Noisy Boiler

[Jackthebiscuit]

Tony,

I'm don't think nickso warrants and answer,,, as he thinks it is my sisters fault for the situation she finds herself in...!! I do wonder if he reads all the T & C of every contract he signs. I think anyone with a credit card, bank account, mortgage, books a holiday will know where I would go with this one if I thought he was worth debating with,,, but he isn't.

On topic.

Yes, she in confused about who installed the boiler but she has now retrieved the paperwork and you are indeed correct that it wasn't installed by Worcester but an independent company who were agents for them. It was they that also installed the 'Liff Limebeater' and the sentinel x100 inhibitor. There is no mention on the invoice of cleaning the system. This work was completed in March 05 and cost £1645 inc. vat.

BG installed 'Santamander' a year ago when the boiler was making the the 'sizzing' noise and as mentioned, they said that was caused by limescale and this remedy seemed to rectify the problem.

The firm that installed the boiler use to carry out her maintenance on the previous boiler and that is why she used them to change it. She then changed to the BG 'Homecare maintenance plan' because she was impressed with their blurb, and as she knows absolutely nothing about heating/plumbing thought it was more secure to switch to them as they were also less likely to take advantage of her ignorance and sell her parts she didn't need. They also included call-outs in their fixed fees which was another incentive. What she didn't expect was so many exemptions and while others think it OK to say she should read the T & C, if you just simply don't understand the language used then it means nothing.

Tomorrow I will drain down the system and flush it through with mains pressure water and see what that achieves.

 

[Agile]

If I was a customer ( as I often am in other fields ) and employed a large company like BG then I would expect to be correctly informed by their staff as to my entitlement under their contract.

Just as I would with the AA or RAC or any other national company with an expected good reputation.

With Joe Bloggs who lives on the council estate then it might be another matter!

Tony

 

[Jackthebiscuit]

Taken from BG's website.

"British Gas HomeCare provides you with insurance and comfort that should anything happen to your central heating, boiler, electrics, plumbing or drains that a fully qualified engineer is on hand 365 days a year to cover the problem. There are no hidden charges, you choose the plan that suits you best, pay a flat monthly fee and they'll be on hand when you need it most."

 

[Jackthebiscuit]

If I was a customer ( as I often am in other fields ) and employed a large company like BG then I would expect to be correctly informed by their staff as to my entitlement under their contract.

Just as I would with the AA or RAC or any other national company with an expected good reputation.

With Joe Bloggs who lives on the council estate then it might be another matter!

Tony

Exactly. Which is why she switch from the small company that use to service her boiler to BG.

 

[Agile]

The word "insurance" does raise concerns when I read it because of the large number of exclusions they can have.

I read a motor insurance policy which said in the small print that their cover is null and void if the car driver has consumed any alcohol !

That could be a very expensive exclusion if a minor driving error after having just one small glass of wine results in a claim of £1/2 M !

Tony

 

[nickso]

dear me the naivety levels are increasing at an exponential rate.

to say that the T+C's mean nothing to you and then complain about the level of service is incredible. she didnt expect so many exceptions?.....a brilliant way to lead your life.

if you dont understand the language then ask someone who does. perhaps i'm too clever but the language used is hardly from another world....particularly the sections we are referring to.

to answer the OP's question, no i rarely bother to read T+C's unless i am suscpicious of them or are interested in certain parts of them. neither would i go moaning about them after i had fallen foul of an exception.

OP, if you listen to glazier on this matter you will get nowhere, ask advice from someone who was genuinely trying to help you understand the T+C's and you might get somewhere.

 

[Jackthebiscuit]

An update,

I have flushed the system thru with mains pressure water and the water removed was much clearer than I expected, so I removed each radiator and flushed them through independently. Again, they were much cleaner than I expected and I would hardly describe the residue as 'sludge'.

The boiler is still noisy on start-up from cold, but at least it doesn't shut down. Once the main burners shut down after about 5 mins or so, it is silent. If sludge is the problem,,, why isn't the noise constant?

Notwithstanding, I will install the 'MagnaClean professional' unless anyone has an opinion as to why I shouldn't, or know of a better product? I see they also have another product 'MagnaClean twin tech' that also filters metallic and non metallic particles, does anyone have an opinion on this product? What product should I put into the system once the Magnaclean unit has been installed?

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Agile]

If the system water is clear a Magnaclean will have nothing much to do.

Noises in the boiler can be caused by lime scale or a faulty ( worn ) pump.

Without heating the noise on site then I cannot advise you further.

Most likely to be lime scale as a result of wrong commissioning or water treatment at installation.

That should not be covered by BG though as reasonably they dont expect to fix installation errors under their insurance cover.

Nor should a worn pump as this will have be caused by dirt in the system.

Tony

 

[Jackthebiscuit]

Tony,

As mentions before, last time something similar occurred about a year ago BG said it was limescale and put in the Santamander, and this worked. I'm not sure how long this product should last but given no new water has been introduced to the system since then I'm not sure if much limescale could have built up.

The pump was replaced last year and again on this latest visit, so this can be eliminated. But in any event if the pump was faulty, wouldn't the noise be continuous?

It only occurs when the boiler is first switched on and the burners are all on full, once they reduced then the noise stops immediately.

While I'm not convinced by BG's diagnosis, I'm thinking of the future and fitting the magnaclean twin tech should remove all unwanted debris from the system.

Thanks again.

 

[Agile]

The actual problem is caused by lime scale in the main heat exchanger. ( Thats asuming the gas settings are correct ).

That can be descaled by a competent engineer who knows how to do it and which chemicals to use.

We do it in situ but charge £180 as it takes a while, uses chemicals, and is quite messy.

Many people like BG staff dont like anything messy so spend nearly as long to fit a new one instead. Thats more expensive and in the case of BG helps to delay the job while the part is ordered.

I only need the chemicals which I carry anyway, so I can do the job on just one visit which is the aim.

Tony

 

[nickso]

scale is pretty much the only thing they wont clean. if its sludge it should be going through the sonic machine. if its scale its a new component AFAIK.