I really dont think this is quite what I expected....

daglesj · 8 Sep 2006

Folks,

Wonder if I could have an opinion on this (after you've either stopped laughing or picked your jaws off the floor)?

This is my lovely new British gas central heating install. Its a Glowworm 30CXI attached to what appears to ba a siberian gas pipeline through my bedroom. However, the flue leaks in three places dripping water and BG have been in twice now to try to fix it. The level of destruction is quite alarming too.

What do you reckon folks? Have to add I've only paid £500 of the £5100 for the pleasure of BG wrecking my home.

Baxi-Remeha · 8 Sep 2006

why didnt they go into the attic and throgh the roof!!!!

shocking....

daglesj · 8 Sep 2006

Ahh yes a little more clarification here.

I live in a first floor flat. So no attic (the folks above wouldnt like it). My existing system was a standard Gloworm backboiler with a hot tank in the airingcupboard.

I couldnt have a replacement backboiler so a combi it was. It couldnt go in the kitchen as there was no room. Two other firms suggested I had the combi fitted in the bedroom next to the bed ...no way! One other wanted to fit it in the living room...no way! Two other firms just walked away and BG were the only ones that would take the job by putting the combi in the existing airingcupboard. The specified the 30CXI due to the flue length required. But apparently most combis will give several meters of flue not just this one. I was also under the impression the flue pipes were going to be a tad more 'slim'.

Its a mess quite frankly.

Baxi-Remeha · 8 Sep 2006

well surely bg must have mentioned what it would be like before fitting it...

couldnt a combi have been put in a cupboard in the kitchen??

daglesj · 8 Sep 2006

Its a very small one bedroom flat. A full new fitted kitchen (read tiny galley kitchen) was fitted a year ago. So there is no room and no cupboard space to spare. I have to store food and cooking utensils somewhere

. Plus in order to get it into the kitchen it would have involved all the flats flooring being pulled up etc. etc. and after seeing BG's skills at drilling holes in walls and coving I'm damn glad I didnt go there. Images of Frank Spencer going through the floor of the B&B spring to mind.

The airingcupboard was the only practical location. Would have loved to have just had a new gasfire/backboiler/tank fitted but regs dont allow that. Fine if you live in a nice reasonable sized home not so good in a micro flat.

It was a real headscratcher.

fitz1 · 8 Sep 2006

should be a 2 to 3 degree rise on the flue to outside. it dont look right.

daglesj · 8 Sep 2006

Indeed, I tested the bottom pipe with my spirit level. It goes down from the cupboard, then level, then up.

I should have had the regional BG Engineer Inspector round today to inspect it as part of a complaint.

He didnt turn up.

doitall · 8 Sep 2006

daglesj said:
Its a very small one bedroom flat. A full new fitted kitchen (read tiny galley kitchen) was fitted a year ago. So there is no room and no cupboard space to spare. I have to store food and cooking utensils somewhere . Plus in order to get it into the kitchen it would have involved all the flats flooring being pulled up etc. etc. and after seeing BG's skills at drilling holes in walls and coving I'm damn glad I didnt go there. Images of Frank Spencer going through the floor of the B&B spring to mind.

The airingcupboard was the only practical location. Would have loved to have just had a new gasfire/backboiler/tank fitted but regs dont allow that. Fine if you live in a nice reasonable sized home not so good in a micro flat.

It was a real headscratcher.

But the regs do allow it you could easily have had a back boiler fitted under the circumstances.

http://www.est.org.uk/uploads/documents/housingbuildings/ce29.pdf

Trance Nation · 8 Sep 2006

doitall said:
daglesj said:

Its a very small one bedroom flat. A full new fitted kitchen (read tiny galley kitchen) was fitted a year ago. So there is no room and no cupboard space to spare. I have to store food and cooking utensils somewhere . Plus in order to get it into the kitchen it would have involved all the flats flooring being pulled up etc. etc. and after seeing BG's skills at drilling holes in walls and coving I'm damn glad I didnt go there. Images of Frank Spencer going through the floor of the B&B spring to mind.

The airingcupboard was the only practical location. Would have loved to have just had a new gasfire/backboiler/tank fitted but regs dont allow that. Fine if you live in a nice reasonable sized home not so good in a micro flat.

It was a real headscratcher.

Click to expand...

But the regs do allow it you could easily have had a back boiler fitted under the circumstances.

http://www.est.org.uk/uploads/documents/housingbuildings/ce54.pdf[/QUOTE]

Yes i thought they did too if it was unrealistic to fit a wall mounted boiler/combi/etc. then a bbu would be sufficient.

ChrisR · 8 Sep 2006

That's crass. Threaten them with Lynn Faulds Wood and Esther bloody Ranting. Partly your fault if you were told the right info before agreeing, but its hard to believe ther wasn't a better option.
Was it a BG fitter or was the job subbed out?

First point to address is DoiItAlls - sounds like a classic case of a condensing boiler exemption being reasonable.

ratonnastick · 8 Sep 2006

If the flue leaks water (Condensate) then it can quite possible leak products of combustion, have they checked this? if not then your nice (no sorry horrid) new boiler is classed as immediately dangerous and should be removed from the gas supply. If I did a saftey check on this boiler I would fail it.

Rob · 8 Sep 2006

not looked properly at pics but the flue run looks v. long. many extensions!

surely they should have supplied a boiler with the smallest diameter fluing
i.e keston? pipes would be half the size of them two

but i also agree with the exemption rule, no one should be forced to have that running through their house/flat.

doitall · 8 Sep 2006

A few questions.

The top photo is where the flue comes out the cupboard yes or no.

Do you know the total flue length, a single flue would go up to 10m less 1m for each change of direction.

The flue is supposed to fall back to the boiler2.5deg (44mm per meter) yours looks as though it runs up and down.

The next is the tricky part as I'm assuming the flow direction, but that doesn't look like standard flue, and in any case the sockets are upside down, they should be facing away from the boiler so the condensate doesn't leak all over the floor.

Personally I would get a consultant in and sue them, It has to be about the worse job ever.

Rob · 8 Sep 2006

doitall said:
It has to be about the worse job ever.

not bad for £500! dont pay the rest

chrishutt · 8 Sep 2006

Just to confirm a few points.

1. Being in a flat with an existing back-boiler and no convenient location for a wall mounted boiler you would certainly have enough points to be exempt for the requirement for a condensing boiler. You could have had a replacement back-boiler.

2. If you were to have such a long flue / air duct arrangement, you would be much better off with a Keston boiler which would use much smaller (54mm OD) pipes with solvent weld joints that cannot leak.

3. The flue duct must slope back towards the boiler for its whole length so that any condensate runs safely back into the boiler where it will run to the condensate drain.

Can you possible post some pictures of the rest of the installation (boiler pipework, condensate drain, flue terminals, etc.? I'm sure we'd all love to point out all the other defects - great fun to wind down at the end of a working week.

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I really dont think this is quite what I expected....

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