Ideal combi boiler combustion chamber hole...

[saf85]

Hi guys, new here but came to ask about my cuurent situation;

I have had a Ideal boiler (not sure what model right now, since is not stated on boiler anywhere and need to dig out the original install paper work etc), which has been covered by a homeserve/ideal extended warranty and breakdown plan for the past few months.

I have had work carried out on it 2 times in all, once they replaced something, the other time they adjusted stuff to do with water pressure etc.

Now recently (last week) the boiler packed up working alltogether, so phoned them to have a look, they came out, guy said heat exchanger was leaking and would need a new one, ordered we waited a week with no heating or hot water! Today he turns up, takes out old heat exchanger, turns round to my mom and says you need a new boiler then ran off after applying a warning sticker not to use boiler as it was dangerous...

I hear about this when I get home and phone ideal, they start to claim the engineer discovered rust on the gas inlet rivets and a hole in the combustion chamber which makes my boiler a risk of explosion and deadly to use, they say the damage is not covered by my plan (even though the plan says unlimited call out, parts and labour...) and they need to sell me a new boiler for the reduced price of £680... Seriously? The boiler is less then 6 years old and paid over £1000 for it! (cost £500 to install it also).

I do not fancy forking out £600+ pounds on a new boiler unless absolutely necessary as I cannot afford it right now, but if I did fork out, am sure I would never buy Ideal again. So my question to your guys is;

Can the hole in the combustion chamber be fixed? Is the hole a serious risk if the exchanger is just replaced and left to run as before? (as I am assuming has been running for a while now with a hole in chamber). Will my boiler room extension blow up? If it did would insurance even consider paying out lol.

I will dig out paper work and tell you exact boiler model, if I cannot find that, I will post a picture of the boiler instead.

Cheers and hopefully there will be some helpful soul in here who can point me in the direction of what I can do to repair this boiler and hopefully any local qualified people to do the fix.

 

[PEDANTICVINDICTIVEMAN]

Ah, now you think about an independant after Screwserve have been taking our work with promises of free this and free that, nothings free, it "all" has to be paid for one way or the other, so while they were cheap and free they were "always" doing the job right, now it gonna cost, you don't trust them all of a sudden.

 

[bengasman]

The good news: it wouldn't be the first time homeserve claim a boiler needs replacing when it can be repaired; they pay peanuts and therefore have a lot of monkeys working for them.
The bad news: Ideals are totally crap boilers, and have been reported to rot through heat exchanger AND case, and a new boiler is going to cost you a lot more than £600.

 

[sooey]

Ah, now you think about an independant after Screwserve have been taking our work with promises of free this and free that, nothings free, it "all" has to be paid for one way or the other, so while they were cheap and free they were "always" doing the job right, now it gonna cost, you don't trust them all of a sudden.

 

[Agile]

Without seeing the claimed hole and rust its impossible for us to comment on your boiler.

Its a time consuming job replacing the heat exchanger and I expect he was just looking for an opportunity to NOT do the job.

HOWEVER, the HE is quite expensive and an independent would probably be charging £400-£500 to supply and fit it !

Even if they will not replace it themselves then you could always get them to supply the part under the insurance and then get an independent to fit it.

You can also argue that the cover should fix the boiler regardless of whats required.


This £600 for new boiler is that an inclusive price for one supplied and fitted?

Tony

 

[saf85]

Hi guys, finally got round to finding the paperwork, the combi is an Ideal Isar one 30kw or something version.

The engineers sticker on front says; Breach in combustion chamber (gas inlet valve lugs).

Yet when I phoned them up about it, they claimed it was a hole in the actual combustion chamber, not some leak from lugs. Also they claimed the rivets on the gas pipe were rusted, no mention on the sticker...

So can this boiler be repaired by Ideal with parts which are classed as spare parts and should be in stock? I was told all boiler manufacturers have to have parts in stock for at leas 10 years from production start, since my boiler was fitted in november 2006, they definately should still stock the parts for it. Ideal claimed the combustion chamber is not a part that would be classed as spare part, but I have been told all modern combis are modular so something like combustion chamber should be stocked as a spair?

So is the fault above fixable by them under warrany/insurance cover or an idependent? Any advice appreciated guys.

PS Tony, the £680 price is just for a new boiler, apparently Ideal DO NOT fit their OWN boilers so I would have to find someone else to fit it...

 

[mickyg]

you need a 2nd indendant opinion. If you shout loud enough you may be able to get a more senior person out to take a 2nd look. We cant tell you from here without seeing it.

 

[twgas]

I cant see how anyone can say that a heat exchanger isnt a spare part, any bits that make up the whole are, by definition, parts.
I have changed many Ideal heat exchangers, not the best job ever, but doable. And I do agree, Ideal are cr4p.

 

[Garfeild]

Gas inlet pipe lugs?
Rivets on the gas pipe?