Boiler Service - exactly what should it cover?
Discussion
Since owning my own houses I've always had Boiler Cover, usually with British Gas and recently with another provider and, to be fair, it's always been "fine". they've done the service regularly and repairs have usually been attended to promptly.
However, ive recently had a breakdown which wasn't covered by the insurance and the guy who attended asked me when the last time it was serviced. When i said it was done every year he just smiled saying the servicing that the likes of British gas do is the bare minimum "basically they stick a gas analyser in the flue and as long as the readings are ok they say its been serviced where as h would do a lot more". He mentioned cleaning various filters, cleaning out the condensate trap, changing some electrodes and various other items.
So a question for any Boiler engineers - what would you carry out when servicing a gas boiler?
However, ive recently had a breakdown which wasn't covered by the insurance and the guy who attended asked me when the last time it was serviced. When i said it was done every year he just smiled saying the servicing that the likes of British gas do is the bare minimum "basically they stick a gas analyser in the flue and as long as the readings are ok they say its been serviced where as h would do a lot more". He mentioned cleaning various filters, cleaning out the condensate trap, changing some electrodes and various other items.
So a question for any Boiler engineers - what would you carry out when servicing a gas boiler?
I’ve had a BG contract for servicing our boiler although recently was talking to an independent gas engineer I know who said much the same as your chap in that BG check there’s no leaks but that’s about it. He cautioned against me getting a proper service for our boiler if BG have been looking after it as a proper service may upset the system and have a knock on effect and cause other problems.
Going back maybe 10yrs BG used to service my elderly neighbours boiler (non-condensing) and one of the guys told me then they stopped stripping down boilers as they were getting too many call backs - all they did was basically just a safety check.
I get the manufacturer to do mine - there’s a lot of looking at things but the only physical thing done is to remove and clean out the condensate trap. Apparently at 5 yrs they remove and clean the burner.
I get the manufacturer to do mine - there’s a lot of looking at things but the only physical thing done is to remove and clean out the condensate trap. Apparently at 5 yrs they remove and clean the burner.
Inbox said:
The service requirements would be specified by the boiler manufacturer and the boiler should be serviced as per the manufacturer requirements and schedule.
If you have original manuals from when the boiler was installed that may well contain the info you are looking for.
I havent got the manuals but I suppose they could be downloaded.If you have original manuals from when the boiler was installed that may well contain the info you are looking for.
My guess is that BG will do the bare minimum rather than what the manuals stipulate
Sheepshanks said:
I get the manufacturer to do mine - there s a lot of looking at things but the only physical thing done is to remove and clean out the condensate trap. Apparently at 5 yrs they remove and clean the burner.
That's pretty much what my engineer recommended. He said Vaillant would have provided a 10-year warranty if I had had it serviced by a Vaillant engineer.Sadly my boiler is 11 years old
Countdown said:
Inbox said:
The service requirements would be specified by the boiler manufacturer and the boiler should be serviced as per the manufacturer requirements and schedule.
If you have original manuals from when the boiler was installed that may well contain the info you are looking for.
I havent got the manuals but I suppose they could be downloaded.If you have original manuals from when the boiler was installed that may well contain the info you are looking for.
My guess is that BG will do the bare minimum rather than what the manuals stipulate
Sheepshanks said:
Going back maybe 10yrs BG used to service my elderly neighbours boiler (non-condensing) and one of the guys told me then they stopped stripping down boilers as they were getting too many call backs - all they did was basically just a safety check.
This sounds right to meI didn't have my boiler serviced for five years and it was fine but as I was selling the house I decided to have it serviced so I had a certificate for the new owner
After they serviced it, it kept stopping and they couldn't fix it, in the end I researched online and fixed it myself
Countdown said:
That's pretty much what my engineer recommended. He said Vaillant would have provided a 10-year warranty if I had had it serviced by a Vaillant engineer.
Sadly my boiler is 11 years old
Hmm...ours is Glow-worm, who've been owned by Vaillant for 20+yrs. There are a bunch of conditions for the 10yr warranty, mainly it must have been installed by an approved installer, but anyone can service it.Sadly my boiler is 11 years old
It's expensive getting them to service so you'd probably be worse off anyway. I couldn't for the life of me get the installer back (tried 2yrs on the run) and I wanted more then the BG service, so using Vaillant / Glow-worm is least hassle.
My brother in law ‘serviced’ ours a couple of months ago. Surprised he just checked pressures & whether any leaks, didn’t remove or clean anything.
He’s BG & said you really just leave them alone, unless they’ve broken of course. He did mention in the old days of basic boiler and back boilers you would need to strip & clean a fair few parts so I think some of it is due to how good modern stuff is.
He’s BG & said you really just leave them alone, unless they’ve broken of course. He did mention in the old days of basic boiler and back boilers you would need to strip & clean a fair few parts so I think some of it is due to how good modern stuff is.
I can vouch for the official Vaillant repair thing if they still do it.
It was a £300 flat fee to come and diagnose, repair and replace any faulty parts.
Ours was losing pressure most days and was leaking internally.
The engineer came, replaced the thick end of £700 worth of parts and left with a six month warranty against further failure.
Seemed a good effort all round in my opinion.
Just checked -
https://www.vaillant.co.uk/service/vaillant-boiler...
Gone up a bit since I had it done but available in instalments.
It was a £300 flat fee to come and diagnose, repair and replace any faulty parts.
Ours was losing pressure most days and was leaking internally.
The engineer came, replaced the thick end of £700 worth of parts and left with a six month warranty against further failure.
Seemed a good effort all round in my opinion.
Just checked -
https://www.vaillant.co.uk/service/vaillant-boiler...
Gone up a bit since I had it done but available in instalments.
I have only recently moved into my place, no idea when the boiler was serviced but it was working except for an intermittent drip of cold water, which wasn't getting worse and I could live with it. I do not believe in "servicing" things that are working properly, but clearly the leak needed looking at.
Gas co. offered me a cheaper tariff which included a free boiler service. Tariff turned out to be about £1 cheaper, but might as well have the free service, okay let's do it.
When the engineer came and removed the casing it proved to be quite a simple boiler but fairly old. The service was basically a safety inspection, gas pressure etc, were all good, plus clean out the burner box which wasn't dirty anyway.
Leak identified as from the water flow valve - it is a combi. Okay, he said, that needs changing. It is easy to change, just do x, y, and z, but of course you are not allowed to do it, and it is an old boiler, not sure if we can get the part, I will report it.
So off he went. I was expecting a call from the sales guys to sell me a new boiler which I would probably have gone for, but nothing happened, and when the service report came through it said everything was fine. Hmm.
Now the valve was on the cold water inlet, just a couple of union nuts and a few wires, no need to get involved with the gas side, I can change that. Incidentally I am competent with gas. Also there are several safety devices on a combi, and if it's not happy it will just shut down.
The valve turned out to be readily available, loads on ebay at different prices. Bought a mid- price one described as "New, other - fully refurbished by our engineers, etc, year's guarantee." Fitted it and it leaked worse than the original. Seller said sorry, we will send you a replacement, which I await. I suspect they are all old stock, and I'll have to work my way through the stock until I find a good one. Meanwhile the boiler doesn't work at all and I may have to put the old valve back.
Total waste of time. Should have left it alone, not bothered with the service, and put up with the leak.
Gas co. offered me a cheaper tariff which included a free boiler service. Tariff turned out to be about £1 cheaper, but might as well have the free service, okay let's do it.
When the engineer came and removed the casing it proved to be quite a simple boiler but fairly old. The service was basically a safety inspection, gas pressure etc, were all good, plus clean out the burner box which wasn't dirty anyway.
Leak identified as from the water flow valve - it is a combi. Okay, he said, that needs changing. It is easy to change, just do x, y, and z, but of course you are not allowed to do it, and it is an old boiler, not sure if we can get the part, I will report it.
So off he went. I was expecting a call from the sales guys to sell me a new boiler which I would probably have gone for, but nothing happened, and when the service report came through it said everything was fine. Hmm.
Now the valve was on the cold water inlet, just a couple of union nuts and a few wires, no need to get involved with the gas side, I can change that. Incidentally I am competent with gas. Also there are several safety devices on a combi, and if it's not happy it will just shut down.
The valve turned out to be readily available, loads on ebay at different prices. Bought a mid- price one described as "New, other - fully refurbished by our engineers, etc, year's guarantee." Fitted it and it leaked worse than the original. Seller said sorry, we will send you a replacement, which I await. I suspect they are all old stock, and I'll have to work my way through the stock until I find a good one. Meanwhile the boiler doesn't work at all and I may have to put the old valve back.
Total waste of time. Should have left it alone, not bothered with the service, and put up with the leak.
I've had BG cover for a combi boiler that has been losing pressure for the last few years. It has taken many visits for them to finally carry out a pressure test of the system (while property was empty) and replace the primary heat exchanger, PRV and expansion vessel.
Fingers crossed it will now happily tick along for a few years and no doubt, I'll cancel the BG cover due to poor service and i've now essentially got a new boiler....
Fingers crossed it will now happily tick along for a few years and no doubt, I'll cancel the BG cover due to poor service and i've now essentially got a new boiler....
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