Glowworm Ultimate overheating

[FieryJack]

I returned to my house this evening to find it full of steam. The boiler room was hotter than a sauna.

Now as it happened, I had it "safety checked" by British gas this very afternoon. This might be total coincidence. I have subscribed to their PropertyCare service but so far have been waiting 35 mins to talk to a service engineer. So while I hold on the phone forever, I wonder if anyone could suggest probable faults.

thanks.

 

[kevplumb]

if the cover has been off it may be a trapped thermostat capillary

 

[chrishutt]

It does sound like the boiler thermostat has failed to shut off the gas valve, causing the boiler to carry on heating to the point of the water actually boiling!

Doesn't GW Ultimate have over-heat cut outs? I'm not familiar with this model myself.

Quite likely to have been some damage to boiler, pipework and maybe other aspects of home, decorations, electrics? If the fault arose as a result of BG's "safety check", as seams likely, you may have grounds for damages claim against them. Might be a good idea to get independent professional opinion?

 

[FieryJack]

Chris / Kev

Thanks for your comments, British Gas is sending someone round in the morning "to assess". Not sure if that means they do anything useful like fix it though.

 

[fitz1]

Possibly, but not definate cause could be :- If overheat stat is not tripping out, then thermostat has lost its calibration.

 

[doitall]

Don't have one Fitz 1

The issue is why the Pressure relief valve or the expansion pipe didn't blow depending on instaltion

Looks to me like the thermostat has been dislodged

 

[Agile]

Make sure that when the BG man comes you stay with him and watch what he does particularly if there has been any damage done.

A BG advert on the outdoor advertising site says:-

"" Say goodbye to British Gas and wave goodbye to our engineers.""

Some people might say this is a advert designed to lose customers!

Tony Glazier

 

[FieryJack]

British Gas came back the following day and looked at the boiler again. The engineer said all was functionning correctly, was at a loss to explain why the house was full of steam the day before.

Now they are denying any responsibility and refusing to entertain a claim for the extensive damage to the walls and paintwork (plus some melted electrics). "Wave goodbye" indeed.

 

[Agile]

You have not mentioned the extent of the damage in value terms.

If its extensive then you might be better off to pay for a second opinion and ideally use a consultant member of the IDHE or IPHE.

You dont say if you discussed the damage with the "assessor" or if he denied liability. Nor if you have sent a letter to BG stating that you are holding them responsible for the damage.

In all probability you will find your household insurance will cover it anyway and in my experience they seldom are interested in assigning blame.

If you have grounds for believing BG were responsible then in law you will probably need to identify what they did ( wrong ) or negligently did not do ( that they should have ). This may not be easy now!

Tony Glazier

 

[ollski]

???...is your header tank in the boiler room?, if the water was boiling then the loft would have filled with steam but not the boiler room. For the boiler to run continuously both the overheat stat and the boiler stat would need to have failed...possible but can't imagine any reason to touch either of them on a safety check.

 

[just-thinking]

BG have gone into sauna business,did they not tell you.

 

[fitz1]

Turn stat to min and see if boiler shuts down when temp is met.If it does, turn it to max and see if it still shuts off.Let us know what happens.

 

[FieryJack]

I agree, BG could advertise a steam-cleaning optional extra as part of their 3 star "PropertyCare" service. As long as you don't mind re-oainting afterwards.

I estimate the cost of re-painting to be at least £500, as most of the upstairs walls in this 2 bed house have been stained to various degress, and gloss in the vicinity of the boiler area is donald ducked.

The header tank is in the boiler room, something which the BG engineer (the one who came to the house the day after the steaming) did have a think about, but he also concluded that all was safe.

BG told my wife earlier today that they wouldn't accept liability. She being none too technical asked the guy to talk to me (as I am very slightly more technically aware than her). He didn't call me, surprise surprise. The BG admin person was very helpful and gave me his mobile but he didn't take the call and has not so far returned my call/message. He told my wife that because the boiler was declared safe both before and after the steaming session, no way was BG responsible. I note the point made earlier that in law I might well have to prove that BG has been in some way negligent, and this is looking tricky.

My over-riding concern is that it could happen again and my tenants will go ape next time. I only just rented out the property a week ago. I lived in it for the previous 14 years and this hasn't happened before. The boiler itself is about 7 years old.

All feedback is much appreciated.

 

[Agile]

You first talk about "returning to your property" as if you lived there. Now you say its rented out!

There is always the small possibility that the tenants might have been involved, every year I come across two or three cases of tenant sabotage.

Did you advise your insurance company that its rented out ??? You did not tell us at first! There is considerable difficulty in getting an insurance company to cover while tenants are there! Probably because of the damage tenants can do!

Tony Glazier

 

[ChrisR]

I had it "safety checked" by British gas this very afternoon

Is that the patent BG poking of electronic proboscis in the exhaust and beggar off, or did they actually take the cover off - any idea?