Heating keeps going on & off

[TheWife]

Boiler is driving me nuts. Its a worcester. I think someone has knocked it as the controls panel had a screw missing. I put the screw back to keep it up but I think it may have come down at some point and lossen a connection. I had a Worcester specialist engineer round, and he fleeced me for a £130 saying that a valve was sticking. Even showed me the valve. The prob still persists. But because ive had to live with it ive looked closer at it and spotted the broken screw holding one side up. Is it possibloe that there is a loose connection which when I push the front of the control panel it decides to fire up... some times it stays on and then some times it goes off again until I push it by the timer.

Its getting cold,its no longer funny and I dont want to be fed explanations where the engineer is justing looking for a quick payout.

 

[JohnD]

he fleeced me for a £130 saying that a valve was sticking. Even showed me the valve.

do you mean he diagnosed the valve as the cause, and replaced it for £130?

 

[gas4you]

What you ask is possible, but would need further investigation to ascertain if this was the case.

If the valve was not at fault, then you should not have to pay for his mis-diagnosis.

I have now come back from a recall on a gas valve I replaced, Somehow I had damaged a connector on it, so I went back and replaced that part FOC, no questions asked, even though it took me the best part of an hour.

Reputation is more important than an hours labour and a small part.

 

[TheWife]

Yes that what he said first....but ive not paid him the £130 yet as he said I needed another part and he would call me when the part came in and I can settle the bill then. He's not called about the part and im glad because I dont think he knew what the problem was.

I had a powerflush not long ago. And I mentioned that I had one done he said that I didnt need a power flush for the radiators. I needed a power flush for the boiler bit and he could do that for me too.

Powerflushes arent cheap....but I thought when you ask for a powerflush that there was only one kind.

 

[bengasman]

engineer diagnosed problem, showed exactly what he thought it was, did not collect a penny and now you think that: a, he ripped you off, and b:, it is something else that causes the problem.
am i missing something?

 

[TheWife]

Your right Im not paying Peanuts to Monkeys. Did I not mention..... The man intended to collect the money for the part he has replaced. Which clearly did not fix the problem. The amusing part was he tapped the valve with his tool to show me it was sticking when it was still fitted. And yes it did seem to spur it into life. So, my annoyance was not with him until I pushed on the front of the controls and found that spurs it into life after waiting weeks for his call and not having heating, hot water....enough to upset anyone I think.

So, all Im saying is, there are those that appear to know what they are doing and there are those that are not very good at diagnostics needless to say they should not leap in and act like they know only to be proven otherwise. Im not claiming to know either, but im aleast applying some process of elimination.

As it turns out its still faulty to a degree, but I'VE replaced the Thermastats on the rads which has improved the level of heat when it chooses to come on.

My next move will be to invest in a homecare contract with British Gas for piece of mind. But thank you for your sound advice it really helped.

 

[simond]

Very occasionally I feel sorry for British Gas

 

[TheWife]

I agree with you, but on this occasion, I think the way things are handled are of a level that large organisations seem to understand better.

 

[bengasman]

It could be that you and bg are just made for each other