Coals on a gas fire?

[Agile]

One of my customers has been told but British Gas that her gas fire is unsafe because there is a "white deposit on the black immitation coals" and the fire should be replaced.

I must say that I have never heard of anything like this either in the field or on my gas training and assessments on gas fires.

Is this a genuine concern or just a ploy to sell her a new fire?

Tony

 

[kevplumb]

that's why you can get spray paint to repaint them

somebody is on a sales mission

 

[Diyisfun]

Or buy new coals

 

[ChrisR]

Or buy new coals

Exactly. I was surprised what a range is available. It's typical of BG though.

The coals wouldn't do their job of promoting post-aerated combustion if enough paint were missing, of course.

 

[ollski]

Not sure what he could be angling at in the way of sales, bg don't sell or install fires unless part of a full ch installation, and selling a set of coals won't get him anything. Probably a misunderstanding ie fire unsafe for another reason but eng. just pointing out coals were replaceable. Just a guess tho.

 

[howmuchlonger08]

BG dont do fires? bet its a fire/bbu then = new boiler

 

[Agile]

I feel very sorry for this customer.

She had a contract with BG.

They roughly put case back on and cut through the DHW sensor wires. This caused the DHW to be at maximum burner power and overheated ( boiled ) the water if not on maximum flow rate and this scaled up the four pipe main heat exchanger to the point when it was completely blocked and no DHW came through. It took me a few weeks to clean it with HCl.

They then told her that the boiler fault was not covered under their policy !

Then she called me! Quite apart from the DHW problem the heating system is very badly sludged as well. I dont really know why though, no obvious causes and no evidence of the filling loop having been left open.

Tony

 

[Nige F]

White Deposit spilled from a BG Fitter On the fire Well, at least Plumbers only **** in the washbasin Would have thought a sooty deposit was a genuine concern As to the sludging .. maybe a pinhole air leak into system on suction side of pump. Surprised me how small a leak needs to be when I tried to get a swim pool working once