Baxi 105 Instant woes (split)

[sam100]

i have exactly the same problem. i have paid Baxi £300 to come out and fix it, but the engineer won't touch it because he would need a ladder to lift the boiler off the wall and would not get another person or accept help. If it is more than 3 feet off the floor, he is going to need a ladder. I have never had such a waste of time and feel totally conned by them. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY FOR SERVICING! the plumber had no intention of doing the job and their Ops Sp person is very rude. i now have a useless boiler and am worse off.

For what it is worth, the problem does seem to be a broken expansion tank and the boiler needs to be dismantled to change it.

 

[baxpoti]

How high is the boiler, level floor to bottom of boiler?

 

[sam100]

it is 1.95m, has space for two ladders and has been fully serviced for 5 years without there ever being a problem. it was fitted by a Baxi recommended corgi plumber by himself without a problem.

i presume that the plumber viewed it that they were not going to make a decent profit out of me as they would have to spend time working on the boiler.

if you work for them, i have to say that the guy that came could not have been more surly and never seemed to have any intention of fixing it from the start.

when i told him that to fit an expansion tank on a bare wall in a bathroom was not what i wanted, he said i had to take it or leave it.

it was in direct contravention to the conversation i had with the person who sold me agreement as i asked if they would fix everything inside the white box and they agreed without limitation. i was also not played a tape of the terms and conditions, so was not aware of their caveats.

 

[Vic Spanner]

Normally subbed out if there is a problem, You must have had a right jock of an engineer.
Pay me £300 cash and i`ll do it.

 

[sam100]

i know. £300 is a lot, but i just thought that i could trust baxi to come and fix it and i wouldn't have anything to worry about. i thought that the 1 year warranty was worth it as it has not been a reliable boiler from the start. misfounded trust.

must be difficult being a plumber and not being able to go up a ladder.

 

[baxpoti]

Interesting.

Was the guy a Heateam engineer?

Can you post a picture of the boiler?

 

[Agile]

In the heating industry it is assumed in all repair quotes that the boiler is reasonably accessable.

That means the the boiler can be easily reached by standing on the floor or on a short three step ladder.

Your boiler at 1.95m is in a totally inaccessible location for anything more than minor repairs.

You have perhaps not bothered to tell that its over some stairs?

Its up to the customer to provide a safe access. If you built or bought a work platform or some scaffolding to give a working floor about 500 mm below the boiler then I am sure that they will do the job for you.

Didn't you consider service access when you had the boiler fitted there?

Tony

 

[sam100]

remarkable that you can be so condescending without any knowledge of the environment!

the boiler has had to be worked on by corgi engineers every year since 2001, mainly due to unreliability. On every occasion, they have been able to do all the work without any problems or complaints.

As i stated before, it is in a bathroom, so i am not sure where your thoughts of a staircase came from, unless of course you were being humorous.

if you stand on a 3 step ladder, you can easily reach all areas of the boiler, assuming that you are more than 5 feet tall. there is also room for two people to get at it with ease.

stop being so pompous - "build a platform 500mm below the boiler" - are you a surgeon or something? other heating engineers can move their arms down AND up , why can't Baxi's?

they assumed that they would get £300 for doing 10 minutes work. when they realised that it would be more than that, they took the £90 "call out fee" and left. it is a good win-win situation for them, if they abuse the trust of baxi customers.

the situation of the boiler was chosen by a corgi engineer, not me. clearly, he did not have the same reverent regard for his own self importance that you clearly have, and risked all by venturing on to the third rung of the ladder. he must have been a devil-may-care maverick!

 

[Agile]

You clearly do not mend boilers or apparently know whats involved in replacing the expansion vessel in your boiler.

A three step ladder has a top step at about 500 mm. An average height man would then end up with his eyes at about the same level as the BASE of your boiler.

To replace the EXV, access is needed above the boiler and an eye height about 400 mm above the boiler is required. Its also a two handed job and certainly not one I would do from a ladder if I was employed.

As a self employed engineer then I might do it for a nice client but I dont think I would be likely to do it for you.

I still dont see how someone could fit a boiler so high up from a three rung ladder. Your boiler is too heavy to lift into position from a ladder.

I can see that you have no regard for anyone else's safety but the HSE consider that 25 kg is the maximum anyone can safely lift and thats only up to waist height not above their heads. Your boiler is probably 43 kg !

Tony

 

[superdupergasman]

Working off a ladder you should have 3 points of contact at all times when climbing or descending.

Lifting a boiler off the wall is a bit of a weight and at 2 mtrs I would be getting a work platform as agile suggested.

I have, in the past done it with a vaillant at slightly lower than this and after that experience would not be doing it again without a platform as ladders are too risky with that sort of weight and height.

Why not get the Baxi man to disconnect and you could lift it down for him then try to rehang!

 

[sam100]

i offered to do exactly that - and part of the deal was that two engineers would also be available if required. i asked if a platform would be necessary when they visited or if i had to get anything for them, but they said that they would not use a ladder or steps of any sort in the repair of the boiler and that it had to be close to the floor.

the problem was that it was declared inaccessible by the engineer and it clearly wasn't - it just needed more than one person or a platform/two ladders.

After then recent conversations here i thought that maybe i was being unreasonable. i have had a corgi engineer in to look at location to see what can be done. he said that there would be no problem with an engineer and an assistant (qualified or otherwise) to lift it down and relace it after the repair as there was sufficient space for it to be lowered down and one person can be either side of it.

he also said that in his experience you can expect a different (lower) level of service if you take on a service contract. he seemed to find their attitude to the HSE issues more amusing than i did.

 

[The Baker]

Check with trading standards as it may be that you are entitled to your £299 back, or ask citizens advice .

especially if they did not ask where the boiler was situated.

I put up and remove all sorts of wall mounted appliances from all sorts of positions, was the Baxi bloke 60+ like me or was a young wiper snapper/

The trick is to lighten the appliance in question by taking loads of bits off before trying to lift it off the wall.

ignore Agile, normally he is very helpful, he must be having a bad day

Tim

 

[sam100]

i think the whole problem was the engineer really didn't want to be there. when he said that he would be sticking the exp vessel on the wall and i said i didn't want that, i was told that i wasn't going to get anything and that was that. whilst i was talking to his head office, he walked out as i was trying to include him in the discussion. he was able bodied and about 45 i suppose - just having a really bad day and very argumentative.

Don't worry - i will ignore Agile. not sure he really lives up to his name on this one.

thanks for your help - i think i will get an independant engineer and speak to the citizens' advice to recover my money.