Three Way Valve Issue ?? Am I being ripped off ??

[transam]

The way I see it , if you were told from the out set that this is what would happen e.g cold bathroom , than that becomes your problem , however if , & I stress the word if , you were not than you have a good point !
perhaps this was over looked in the intial survey , prior to any works commencing , perhaps if 2 m.v's had been used instead of a 3 way valve it could be over come ???? e.c.t e.c.t , the only comment on this that I can make is that it is not piped up or working as one would expect , & should not be under the control of a cylinder stat .

 

[petit_pablo]

2k for a WB boiler and conversion to fully pumped im assuming (from the inclusion of the mid pos valve) plus TRVs on rads isnt a bad price.

If you wanted all the lockshields replacing at the same time why didnt you ask? If the system required flushing would you have paid another days labour for it or expectd the guy to work for peanuts? Did you tell him the bathroom rad came on in summer with the HW?

If you want it changing then except it will cost extra. Its not his fault the system was piped up the way it was originally

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

Hi
I've had my old Baxi Wm38/3/rs replaced a couple of weeks ago

couple of weeks ago?

why on earth havn't you paid him yet, do you go to tescos an buy your weekly shop an then say you will pay them in 2 weeks!! I get fed up with that on my jobs I finish the work that day, the customer knows 2weeks in advance how much the bill is, but you still get the old Ill go the bank 2morrow

ha ha I am now going to charge to go back to pick my wages up..

 

[petit_pablo]

Having a bathroom radiator piped up on the hw circuit was quite common at one time. There are alot of systems like this

 

[Dylanthetiger]

well for a start your installer will be a bit cheesed off! just a bit.

did you advise him you new the bathroom rad got hot in the summer?

No I didn't mention it as all I knew was that ALL the rads got hot in the summer and that they were ALL linked up. I had no idea the bathroom rad was wired up differently. The hot water and the rads all worked together that's all I knew. Yes the bathroom rad was a pain in the summer as I couldn't turn it off like I did with the other rads as it had no thermostatic valve on it. But the guy could see that and I specificially asked him to put a thermostat on it. I had no idea it was wired up differently to the other rads I just thought when it was installed originally (before I bought the house) they just forgot to put a thermostat on it. I assumed that the 3 way valve would mean all the rads would work independently from the hot water, like he told me.

 

[Dylanthetiger]

Yes he did the work a couple of weeks ago and pushed the bill through my door Thursday last week, so I've only had the invoice three days.

 

[Whitespirit66]

The chances are that your plumber just overlooked the fact that the bathroom rad was on the HW circuit. This is easily done, as there are many things to take into account when doing the sort of job that you have had done. He should have asked you, but these things happen.

As he didn't realise, then consequently, he didn't price re-piping the rad into the quote. The jobs not been done, but you've not paid for it either. Come to a compromise with him, because otherwise these things can take over your life.

Re. TRVs and lockshields. Building regs state that TRVs must be fitted when a boiler is replaced. What's the point of replacing the lockshields if there is nothing wrong with them?

 

[Dylanthetiger]

2k for a WB boiler and conversion to fully pumped im assuming (from the inclusion of the mid pos valve) plus TRVs on rads isnt a bad price.

If you wanted all the lockshields replacing at the same time why didnt you ask? If the system required flushing would you have paid another days labour for it or expectd the guy to work for peanuts? Did you tell him the bathroom rad came on in summer with the HW?

If you want it changing then except it will cost extra. Its not his fault the system was piped up the way it was originally

Thanks for that I just wanted to know if £2k was a fair price for the work he's done that's all.

 

[tamz]

No I didn't mention it as all I knew was that ALL the rads got hot in the summer and that they were ALL linked up

So as far as the installer was concerned, as you told him, all the rad heat up in the summer because there were no controls fitted. To turn the rads off you turned the TRV's down. The bathroom rad didn't have a TRV so was still on, as far as the installer was aware, an uncontrolled circuit which would be solved when adding a mid pos valve.

[/quote]I had no idea it was wired up differently to the other rads

Neither did he. The bathroom radiator fed from the hot water side of the circuit is not normal practice so could not have been forseen so was not allowed for.

After he had carried out the alterations and got the system running, he would have known immediately but as he had not allowed for that in his price, alteration would now be an additional cost.

You have had a job done at a very fair price and payment should be made immediately.
If it was me i would drag you to court where you would loose and have to pay all additional costs on top.

 

[tamz]

Thanks for that I just wanted to know if £2k was a fair price for the work he's done that's all.

You must have thought so before you instructed him to start work

If you had gotten BG or other big players to do the job it would have been £3500 - 4000 for the same thing.

 

[matt1e]

out of interest where has the 3-port valve been installed? if it is adjacent to the cylinder then it wont take much to alter your bathroom rad to be fed off the ch side (or the primary for that matter)

matt

 

[Dylanthetiger]

Thanks for that I just wanted to know if £2k was a fair price for the work he's done that's all.

You must have thought so before you instructed him to start work

If you had gotten BG or other big players to do the job it would have been £3500 - 4000 for the same thing.

Sorry you missed my point, clearly he has not done all the work required as I have this problem with the bathroom rad. I find it hard to believe the engineer thinks the rad working off the hot water is acceptable. The 3 way valve has achieved nothing. I was asking if £2k was reasonable for what he's done, seeing as I've been left with this problem and there looks like being additional costs to me to put this right.

 

[marcr]

Is the hot water cylinder and 3 way valve in the upstairs airing cupboard?
If it is it should be visible that a 15mm(?) pipe is tee'd off between the dhw side of the valve and the cylinder. This will be the flow to the bathroom rad. If it were me I would drain down to below upstairs level, cut the pipe, cap that tee, cut a tee on the ch side of valve and connect pipe. Maybe even a comp tee.
Add fresh inhibitor, fill and test job done.
POSITION OF RETURN TEE MIGHT NEED CHECKING/ALTERING TOO.
I would expect to pay tho.

 

[Dylanthetiger]

out of interest where has the 3-port valve been installed? if it is adjacent to the cylinder then it wont take much to alter your bathroom rad to be fed off the ch side (or the primary for that matter)

matt

Not sure where it's been installed, the hot water cylinder is in the aring cupboard which is accessed by the bathroom, no sign of it in there.

 

[tamz]

Sorry you missed my point, clearly he has not done all the work required as I have this problem with the bathroom rad.

You have missed the point. Without ripping your house apart on a survey he would not have known either. Even when the work was in progress it is highly unlikely he would have known or found that it was piped that way.

I find it hard to believe the engineer thinks the rad working off the hot water is acceptable.

He probably doesn't, but as he had no way of knowing this beforehand and had never priced for this, not his problem. If you want it altering you will have to pay.

The 3 way valve has achieved nothing.

Yes it has. You now have seperate independent thermostatic control over your hot water and heating.
Because your bathroom radiator is taken from your hot water side of the circuit could never (given the way your existing system operated) have been forseen it is definately not the fault of the installer.

Pay the man for the work done and if you want it altering pay him again.