Potterton Powermax HE Boiler

[leonora]

Hi. Some guidance on the above boiler would be hugely helpful. I am in the process of buying a flat for my 90-year old parents so that they can be nearer to me in the (frequent) case of emergency. Have had a retired Corgi-registered friend to look at the boiler and he has pointed out that, in the event of a service being carried out, the occupants of the two flats above would need to be informed and the flue checked in their properties; alternatively, the boiler would have to be turned off!

Can I ask whether anyone has experience of this boiler being installed as standard in a block of flats (three floors, three flats to a floor)? I've looked online at the manual and it would appear to my totally untrained eye that a horizontal flue is a possibility so I am wondering whether my friend missed this and the neighbours do not need to be involved after all!

Incidentally, this is not the original boiler. All flats had their boilers replaced in 2008, two years after they were built, as the original models were not fit for purpose and the pressure was too low. I've spoken with the freeholder (local housing association) in an attempt to get to the bottom of it but they state that this work would have been carried out under the NHBC warrantee and they would not have been involved.

Any help or advice would be hugely appreciated as I obviously want to ensure that my parents have a safe environment.

Regards.

 

[nickso]

Very common appliance in new build flats where a standard horizontal flue is not possible for what ever reason.

They can be installed with a normalish horizontal flue though. Your friend is likely concerned with the current flue falling foul to relatively new flueing standards.

You need to find out if the flue is in a void, whose void it's in and if the new regs can be met. A lot of them will not meet the regs. I would hope your man should have been able to determine that for you.

As a side note, the boiler is not a good one and you need to find someone very thorough and competent to look after it.