

I know problems will happen, but we are talking concrete floors here, not to mention another hunk of money, she paid just under £4,000 for the installation. Is there anything she can do? Apart from the cost, at her age this is not something she needs. Surely the job should have been done correctly in the first place?

If anybody has any thoughts which might help us to help her we would be extremly grateful

btr30

Sorry to hear of your Aunt's troubles.
I think your heating system may be losing pressure, and the boiler will have a low pressure switch which will prevent the boiler from firing when the pressure falls below 1bar. I am assuming the original job was for a boiler only replacement onto existing radiators and pipes.
The old boiler will have been fed from a feed and expansion tank, whereas the new boiler will be operating at mains water pressure. This increased pressure may cause seeping at the joints to valves around radiators etc. If this water escapes then the pressure drops and boiler won't fire. It may only be a small leak but over time it will be sufficient to drop below the pressure switch setting.
Hopefully a remaking of a joint will suffice, and avoid any costs for replacing radiators.
The drawback of a combi is off course that when the boiler is down, you also lose hot water, as you have no immersion back up.
Hopefuly you get things sorted soon

Sukie_2

Many thanks for reply. Yes the radiators are existing but it seems there are no visable leaks on any of them or the pipe from the loft down.
The £2,800 British Gas want to charge is not for replacements but to identify where in the pipes in the bungalow the leak is and repair it. They are unable to find a leak at the moment, so the "repair" seems as if it will be a "hit & miss". Unfortunately a lot of the pipes run under the property, so you guess at the panic it is causing!

espresso

Sukie wrote: »

The £2,800 British Gas want to charge is not for replacements but to identify where in the pipes in the bungalow the leak is and repair it. They are unable to find a leak at the moment, so the "repair" seems as if it will be a "hit & miss". Unfortunately a lot of the pipes run under the property, so you guess at the panic it is causing!

You are not seriously considering paying this ridiculous amount to BG to find and repair a leak!

Find a good honest local heating engineer to sort out the problem, as BG are obviously avin a laugh!

Sukie_2

I totally agree, especially as so far nobody knows what this money is to be paid out for!
What I don't understand is why BG can't be held accountable for bad workmanship, given they admit on installation the job was not completed properly ie the flush?
There are 2 of them arriving on Wed. so we have said one of us will be with her. She has already been told that if she fails to have this done BG will basically wipe their hands of problems in the future!
Our friend returns in a couple of days time, a great plumber & Corgi, interesting to see what he has to say about the whole mess-can't wait!