Combi boiler delivers hot water then luke warm

[spiritusuk]

The people asking for your location are trying to help you kind words a reputable chap close to you. not to drop your ' friendly , nice bg guy' in the doodoo .

North Manchester

 

[mcmoby69]

Just read this bit.

In my recent attempts to get a bath of hot water for my mum I have been moving the dial to almost maximum position believing that the bath would fill quicker with hot water. The engineer advised me that this could have an adverse affect and suggested the dial should be much lower........again this hasn't made any difference to the problem with the hot water

Bolliacks . that dial is a thermostat and will increase the temp of the hot water.(if it's working correctly ) if you slow the flow of the bath tap that will also increase the temp of the bath water as the water stays in the heat exchanger longer and picks up more heat.

 

[mcmoby69]

North Manchester

LOL, I'm in Bury. ........

 

[spiritusuk]

Update: So British Gas sent two senior engineers round today. They confirmed that on the last visit a new diverter valve was fitted and today they said that a new pump was also fitted.

Then they both recommended a copper repipe of the whole system with a quote to arrive within the next few days. A mid terraced, Victorian house with 7 rads-I'm anxious to see how much they will charge.

They justified the recommendation of a new repipe by saying that the sludge in the 10mm pipes eventually has a knock on effect with the boiler which in turn affects the hot water. Now I know some have said on this thread that the radiator pipes and the problem with my mum's hot water have no correlation but his reason kind of made sense to me in as much as I know nothing about central heating !

 

[Steelmasons]

Crack on...
You've been advised numerous times although it seems to fall on deaf ears...possibly deliberately.

 

[AGAS]

youve had our views

 

[Steelmasons]

Wind up I would imagine...

 

[picasso]

It will be interesting to see what they say when you still got lukewarm water after the repipe.

 

[Agile]

Why do some people blindly believe some of the more far fetched stories just because they are told by someone from BG?

 

[spiritusuk]

Wind up I would imagine...

youve had our views

Why do some people blindly believe some of the more far fetched stories just because they are told by someone from BG?

Thanks for the response guys. I have genuinely appreciated the contributions on this thread but would love one of you to tell me what definitive conclusions have been reached that allows me to make a decision.

Some of the advice so far....

• "..but I would be looking at the diverter valve not going fully to the hot water position"
• "..I would go for a blocked secondary heat exchanger."
• "..That would be my first guess too.... however, if the rads get hot when HW is run, could be diverter? Or even both, but doubtful."
• "The guy could be right. To confirm you need an expert Vaillant man"
• "Rubber hose is more than likely choked solid."

I appreciate it's nigh on impossible to diagnose any fault remotely but we are in an online forum after all.

I asked the question earlier whether there could be any possible merit to the argument that sludge in the piping system could eventually cause a problem within the boiler itself-only one person replied to that and in response to the follow up question-BG are claiming the plastic piping is "cheap plastic" and is "porous".

I still intend to get a couple of independents out.

 

[Steelmasons]

Has the rubber hose been replaced within the boiler or is it still the original hose??
Is it hard when squeezed lightly or is it soft?

 

[spiritusuk]

I'm not at my mum's at the moment so will check again tomorrow.

I tried to make a point to British Gas that their service reports are basically crap. 95% of the form is pre-printed with a small box for the engineer to scribble whatever he's done in freehand.....it's like trying to decipher a doctor's prescription !

I suggested to them that BG should present a print out to each customer after a service visit detailing everything that has been replaced, cleaned etc. The reports are skimpy in detail to the extreme.
The engineer will verbally tell you what has been done (sometimes only if asked) and not always heavy on the detail so apologies if I might come across as a dumb ass but I'm not familiar with central heating systems and am having to rely on the information that the engineer shares with me.

 

[spiritusuk]

It's difficult to tell if the hose is new or not nor am I 100% sure I'm looking at the right thing.

Oddly enough, after a new pump was fitted and whatever else they have done then the hot water is working fine now and the radiators are also heating up quite nicely. It's infuriating me that I can't get a proper report of BG. The engineer may tell you what he's done but often in the past it depends on his communication skills as to what details you can get out of him. Surely it can be done better than that.

All I know so far is he's "put some chemicals into the boiler", "he's cleaned a part from the boiler than was full of sludge" and "put a new pump in" and NONE of this appears on the engineer's report.

 

[spiritusuk]

Well.....here we go again.

After all the problems last year the hot water worked fine throughout 2017 up until my mum had BG homecare do their annual service two weeks ago. Now hot water is again cutting out after 30 seconds and two rads in the house that weren't ever piping hot are now either luke warm or cold.

BG has followed up on the service visit to respond to the hot water and a new "calorifier" (?) was ordered and installed along with the same BG engineer from last year getting increasingly irritable as he feels we've ignored his recommendation to have a full repipe and is getting a bit arsey about having to come out. He left last week without the problem having been sorted.

I've got an independent guy coming on Friday to give his opinion because at the moment if British Gas told me what time it was I would still have to check my watch

 

[oilboffin]

Well last year you had some fine people on here giving you good sound advice and I don't think you took a blind bit of notice now the probs come back to bite you on the bum.I won't say it servers you right I'm not really like that and your poor old mum is the one who suffers but, for gods sake stay away from BG plunkers every one with the odd exception.If you need work doing get a proper RGI who know your type of boiler and he'll sort it out.Good luck.Bob