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paulyoung666
16-07-2004, 19:26
anyone had recent experience of c.h. boiler service or repair ?????????? , i was just wondering as i have signed up for british gas service for c.h. repair , £14.50 / month , assuming a boiler service is going to cost in the region of £100 / year i reckon that it is pretty good value as it covers the complete system , any thoughts :)

SMHarman
16-07-2004, 19:30
How old is your boiler? My CH engineer said these annual BG inspections are a lot of a waste of time. Look through the porthole, check you have a good blue flame burning in there, no yellow. Check the exhaust is not blocked by a bush or birds nest, check it lights first time when a tap is turned on and only get them done every other year.

Put the £360 you save in the bank for when you need it, by the time you do you will have enough cash to pay to renew the system.

Bulky
16-07-2004, 19:30
my latest boiler service was £30, but nothing was wrong with it, if replacement parts are needed this is when it costs the money, have considered the british gas plan myself just need to get around to setting it up :)

paulyoung666
16-07-2004, 19:37
:bigcry: How old is your boiler? My CH engineer said these annual BG inspections are a lot of a waste of time. Look through the porthole, check you have a good blue flame burning in there, no yellow. Check the exhaust is not blocked by a bush or birds nest, check it lights first time when a tap is turned on and only get them done every other year.

Put the £360 you save in the bank for when you need it, by the time you do you will have enough cash to pay to renew the system.


i think i am going to :bigcry: :bigcry: , mind you i know a bit about boilers but i am not allowed to touch them am i , i will be watching like a hawk when they come to service it ;)

homealone
16-07-2004, 19:44
anyone had recent experience of c.h. boiler service or repair ?????????? , i was just wondering as i have signed up for british gas service for c.h. repair , £14.50 / month , assuming a boiler service is going to cost in the region of £100 / year i reckon that it is pretty good value as it covers the complete system , any thoughts :)

we have the British Gas contract, on a combi boiler, so far we have had a new heat exchanger, exhaust fan, 2 diaphagm valves, the pump, timer & automatic bleed valve replaced. All for no extra charge for parts or labour beyond the contract fee and with priority callout (once they got called at 16.30 & were here less than an hour later).

- so I reckon we have had good value for money. The annual 'service' is more about peace of mind, as they don't do much more than a safety check & vacuum it out.:)

paulyoung666
16-07-2004, 19:46
we have the British Gas contract, on a combi boiler, so far we have had a new heat exchanger, exhaust fan, 2 diaphagm valves, the pump, timer & automatic bleed valve replaced. All for no extra charge for parts or labour beyond the contract fee and with priority callout (once they got called at 16.30 & were here less than an hour later).

- so I reckon we have had good value for money. The annual 'service' is more about peace of mind, as they don't do much more than a safety check & vacuum it out.:)


now that has made me a bit happier , i like the idea of finding a dead boiler on a cold winters day and being able to get it sorted out the same or next day :tu:

Theodoric
16-07-2004, 19:59
anyone had recent experience of c.h. boiler service or repair ?????????? , i was just wondering as i have signed up for british gas service for c.h. repair , £14.50 / month , assuming a boiler service is going to cost in the region of £100 / year i reckon that it is pretty good value as it covers the complete system , any thoughts :)
We've got a British Gas contract, 3 Star - £150 pa, I think, and I have to say that they are pretty good. They turn up within 24 hours and over the years I've had a number of failed motorised valves and a pump replaced without any problem. All in all, I'd say that we've had value for money. The yearly service is fairly basic, they check inside the boiler, make sure that the radiators are not leaking and measure the amount of CO in the exhaust gases.

paulyoung666
16-07-2004, 20:03
starting to feel better all the time :D :D :D :D

gary_580
16-07-2004, 20:13
It would cost for more than £360 for a new boiler and dont forget you have to be Corgi registered to fit one. I know it would cost near on a £1000 for a new boiler and fitting if you want a decent one.

I had mine serviced earlier this year £50

HOWEVER i looked at one of these contracts once and it covered replacement of parts but NOT the complete boiler. So i'd check up if i were you.

paulyoung666
16-07-2004, 20:16
It would cost for more than £360 for a new boiler and dont forget you have to be Corgi registered to fit one. I know it would cost near on a £1000 for a new boiler and fitting if you want a decent one.

I had mine serviced earlier this year £50

HOWEVER i looked at one of these contracts once and it covered replacement of parts bot NOT the complete boiler. So i'd cehck up if i were you.


good point my mate , i will check when i get the paperwork , mind you as the boiler is a sum of parts then i reckon that shouldnt be a problem :erm: , well i hope so anyway :D :D :D

gary_580
16-07-2004, 20:18
good point my mate , i will check when i get the paperwork , mind you as the boiler is a sum of parts then i reckon that shouldnt be a problem :erm: , well i hope so anyway :D :D :D


better to find out now than to argue in the middle of winter when your freezing cold.

paulyoung666
16-07-2004, 20:26
better to find out now than to argue in the middle of winter when your freezing cold.


yup , like i say , i will wait until the paperwork comes and then i will see :)

goldoni
16-07-2004, 21:00
How old is your boiler? My CH engineer said these annual BG inspections are a lot of a waste of time. Look through the porthole, check you have a good blue flame burning in there, no yellow. Check the exhaust is not blocked by a bush or birds nest, check it lights first time when a tap is turned on and only get them done every other year.

Put the £360 you save in the bank for when you need it, by the time you do you will have enough cash to pay to renew the system.SMHarmenââââ‚ ¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s advise is good as dear old BG only do a safety check and are in and out within 15 minutes normally, as advised put the money in you minds bank or a high interest account, then if you have a breakdown contact a known GORGI engineer if not try to get a member of the Institute of Plumbing who is GORGI registered. DO NOT use yellow pages with those nice adds all areas covered as they usually charge the earth and most donââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t know what they are doing, apart from charging a lot of money!

If you have a modern boiler with a power flue the advice as given to SMHarmen is cool. These are the boilers that have a round flue and you can hear a fan running. They will be controlled by quite a few safety controls. Cost of service £55/65 Balanced flues (square box on the outside wall) and conventional flue boilers (connected to a chimney) should be serviced yearly for your own safety. Cost about £50/55 for a full service. Back boilers (fire on wall with boiler behind) £65/85 for a full service. The most important thing about conventional flue boilers is free air. This is the big air brick that says Do not cover, but most people do. In rough terms for every volume of gas you burn you need two of air or it could kill you.

If you would like to know some more info or search for a CORGI registerd person in your area plus see some photos of people who did not get their boilers serviced LINK (http://www.herts-plumbers.org.uk/) if you have any questions and youââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢re a CF member just email me from the link on site or PM, if I can help with advise I will.

NB: Please note this is not for advertising my business its for information only on prices, service information, photos and the search facility.

Regarding me recommending a member of the Institute of plumbing, this would mean the person who turns up at your door will be qualified and you have some comeback if your not happy with what that person has advised or done. Please note not all members are CORGI registered.

homealone
04-10-2004, 16:43
yup , like i say , i will wait until the paperwork comes and then i will see :)

We've had a couple of problems with our combi boiler, recently, so as I'm off this week I phoned at about 7pm last night & arranged a visit for 'between 12 & 6' this afternoon.

Anyway phone goes at 11am, its the gas engineer, would I mind if he came now - no problem, here in 5 minutes - kettle on ;)

He listened to my description of the problems (slow to light when calling for hot water & running over pressure for the heating).

After twiddling about and checking the operation of one of the diaphragm valves he diagnosed that as the cause of the hot water problem & said the expansion tank would need re-charging to cure the high pressure.

So he got his laptop out, which has details of all work done on the boiler since installation, plus full service manuals for my model, brought up the schematics of the required parts, entered the part numbers into the relevant form, which raised a job number, which wirelessly downloaded the order for the parts to their central warehouse. He then (again wirelessly), printed the confirmation sheet & will be back to do the job on Thursday morning.

I was impressed with that. :tu:

paulyoung666
04-10-2004, 16:58
i have had cause to use them and was suitably impressed , polite efficient and they knew the score :tu:

Salu
04-10-2004, 17:13
I use Safegas. Cheaper than BG and were the only company to replace the boiler in the event of them not being able to repair it.

http://www.central-heating-maintenance.com/

etccarmageddon
04-10-2004, 17:37
if you have a COMBI boiler the life span is shorter and they breakdown more often - they're also more expensive to replace!

Mr_love_monkey
04-10-2004, 17:42
Regarding me recommending a member of the Institute of plumbing, this would mean the person who turns up at your door will be qualified and you have some comeback if your not happy with what that person has advised or done. Please note not all members are CORGI registered.

I thought the rule was that only people who are CORGI registered should be servicing your boiler, is that right?

etccarmageddon
04-10-2004, 18:09
I thought the rule was that only people who are CORGI registered should be servicing your boiler, is that right?

yes that's right but a plumber can work on non gas jobs only in which case it doesnt matter. if someone services your boiler and they arent corgi then I suspect they are commiting an offence.

http://www.corgi-gas-safety.com/section_gas_law/about_installer.asp

http://www.corgi-gas-safety.com/section_gas_law/the_law.asp

bopdude
04-10-2004, 18:36
yes that's right but a plumber can work on non gas jobs only in which case it doesnt matter. if someone services your boiler and they arent corgi then I suspect they are commiting an offence.

http://www.corgi-gas-safety.com/section_gas_law/about_installer.asp

http://www.corgi-gas-safety.com/section_gas_law/the_law.asp
AFAIK, a plumber can do everything as etccarmageddon so rightly says, but he can't / isn't allowed to even hang a boiler on the wall, a corgi registered guy must do that, I can't see why, as long as the gas connections are left but hey, thats just my understanding, could be wrong :shrug:

yesman
04-10-2004, 18:59
AFAIK, a plumber can do everything as etccarmageddon so rightly says, but he can't / isn't allowed to even hang a boiler on the wall, a corgi registered guy must do that, I can't see why, as long as the gas connections are left but hey, thats just my understanding, could be wrong :shrug:
You are correct Bop.

btw are you still in the electrical game ? if so are you affected by part p of the building regs (http://www.odpm.gov.uk/intradoc-cgi/nph-idc_cgi?qckQuery=Part+P&IdcService=GET_SEARCH_RESULTS&SrchType=oq&qckSection=Building+Regulations) (item 4)

bopdude
04-10-2004, 19:19
You are correct Bop.

btw are you still in the electrical game ? if so are you affected by part p of the building regs (http://www.odpm.gov.uk/intradoc-cgi/nph-idc_cgi?qckQuery=Part+P&IdcService=GET_SEARCH_RESULTS&SrchType=oq&qckSection=Building+Regulations) (item 4)
Not as such, sorta kinda between jobs at the mo, will give the link a coat of looking at a bit later, trying to cook dinner, and by a quick skim through I can see that it's going to be typically long winded ;)

iadom
04-10-2004, 20:48
i have had cause to use them and was suitably impressed , polite efficient and they knew the score :tu:Just don't let British Gas anywhere near your kitchen appliances, they are absolutely clueless, I have several horror stories from people that have the "Kitchen Cover" that BG sell.
I had a customer with a faulty oven, who was on the BG kitchen cover, they told him that the fan motor and door seal had failed and the cooker was obsolete. The description of the fault led me to suspect that the fan motor was OK and the fault ( a motor noise, many hours after cooking ) was due to a possible failure of a stat used to activate cooling fans for the control panel.
As this cooker was an 8 year old Creda, I had access to the full specs via a CD Rom that is supplied to me by Hotpoint/Creda.
I confirmed to the customer that all the parts where still available, that it had two different fan motors, but that I did not think the fan was faulty. I advised him to ring BG and insist on a repair. Some two weeks later I got a phone call from BG in Birmingham, the guy I spoke to was very polite, but I was gobsmacked when he asked me if I could provide him with the part numbers.:Yikes:
This I did but advised him that (1) I did not think the motor was faulty and (2) the only way to identify which of the two motors required (not) was to remove the inner panel.
Another three weeks passed and the customer said," its about our cooker ". I informed him that I had given BG all the details. He said that he was aware of that but BG had told him that it would cost to much to send out another engineer to check on the part and said that they would like me, a self employed, one man band, to complete the repair. I was given a Stockport contact number for BG and did indeed do the job. My diagnosis was correct, it did not need a very expensive fan motor but a £5.00 stat that had shorted out.
Needless to say it took them 3 months to pay me.:(

goldoni
04-10-2004, 21:49
I thought the rule was that only people who are CORGI registered should be servicing your boiler, is that right?

You are 100% spot on, To obtain your GORGI registration is quite easy so if you get a registered plumber from the Institute of Plumbing that is CORGI registered you know you have got a person who has at least had a few years experience and is qualified as a plumber. Plus they must act professionally at all times.

When I did my CORGI modules a few years ago for the second time the course had a few people that had never touched a boiler and did not know the first thing about gas yet there they were doing the course. So I pity any person who had him turn out to a boiler breakdown.

These people have heard how much COGI registered plumbers charge so they want to become Gas fitters the only problem is you also need a little experience.

Just because a person is CORGI registered does not mean he knows the first thing about your boiler so watch out.

As one CF member has as his signature: After all those horses get out of the way, we'll have your barn door fixed in a jiffy. :Yikes:

zoombini
05-10-2004, 09:33
Just because a person is CORGI registered does not mean he knows the first thing about your boiler so watch out.


I'll 2nd that!

I had 3 round to look at my combi boiler & none of them could figure out what was wrong with it.
Proberably because it was an electrical fault rather than a plumbing one.

Fan switch relay on PCB was carbonised etc so fan was not switching on, I had to replace the relay & modify the PCB to ensure that it did not do that again.

Same thing when the diaphram went, Corgi chap wouldn't even consider replacing just the diaphram, wanted £150 to replace the whole valve assy.
Cost me £17.50, took 1/2 hour & has been fine for the past 5 years.

etccarmageddon
05-10-2004, 10:18
...I can't see why, as long as the gas connections are left but hey, thats just my understanding, could be wrong :shrug:

because gas is such a dangerous thing - you dont just blow yourself up but next door!

bopdude
05-10-2004, 10:22
because gas is such a dangerous thing - you dont just blow yourself up but next door!I think you've missread what i said :shrug: , I was saying that nowadays the plumber can't hang the boiler the corgi guy must do that as well, it used to be that all the corgi guy would do was the gas connection to the boiler, not mount it on the wall as well. :)

Nothing dangerous about hanging a boiler on a wall ;)

SMHarman
05-10-2004, 11:27
I think you've missread what i said :shrug: , I was saying that nowadays the plumber can't hang the boiler the corgi guy must do that as well, it used to be that all the corgi guy would do was the gas connection to the boiler, not mount it on the wall as well. :)

Nothing dangerous about hanging a boiler on a wall ;)
I suppose because the plumber may not take into account all gas / ventilation considerations when hanging the boiler?

goldoni
05-10-2004, 11:52
I will let you into a little secret. As it stands at this moment in time, Joe public can go to Wicks or any of the sheds and buy a gas boiler, he can take it home and he can fit the said boiler providing he is competent to do so. The only person who can say he was not competent is a coroner. This is a fact

The British Gas employee (most are deemed to be competent) who comes and services/repairs your boiler is not able to work on your boiler privately and charge you money unless he/she is CORGI registered in his/her own name. This is a fact

Your next door neighbour who fitted his own boiler that has been working for years so you ask him to fit yours will only get taken to court if he charges you money and it can be proved he contravened gas safety regulations/ British standards. This would only take place if you reported him yourself to CORGI. This is a fact

Lets just say I lean that your neighbour who I know is not registered has fitted your boiler so I report him to CORGI guess what CORGI will do? They will send documentation so he can apply to be registered.

Lastly CORGI registered fitters or Registered Plumbers do not have to have insurance, so if they blow your house up and they live in rented accommodation you are stuffed. The insurance industry doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t help the situation by not issuing a certificate for public liability.

That all being said CORGI have made it a little safer than it was ten years ago.

After all those horses get out of the way, we'll have your barn door fixed in a jiffy. :Yikes:

Mr_love_monkey
05-10-2004, 11:59
Lastly CORGI registered fitters or Registered Plumbers do not have to have insurance, so if they blow your house up and they live in rented accommodation you are stuffed. The insurance industry doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t help the situation by not issuing a certificate for public liability.


I find that shocking.... so do plumbers, etc, that have insurance, carry proof around with them, i.e. the way CORGI fitters have a card, that you ask for, do they have insurance proof that they can or have to carry with them?

I'm feeling less inclined to let anyone into my house to do any work....

beardsley
05-10-2004, 12:04
Same thing when the diaphram went, Corgi chap wouldn't even consider replacing just the diaphram, wanted £150 to replace the whole valve assy.
Cost me £17.50, took 1/2 hour & has been fine for the past 5 years.

We have a sticking valve on our Baxi boiler at home. Had a Corgi guy out to it last year when it started to stick. He diagnosed the problem, but as it started working as soon as he turned the control knob off/on again, he said we would have to call back when it stuck again as he was not 100% sure it was the problem. Over £100 for the call out. I do not remember the exact figure, but he was talking about £200+ to replace the whole valve assembly as he said that the bit sticking (maybe the solenoid - cannot remember too clearly) was not availabale. It has stuck a few times since then, but a quick turn off/on of the gas control knob has freed it again.

Guess this is a fairly common problem. At the last house we had a simlar problem with the boiler there. The guy that came out was about to go on holiday and did not have time to get the parts in and fit them before that. As this was the middle of winter, the heating was completely broken and we had a few month old baby, he told me where to get the part and how to fit it.

The problem is, I cannot remeber where I got if from. I suspect that it was mail-order, but cannot even remember that for sure.

So, does anyone know where spares can be obtained? (I would really like to avoid having to buy a whole gas valve assembly for a few quid part.

iadom
05-10-2004, 12:04
I find that shocking.... so do plumbers, etc, that have insurance, carry proof around with them, i.e. the way CORGI fitters have a card, that you ask for, do they have insurance proof that they can or have to carry with them?

I'm feeling less inclined to let anyone into my house to do any work....As a self employed sole trader I have public liability insurance that covers me for up to £1 million of damage, the only time I am ever asked for proof of this is once a year by the local council who I do a small amount of work for.

bopdude
05-10-2004, 12:17
I suppose because the plumber may not take into account all gas / ventilation considerations when hanging the boiler?
I don't think thats the case, in fact in my experiences, all the piping is done to the spot where the plumber / occupants have chosen to put the boiler, thenthe corgi guy mounts the boiler, the plumber does his bit and the corgi guy does his AFAIK that is :shrug:

zoombini
05-10-2004, 12:25
The actual ventilation requirements are quit minimal for combi boilers & these are always given in the instructions.

It's not hard for a competent person to read them & install the boiler according to the instructions, with adequate space all around & external venting as detailed.
If the instructions gave insufficient info on how to fit them then the manufacturers would have all sorts of troubles.

I service my old boiler (oooeeerrr!) because I'm competent enough to do so, (although I don't touch the main gas supplies) so maybe I ought to apply to corgi for an application form :D :D
If I did anything that could possibly involve the gas supplies then I would get a local corgi chap in to check it out for me.

goldoni
05-10-2004, 12:45
I find that shocking.... so do plumbers, etc, that have insurance, carry proof around with them, i.e. the way CORGI fitters have a card, that you ask for, do they have insurance proof that they can or have to carry with them?

I'm feeling less inclined to let anyone into my house to do any work....

All COGI registered fitters will have a card that has a photo along with his/hers registration details. This information can be checked on the CORGI web site. The card is also in brail so blind people can read the card. On the back of the card it reads:

The cardholder is deemed competent only in the categories of work identified by a tick.

Note the work competent not qualified.

Regarding the insurance in short NO, which I find quite shocking. I have 2m cover for any one incident. I only have a letter to confirm I hold public liability insurance.

Not wanting to worry you all but another big thing is unvented cylinders over 15l a lot of people have them fitted. Again you have to be registered to work on them. I get called to lots of jobs where so called plumbers have worked on them and have left the customer with a potential bomb. Believe it or not the last time was where a BG person had serviced a customers boiler and issued a certificate to say it was safe. I was called because the warning discharge pipe was dripping from the boiler. In short I turned it all off and advised the customer to phone BG service who sent out the same engineer who admitted he did not understand unvented systems. :Yikes:

goldoni
07-10-2004, 09:21
We have a sticking valve on our Baxi boiler at home. .

What Baxi do you have and have you got the book for your boiler??

jonny1982
04-05-2008, 21:17
Hello all. Im struggling with getting spare parts for my ariston boiler, its quite old which isnt helping. Any ideas? Thanks

homealone
04-05-2008, 22:36
Hello all. Im struggling with getting spare parts for my ariston boiler, its quite old which isnt helping. Any ideas? Thanks

:welcome:

quite a :bump: - did you try google?

http://www.keeptheheaton.com/acatalog/Ariston_Spares.html , was one result from my query on "ariston boiler"

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=ariston+boiler&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enGB253GB253

for example.

- not a recommendation, of course, but I hope they can help :)

cleshe
05-05-2008, 14:30
Hello all. Im struggling with getting spare parts for my ariston boiler, its quite old which isnt helping. Any ideas? Thanks

Try this firm . It/they sorted my problem after espares told me I had the wrong ID for my appliance. I hadn't, their records were wrong.

net
E-mail Address(es):
net@gas-spares.co.uk

The trouble is, many firms threw away their parts books when they were "updated" to computer. The computerised lists only go back a few years.If your appliance is older you're stuffed.As said this firm sorted my problem.

jonny1982
17-05-2008, 12:56
Thank you for that, I think i have found a local(ish) company that can help, I appreciate your advice about getting parts for old boilers. Cheers

Vlad_Dracul
25-05-2008, 10:01
I thought the rule was that only people who are CORGI registered should be servicing your boiler, is that right?

Not quite. the law requires that those who work on gas installations and appliances be "competent". However,if they carry out that work in trade,i.e they charge for services,they must be CORGI registered.

In effect,you would only need to demonstrate competence if something went wrong and you were being prosecuted.

---------- Post added at 09:01 ---------- Previous post was at 08:57 ----------

I will let you into a little secret. As it stands at this moment in time, Joe public can go to Wicks or any of the sheds and buy a gas boiler, he can take it home and he can fit the said boiler providing he is competent to do so. The only person who can say he was not competent is a coroner. This is a fact

The British Gas employee (most are deemed to be competent) who comes and services/repairs your boiler is not able to work on your boiler privately and charge you money unless he/she is CORGI registered in his/her own name. This is a fact

Your next door neighbour who fitted his own boiler that has been working for years so you ask him to fit yours will only get taken to court if he charges you money and it can be proved he contravened gas safety regulations/ British standards. This would only take place if you reported him yourself to CORGI. This is a fact

Lets just say I lean that your neighbour who I know is not registered has fitted your boiler so I report him to CORGI guess what CORGI will do? They will send documentation so he can apply to be registered.

Lastly CORGI registered fitters or Registered Plumbers do not have to have insurance, so if they blow your house up and they live in rented accommodation you are stuffed. The insurance industry doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t help the situation by not issuing a certificate for public liability.

That all being said CORGI have made it a little safer than it was ten years ago.

After all those horses get out of the way, we'll have your barn door fixed in a jiffy. :Yikes:

I second and confirm Goldeni's statements...