Advice sought re: Greenstar 15i gas pipes

[BlackJAC74]

Hi, first of, I have little or no clue about boilers and what's deemed dodgy or what's actually acceptable.

Last year we got the above boiler installed by a gas safe company and today we had our first annual boiler check from Scottish Gas. Scottish Gas have refused to cover the boiler any more as the engineer has told us the installers have used the old 15mm pipes rather than replacing the piping to the recommended 22mm. He stated we will have to call the company back out and they will have to replace the old with the new 22mm.

He showed us the official Greenstar installation rules on his laptop and it did state that under no circumstances should 15mm pipes be used. It was that simple. However, I asked him to show us the same thing in our greenstar installation manual so we had it in black and white to show the installers for when i call them back out. However, in our manual, it only says:

"Provided the correct gas supply working pressue and gas rate can be achieved"
"Then it may be possible to reduce the gas work supply pipe diameter to 15mm"

I think what I'm asking is, are SG being their usual pedantic selves because we never used them or does this indeed sound like a half arsed installation job?

We actually had a Worcester engineer out on Wednesday to replace our magnetic filter and he had looked at the boiler too and said nothing about the piping. The 15mm piping runs from our boiler and for around 5m under plaster board on our ceiling, and goes into 22mm piping in the cupboard where the filter is located.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

 

[Phill Peck]

Worcester back tracked a while back your manual is correct and his laptop needs updating

Providing the correct inlet pressures are achieved its fine.

The technical side of testing etc u don't need to know. Fact is the pipe size is irrelevant.
Although it used to be very relevant according to Worcester.

 

[Razor900]

https://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/support/document/download/TB0053

 

[BlackJAC74]

Thank you very much for the prompt reply. The reason I asked on here is Scottish Gas are known for their overreactions. Because it was the boiler and gas pipes though, I wanted to make sure before getting back to them. As things stand SG are ceasing our policy with them due to the piping.

 

[TCCHeating]

Scottish Gas have refused to cover the boiler any more as the engineer has told us the installers have used the old 15mm pipes

They are talking complete rubbish.

If your boiler was only installed last year then it should have at least 4 years left on the warranty. So no need to pay any money for boiler cover.

My advice would be to forget about paying for any insurance and keep your money to be your own insurance if any of the other components on your system need replacing.

 

[Agile]

BUT, to keep the boiler warranty valid you need a documented service every year, with the record filled in on the boiler manual at the back.

Tony

 

[BlackJAC74]

BUT, to keep the boiler warranty valid you need a documented service every year, with the record filled in on the boiler manual at the back.

Tony

Aye, that's what's worrying me the most. All I can do is call both the installer and SG next week to discuss this. Thanks to the person who posted the pdf, I can send that off to SG if they decide to act all arsey about it. You know what these large companies are like, their systems are never wrong etc etc etc. Only, they're almost always behind everyone else.

 

[BlackJAC74]

Scottish Gas have refused to cover the boiler any more as the engineer has told us the installers have used the old 15mm pipes

They are talking complete rubbish.

If your boiler was only installed last year then it should have at least 4 years left on the warranty. So no need to pay any money for boiler cover.

My advice would be to forget about paying for any insurance and keep your money to be your own insurance if any of the other components on your system need replacing.

We still have 7 years remaining on the warranty. However, i don't want to invalidate it through no fault of my own.

 

[Phill Peck]

Call Worcester. Explain I bet they'll send u a letter confirming.
Use this letter to get a refund from SG
You always get a grace period on the service date.
Contact your installer and got him to service it

 

[dilalio]

The MIs that come with the boiler are the documents that overrule anything else, as long as the installation follows them, everything should be fine.

 

[Agile]

But the MIs don't over rule Scottish Gas.

Make a good complaint to SG.

If they don't respond well you can escalate the complaint to the energy regulator. When you do that I expect that SG may have to pay.

If you complain about your bank to the Financial Ombudsman then the bank has to pay £200 which is why banks are keen to pay you something less to close your complaint.

The Energy Regulator was on BBC R4 a week ago telling about the problem he had with a supplier and his quandary that he could not really complain to himself about it.

Tony

 

[ianmcd]

But the MIs don't over rule Scottish Gas.

Absolute rubbish Scottish Gas are no different than any other RGI and have to adhere to MIs same as the rest of us

 

[AGAS]

But the MIs don't over rule Scottish Gas.

MI'S totally over rule scottish gas , surely

 

[dilalio]

Yep, because they have been tested to destruction under tightly controlled conditions, to achieve the relevant safety ratings... Above all else, the manufacturers know their product more than anyone - even Scottish Gas!

 

[Agile]

But the MIs don't over rule Scottish Gas.

Absolute rubbish Scottish Gas are no different than any other RGI and have to adhere to MIs same as the rest of us

You seem to have misunderstood what I said.

Scottish Gas do exactly what they want to!

A piece of paper from Worcester makes no difference to what SG do.

Of course they should follow the instructions in the MI but you can see in this example they don't!