Central heating reluctant to switch on and switches off soon after.

[PeteMasters]

I have an old boiler, at least 40 years old, I have resisted all efforts to have this replaced with a new one which I see as being designed to fail after a few years. When I have been in the UK if there have been any problems I have been able to sort them out myself. I am currently in Japan and the tenants in the house are having trouble with the heating system. They are not able to do battle with it, and I can't get the information I need to try to diagnose the problem. Any central heating engineer that comes to see it will want to replace the boiler. However they are not able to definitively diagnose the problem, and just give a list of potential problem areas. They expect me to buy the parts, pay to have them fitted and if it doesn't fix the problem, to keep buying parts until presumable we discover the fault by trial and error. There are no refunds for parts bought unnecessarily. I find I am caught between a rock and a hard place, is there any way out of this ?

Thanks in advance for any help. Pete

 

[PeteMasters]

oh, another issue is that no-one can find a thermostat for the system, is it possible that a central heating system has no thermostat ? I haven't been there in over 11 years and can't remember one either.

 

[cross thread]

Plenty of great engineers out there that are interested in repair rather than replace,look on the gas safe site for your area.

 

[muggles]

Well you've managed to write quite a lot of words there without actually giving much information. System type? Controls? Symptoms of the issue?

 

[harrythefurrysquid]

Not sure what the hard place is here.
You have a legal obligation to provide working heating and your tenants pay for the upkeep by paying you rent.

Stop being so cheap FFS. Get a modern condensing boiler with weather compensation.
You wouldn't leave your tenants in a property with single glazing, would you?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Any central heating engineer that comes to see it will want to replace the boiler. However they are not able to definitively diagnose the problem, and just give a list of potential problem areas. They expect me to buy the parts, pay to have them fitted and if it doesn't fix the problem, to keep buying parts until presumable we discover the fault by trial and error. There are no refunds for parts bought unnecessarily. I find I am caught between a rock and a hard place, is there any way out of this ?

The older the boiler, the more simple they are to diagnose, plus cheap and easier to fix - assuming the necessary parts are still available. Why an engineer would have to keep chucking parts at it, keeping in mind it's simplicity, puzzles me - maybe you need a better, more able engineer?

 

[ianmcd]

Sorry my Crystal ball is in for servicing

 

[PeteMasters]

Muggles and Ian,

I would like to give you more information about the system, but I will have to get that from the tenants. They've probably lost the instruction manual and they can't get up the loft. I'll try to find out what the boiler and controller is.

The only symptoms were that it keeps swirching off, but when it was on it was working fine. It seems the off times became more frequent and apparently now it's not coming on at all.

Harry Bloomfield,

That's exactly how I feel, but my property manager can't find anyone that can diagnose it accurately.

Harrythefurrysquid,

I have been providing a working central heating system for 11 years, and the minute I have been notified of a problem I have got on the case of trying to sort it out. I'm interested in your appraisal of me being cheap by not having a crap cheap quality modern boiler installed, I thought I was being prudent by keeping a boiler that was properly engineered, robust, reliable and working well. Clearly that's not the case now. However from what I can gather from the plumber, having the old boiler and system fixed on a trial and error basis could well be a lot more expensive than a new boiler. Even with a new boiler, there is no guarantee that they will find the fault, and I'll be back to square 1. What is it about having a new boiler you feel is better ?

 

[gas112]

personally i dont see the point of coming on here and saying stuff if you do not even know the make and model of your boiler (this should be on your yearly landlord certificate ) and what the actual symptoms of the fault is, at least give people a chance to diagnose it

 

[Ltnman]

Your tenants are paying a high gas price for having to use an inefficient boiler.

 

[foxhole]

What makes you think new boilers are crap , are boilers your area of expertise?

 

[gas112]

What makes you think new boilers are crap , are boilers your area of expertise?

yep out of all boilers i have fitted in the last 20 years i have less than a 1% breakdown rate under warranty and that is through out the 5 to 7 year warranty period .

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

What is it about having a new boiler you feel is better ?

The only real difference, is improved efficiency and savings in gas, versus potentially cheap and easy repairs usually of an older type boiler.

 

[martygturner]

what did the gas safety check say about the boiler condition ?

 

[harrythefurrysquid]

What is it about having a new boiler you feel is better ?

A 40-year old boiler isn't going to be condensing, and will not include weather compensation unless you've fitted a smart thermostat (doubt it).

I don't doubt that you're saving yourself capital expenditure by not updating, but you've done so by transferring higher heating bills to your tenants.