Am I wasting £450 on Halstead heat exchanger

[jonnyguitar21]

Hi all,

I've posted several times about my problems with hot water cutting out now and again (sometimes as little as once a week) on our Halstead Ace High boiler. British Gas Shield people have changed various parts and now say it must be the heat exchanger for which they've quoted £450, they also wanted to do a powerflush at another £600 but I've said I basically want to know that this is really the problem before flushing- we've had about 10 engineers around, all of whom say they fixed it!

But I'm wondering if the problem really is a blocked HE, the radiators don't show any signs of cold areas- they are really hot and when the hot water cuts out all one has to do is wiggle a particular wire coming from the circuit board and the switch reengages and hot water comes back on.

So my question is, could it still be the HE or am I wasting money here? also if this doesn't cure it can I ask for money back off British Gas?

As always, thanks for your replies in advance, cheers guys.

 

[bengasman]

So my question is, could it still be the HE or am I wasting money here? also if this doesn't cure it can I ask for money back off British Gas?

Of course you could ask your money back; in fact, it's a free country, you can ask anything you want.

What is the problem with the boiler?

 

[gasservice85]

yes that would be a waste of money but then so is having a contact for which you make monthly payments and are then charged £1050 (+vat) for fixing your boiler.

call a local competant engineer who may charge you say £70 +vat to diagnose what the problem is and you will know for sure.
if you get him to install a new boiler or carry out the work you may well have that deducted any way.

and if you get a new boiler dont get a halsted get a vaillant or viessmann

 

[mickyg]

sounds like they havent got a clue. You seem to have diagnosed the fault yourself. Probably a loose connection on the pcb or harness fault.
Keep calling them back until they fix it, and insist on someone senior. The quotes are a joke. Anyone worth their salt would clear the heat exchanger during a powerflush, so you don't need both and for over £1000 ?? you might aswell have a new boiler not of BG mind you. As said before, just shows how useful these service contracts can be really. 10 visits? crikey. If I had to visit a fault 10 times I think i'd look for a new career.

 

[adlplumbing]

hmm have replaced to heat under contract for free
for bg ask second opion on flush and ask for aggreament if does not work money(unlikely to agree to it) but you could go elsewhere where it would be cheaper
and no you boiler not worth 450 pound