Hi all
We have just moved into a new home with one of the above fitted, the house was a repossession so little of the history other than the neighbours tell us it's only a couple of years old.
The house has had a lot of money spent on it, new double glazing, new wiring, new plumbing including the central heating system.
On arriving at the house my first job was to rush round checking the electrics before turning the power on, all came on fine, the next thing I had to do was install a kitchen sink [previous owners removed the kitchen]. I'd bought a commercial s/s free standing sink off ebay and already fitted flexible push fit tails to the taps and waste/trap with compression fittings so it'd fit to existing plumbing no prob's. Fitting the sink took about 30 minutes I guess then I turned the water on and we made a cuppa
The wife calls out that theres steam coming from the bleed valve on one of the rads, the boiler had come on [not intended at this stage] so I quickly turned it off as I hadn't filled the central heating system yet.
We carried on unloading the lorry and later that evening we after filling the rads up and getting the boiler water pressure up [sealed system] tried to take showers but had no hot water, I had a mate who has an oil fired boiler so I called him and was told not to panic as the boiler will have all sorts of stats fitted to protect it and I shouldn't have damaged anything when it fired up before I filled it, we boiled kettles and had a bath that night.
Next morning I tapped on our new neighbours door and asked if they could recommend somebody to check our boiler over, they didn't have anyone but phoned a friend who did and we contacted him and he came out the next day.
The boiler man replaced the 'hi limit stat [the one with the reset button]' and the boiler fired up, we had hot water we paid the man £70 cash an he left.
That evening the boiler wouldn't come back on, I went out to check it and it smelt to hot [done 20 years of plumbing and used to design and build commercial gas cooking equipment] the man came back out the next day where I showed him the tank bleed thing on top was now spouting water and the heat had blown the solder on a 22mm fitting on the back of the boiler. The fitting was replaced and a new DHW pump fitted, the system was fired up and seemed to run ok so I asked for a price and was told I'd be sent one as he didn't know exactly how much the parts were. I did tell him the pumps were around £60 as I'd just fitted two in my mates central heating system but I still had to wait for an invoice, boiler man left.
A day later the boiler packed up again, it only came on when I pressed the reset button [boiler had tripped out and amber light was on plus it smelt really hot again] so I called the man who initially said "I should contact Firebird, tell them the problems and see what they suggested??? the boiler man came out the following day. I was told it was now the other pump [central heating] shagged so he found a replacement in his van and fitted this to the DHW and the new Grundfoss to the heating system?
The second pump was fitted and the system ran again, I was told I'd be sent the bill [hadn't received the second one yet]. I asked why the boiler needed so many parts as it was quite new and got told it must have been sabotaged by someone that knows what they were doing, boiler man left.
Boiler ran for two days before tripping out again, I reset it and it worked for a further couple of days before tripping out again. I wasn't going to ring the boiler man back up until I received his bill which I got yesterday, with the VAT it's £335 is a bit more than I expected but the boiler still doesn't run right.
I did ring him up and have a go because I was charged the £70 to fix it in the first place, I believe underlying faults may have caused more damage and feel if checked out properly and spotted other parts might not have been needed [or other call outs]. I'm also a little worried that he didn't know what he was doing and was just guessing replacing parts willy nilly until it went, anyway he has offered to come back and look at it again and will only charge me for more new parts if required.
Right this isn't a gripe about the cost because if it was working perfectly [still trips out and Firebaird website says contact your boiler man ] I wouldn't care.
If you're a boiler repair man is this how it's done?
Does anyone know what maybe causing the boiler to trip out once a day or couple of days if we're lucky?
Does sabotage seem a realistic reason for a two year old boiler needing so many knew parts?
Do I call the man back to fit more new parts [why does he use pipe grips on new brass fittings chewing them up]?
Are Firebird boilers crap as when I've paid this bill I can't be far off the half the cost of getting a new one?
What should I do next, it's our new home and I have so many other things to sort out I just want it running properly.
Last thing is it right you don't quote or give prices for a job or guarantee [guarantee maybe the wrong word but I'd expect the the thing to run longer than a day] , I got told it's because I've moved up here [Lincolnshire] from London and I don't get a price because there's supposed to be trust and I just get a bill at the end. I ask this last question as I've been self employed for 20 years, have to give a price and guarantee my work for at least 12 months.
Thanks for reading guys
Brian
Better add it's a Firebird combi, sealed system that sits outside and I don't know the model number or have any manuals on it
We have just moved into a new home with one of the above fitted, the house was a repossession so little of the history other than the neighbours tell us it's only a couple of years old.
The house has had a lot of money spent on it, new double glazing, new wiring, new plumbing including the central heating system.
On arriving at the house my first job was to rush round checking the electrics before turning the power on, all came on fine, the next thing I had to do was install a kitchen sink [previous owners removed the kitchen]. I'd bought a commercial s/s free standing sink off ebay and already fitted flexible push fit tails to the taps and waste/trap with compression fittings so it'd fit to existing plumbing no prob's. Fitting the sink took about 30 minutes I guess then I turned the water on and we made a cuppa
The wife calls out that theres steam coming from the bleed valve on one of the rads, the boiler had come on [not intended at this stage] so I quickly turned it off as I hadn't filled the central heating system yet.
We carried on unloading the lorry and later that evening we after filling the rads up and getting the boiler water pressure up [sealed system] tried to take showers but had no hot water, I had a mate who has an oil fired boiler so I called him and was told not to panic as the boiler will have all sorts of stats fitted to protect it and I shouldn't have damaged anything when it fired up before I filled it, we boiled kettles and had a bath that night.
Next morning I tapped on our new neighbours door and asked if they could recommend somebody to check our boiler over, they didn't have anyone but phoned a friend who did and we contacted him and he came out the next day.
The boiler man replaced the 'hi limit stat [the one with the reset button]' and the boiler fired up, we had hot water
we paid the man £70 cash an he left.That evening the boiler wouldn't come back on, I went out to check it and it smelt to hot [done 20 years of plumbing and used to design and build commercial gas cooking equipment] the man came back out the next day where I showed him the tank bleed thing on top was now spouting water and the heat had blown the solder on a 22mm fitting on the back of the boiler. The fitting was replaced and a new DHW pump fitted, the system was fired up and seemed to run ok so I asked for a price and was told I'd be sent one as he didn't know exactly how much the parts were. I did tell him the pumps were around £60 as I'd just fitted two in my mates central heating system but I still had to wait for an invoice, boiler man left.
A day later the boiler packed up again, it only came on when I pressed the reset button [boiler had tripped out and amber light was on plus it smelt really hot again] so I called the man who initially said "I should contact Firebird, tell them the problems and see what they suggested??? the boiler man came out the following day. I was told it was now the other pump [central heating] shagged so he found a replacement in his van and fitted this to the DHW and the new Grundfoss to the heating system?
The second pump was fitted and the system ran again, I was told I'd be sent the bill [hadn't received the second one yet]. I asked why the boiler needed so many parts as it was quite new and got told it must have been sabotaged by someone that knows what they were doing, boiler man left.
Boiler ran for two days before tripping out again, I reset it and it worked for a further couple of days before tripping out again. I wasn't going to ring the boiler man back up until I received his bill which I got yesterday, with the VAT it's £335 is a bit more than I expected but the boiler still doesn't run right.
I did ring him up and have a go because I was charged the £70 to fix it in the first place, I believe underlying faults may have caused more damage and feel if checked out properly and spotted other parts might not have been needed [or other call outs]. I'm also a little worried that he didn't know what he was doing and was just guessing replacing parts willy nilly until it went, anyway he has offered to come back and look at it again and will only charge me for more new parts if required.
Right this isn't a gripe about the cost because if it was working perfectly [still trips out and Firebaird website says contact your boiler man
] I wouldn't care.If you're a boiler repair man is this how it's done?
Does anyone know what maybe causing the boiler to trip out once a day or couple of days if we're lucky?
Does sabotage seem a realistic reason for a two year old boiler needing so many knew parts?
Do I call the man back to fit more new parts [why does he use pipe grips on new brass fittings chewing them up]?
Are Firebird boilers crap as when I've paid this bill I can't be far off the half the cost of getting a new one?
What should I do next, it's our new home and I have so many other things to sort out I just want it running properly.
Last thing is it right you don't quote or give prices for a job or guarantee [guarantee maybe the wrong word but I'd expect the the thing to run longer than a day] , I got told it's because I've moved up here [Lincolnshire] from London and I don't get a price because there's supposed to be trust and I just get a bill at the end. I ask this last question as I've been self employed for 20 years, have to give a price and guarantee my work for at least 12 months.
Thanks for reading guys
Brian
Better add it's a Firebird combi, sealed system that sits outside and I don't know the model number or have any manuals on it
