Focal Point

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29 Jun 2005
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Clwyd
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Hi,

Wow what a week!! Currently renovating my terraced house, moved water pipes which ran around the ceiling of the front room into dining room then into the extensions loft, then on the other side of the house the same thing but with gas. So arranged for the plumber who installed my central heating to come and move it and to fit two gas fires.

Thought I would check out where the gas pipes ran in the house, to my shock I found it ran from the meter in the front room up the wall into the main bedroom, along the room across the landing into the far corner of the spare bedroom. From this point 3 pipes branch off it, hmmm I thought. So traced two straight away, two went down to the room below (dining room) one that I needed moving by the plumber and the other to the gas fire (to be installed). the other pipe went back through the spare room, across the landing and back to the main bedroom :?: then under the floor boards and down to the room below (front Room) and to the gas fire?? I thought what the ****, the gas meter is 1 meter from the fire place, why not run a pipe from there, oh well......

So the plumber comes round to do the work and could believe the pipe work going back on its self, as he was removing it he grabbed the pipe and it came off in his hand (oooh errr) the person who had installed it looks as though had started to cut it with a pipe cutter then changed there mind. He couldn't believe it, neither could I it was rubbing on the floor boards to, very lucky indeed!!

Then he went to fit the Focal Point fire i bought from B&Q, fitted it in got it working checked out etc. left it running for 15 minutes then moved the inspection cover at the bottom and a flame shot out from underneath, scared the poor bloke. On inspection a factory fitted olive on the pipe that feeds the burner basically hadn't been compressed on the pipe it was loose in the fitting!! He couldn't believe that either. He fixed the prob and alls ok now.

Phoned B&Q to complain and the response we got was unbelievable, they couldn't give a damn!!!! now to me this is a major fault with the appliance. What if the plumber had installed it checked it worked then went, I came to use it and blew the house up etc hopefully the fault is only with this fire, although they should be concerned and have the fires withdrawn from sale pending an inquiry. Really am gob smacked with B&Q's customer service, all they said was to phone focal point its there problem.

If you bought a tin of Heinz Baked Beans from Tesco and had for example metal contamination in it, you would take it back to Tesco as its them you bought it from, from there Tesco would remove other products with the same batch code from sale, contact the buyer and they in turn would email depots other stores etc of the problem and have them removed from sale, but obviously a gas leak is nothing major and you shouldn't worry about it.

Luckily I deal with a very competent plumber and he found the problem before any serious damage was done.

Contacted Trading Standards over the issue but because the plumber fixed the problem on the fire we don't have very many rights if any, arrrgh....

Oh well, no one was harmed but like I said one hell of a week!

Anyone else had this sort of prob before?

Gareth
 
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Gareth, good evening,
E-mail CORGI they are supposed to look after the publics well being and see what happens. I and many other would be interested to see if CORGI implement the recall or advisory they are pushing for Gas Work Notification to cover product faults.
Good luck

ps I have put in one or two of these fires and yes they are cheap and cheerful but have worked ok.
 
didn't say that i haven't fitted them either but they are disliked here in bournemouth nearly as much as corgi, several of my colleagues won't fit them period as they are poorly made
 
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Even more worrying is that the sheds will also flog you a kit of bits to diy fit a gas fire. That is, practically speaking, an encouragement to do so despite what it says on the label (no instructions as only to be fitted by a pro...) Plumbing isn't hard , even gas if you know what to do, but it's when there's something wrong that extra knowledge and experience is needed.
Unfortunately nearly everything we buy is poor, so first-timers soon get into trouble, and the cheapest stuff has the max exposure in diy outlets!!
 
Thanks Cozzmic, will email them today and see what they say/do.

The plumber has installed a few of these fires before and not had any probs, but he said from now on hes going to check them before fitting.

Will post the reply I get from Corgi.
 
you will probably find that focal point dont make the fire, they will be made in china, and shipped in badged as focal point.......

i know another WELL known company dose this with the fires they sell from b&q, and they are classed as throw away fires, ie warranty implies return to supplier.....
 
A competent gas fitter would pressure test the fire BEFORE lighting it for the first time and (I hope) check all the accessible joints for tightness even if there were no obvious leaks.

This is PRECISELY the reason why B&Q (and any other of the DIY sheds that sell gas stuff) should only sell to RGIs.

Your question to B&Q is not 'Why is this fire cr*p?', it should be: 'Why did you sell it to me at all?' !!! If they can answer THAT question coherently, I shall be most surprised.
 
A tightness test would not have found this leak though.


Whats else can you do other than turn it on and check all joints with detector fluid after the gas valve on the fire?
 
Sorry, not clear: I meant physically check the connections between valve & burner for tightness, with a wrench.

For a fire probably made far away and sold through a shed, where it's bound to have been thumped about a lot, I'd not be at all surprised to find loose compression joints. I fitted a boiler delivered by a courier company which had been dropped so hard that the internal pump had moved downwards and bent the connecting pipes! Amazing thing is it still worked! It's never wise to assume that everything is perfect at the point of sale, or later at the point of delivery.
 
HI Gareth I'd be surprised if CORGI got involved there to busy collecting reg fee's Gavin
 
The gas man leak tested the system before and after the installation and used the detector spray after fitting the fire, but no leak was found. Only started leaking 15 minutes after the fire was on, heard a clunk and thats when the flame shot out. Oh well see what Corgi say then :rolleyes:

Thanks for all the replies, much appreciated

Gareth
 

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