No hot water-rental.
Discussion
Hi chaps, some advice please.
Normally when I have rented in the past, if the landlord does not fix something, I get someone in and knock it off the rent, and have never had any problems with doing that, other than a few stroppy phone calls from landlord.
I now rent with my sister, and she wants to do things properly.
So here goes.
Moved in to current place june last year, after about 2 months the hot water started playing up. Letting agent sent round a plumber and fixed the problem.
3 weeks ago no hot water again. Letting agent sent round a plumber after a week, plumber said he had sorted the problem(I was not there) but still no hot water!
Another call to letting agent and they sent round a different plumber who said the heat exchangers needed replacing. Letting agent asked if we could pay the plumber in advance for parts! We said no.
Plumber came round on sunday and fitted new heat exchangers, I was upstairs doing my ironing and my sister called me and asked me to close garage door as plumber had just left and everything was OK. I went to have a shower, and yep, no hot water.
I called the plumber on his mobile and he came back. He looked at the boiler while I was there and concluded that the system needs a power flush as the boiler keeps cutting out, he also showed me various pipes and told me that they should be hot, but were luke warm.
He played around with settings on boiler so at least we could have a luke warm shower.
I had a shower last night that was lukewarm, but acceptable until powerflush can be done. Plumber is comming back this weekend to do powerflush. I think he works for a plumbing company and does work for letting agent 'on the side'.
Had a shower today, no hot water!
Spoke to letting agent again, who asked if we could pay plumber £475 for powerflush, and knock it off our rent.
I am very unhappy with all of it.
I will pay plumber if it means we can finally get hot water sorted, but, I am also thinking of knocking a further £500 off the rent for all the grief and the fact that it will be approx 4 weeks with no hot water(rent pcm £1500).
What is so frustrating is that you read all the horror stories about tenants, but we are excellent tenants, I painted the house top to bottom before we moved in, and had new carpet fitted in hall/lounge/stairs. We also keep the house spotless.
Your thoughts please.
Normally when I have rented in the past, if the landlord does not fix something, I get someone in and knock it off the rent, and have never had any problems with doing that, other than a few stroppy phone calls from landlord.
I now rent with my sister, and she wants to do things properly.
So here goes.
Moved in to current place june last year, after about 2 months the hot water started playing up. Letting agent sent round a plumber and fixed the problem.
3 weeks ago no hot water again. Letting agent sent round a plumber after a week, plumber said he had sorted the problem(I was not there) but still no hot water!
Another call to letting agent and they sent round a different plumber who said the heat exchangers needed replacing. Letting agent asked if we could pay the plumber in advance for parts! We said no.
Plumber came round on sunday and fitted new heat exchangers, I was upstairs doing my ironing and my sister called me and asked me to close garage door as plumber had just left and everything was OK. I went to have a shower, and yep, no hot water.
I called the plumber on his mobile and he came back. He looked at the boiler while I was there and concluded that the system needs a power flush as the boiler keeps cutting out, he also showed me various pipes and told me that they should be hot, but were luke warm.
He played around with settings on boiler so at least we could have a luke warm shower.
I had a shower last night that was lukewarm, but acceptable until powerflush can be done. Plumber is comming back this weekend to do powerflush. I think he works for a plumbing company and does work for letting agent 'on the side'.
Had a shower today, no hot water!
Spoke to letting agent again, who asked if we could pay plumber £475 for powerflush, and knock it off our rent.
I am very unhappy with all of it.
I will pay plumber if it means we can finally get hot water sorted, but, I am also thinking of knocking a further £500 off the rent for all the grief and the fact that it will be approx 4 weeks with no hot water(rent pcm £1500).
What is so frustrating is that you read all the horror stories about tenants, but we are excellent tenants, I painted the house top to bottom before we moved in, and had new carpet fitted in hall/lounge/stairs. We also keep the house spotless.
Your thoughts please.
speedyman said:
Get everything agreed in writting first whatever you choose to do.
Very much this!! Conversations aren't worth squat at the end of the day.Check your AST Contract, does no hot water (heating?) constituent alternative accommodation? I'd be furious, esp in the middle of winter!
I think a powerflush wont fix the problem, if the plate heat exchanger has been changed and the heating is working ok then id be looking else where.
Im not saying the flush is not needed but if the boiler has iron oxide deposits in it causing the issues then usually a power flush will not solve that problem.
So be very careful about handing over your hard earned
good luck
ss
teabelly said:
Has the diverter valve or diverter valve diaphragm been changed? Did the hot water have odd bits in it before it started playing up?
I asked the plumber this, he said previous plumber had changed it.Must admit, I can't see how a power flush will solve the problem, but i'm not a plumber.
Spoke to letting agent today, they have spoken to landlord who has agreed to pay for power flush. I just hope it works!
Strange thing is, if I run the hot tap very slowly, the water is hot.
Has the diverter valve been changed?
What tends to happen is the the diverter becomes worn and leaks heat to the radiator circuit, therefore sending less heat to the hot water circuit.
Lets the rads go cold, run a hot tap and feel the heating pipes underneath the boiler. If tje flow pipe gets hot, its a sign that the diverter is faulty.
What tends to happen is the the diverter becomes worn and leaks heat to the radiator circuit, therefore sending less heat to the hot water circuit.
Lets the rads go cold, run a hot tap and feel the heating pipes underneath the boiler. If tje flow pipe gets hot, its a sign that the diverter is faulty.
Boiler is a glow worm betacom 30c.
Various problems come up on google, overheat switch, heatexchanger, sludge, pump.
TBH, the letting agent is as frustrated as I am, as much as I say get it sorted, it's down to the landlord to approve repairs.
If its not fixed sunday, I might get a new boiler fitted and knock it of the coming months rent.
If the landlord serves a sec 21 notice, i'll move and take new boiler with me!
Letting agent has already said they could sort me out a new place if needed.
Just shows you, there are crappy landlords out there as well.
Various problems come up on google, overheat switch, heatexchanger, sludge, pump.
TBH, the letting agent is as frustrated as I am, as much as I say get it sorted, it's down to the landlord to approve repairs.
If its not fixed sunday, I might get a new boiler fitted and knock it of the coming months rent.
If the landlord serves a sec 21 notice, i'll move and take new boiler with me!
Letting agent has already said they could sort me out a new place if needed.
Just shows you, there are crappy landlords out there as well.
How is it the fault of the landlord if the rental company are sorting out plumbers, chopping and changing, different fault diagnosis, etc. Things go wrong, things can take time to fix. As a LL you're at the mercy of the trades unfortunately, unless you've previous knowledge. I certainly wouldn't go ripping out the boiler without anything in writing either.
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