Power Flushing & British Gas

[johnMA]

Hi,

I have had British Gas (part of service contract) round to diagnose and fix a problem with our central heating. We have a Potterton Puma (7 years old) with 7 radiators in our ground floor flat. The first radiator (bathroom) is fairly hot, the rest in the house are a mixture of cold of very cool. Within 10 minutes of arriving British Gas declare it's a job for a powerflush (£800). The boiler seems to fire every 60 seconds and stays on for 30 seconds. Hot water is very hot at the nearest tap (5 feet from boiler) and warm/hot at the shower.

I have seen reviews of British Gas and their insistence of Power Flushing which turn out not to be the actual problem in the end. If the power flush does not resolve the issue I was told they would continue to work on the issue until its resolved. And so they should, I pay a maintenance contract of £300 per year for central heating and pipework. My £800 will not be refunded if this does not solve the problem. Separate quotes from other companies have estimated £400 - £450 for the same work. I asked why the higher price, BG say "well unlike them our powerflush is guaranteed for 10 years" - What!!! how can a flush be guaranteed for 10 years?

I called Potterton/Baxi's technical department and they've told me it's either the diverter valve that needs replacing or there is a leak somewhere on the hot water system.

I already cleaned out my CH system and used the Fernox cleanser, drained it (lots of gunk but eventually water ran clear at a reasonable pressure)

I'm stuck and don't know what to do. I don't trust BG at all having such a quick diagnosis of the issue so far?

Thoughts much appreciated.

Thanks

John

 

[Rob]

f the power flush does not resolve the issue I was told they would continue to work on the issue until its resolved.

How? What will they do when it doesn't work? Why can't they do that stuff before because i guarantee it wont cost anywhere near £800.

Best thing to do is get a competent boiler man round. Id want the pump and diverter changed before any £800 powerflush.

 

[ollski]

I asked why the higher price, BG say "well unlike them our powerflush is guaranteed for 10 years" - What!!! how can a flush be guaranteed for 10 years?

Well beacuse if it requires another 1, 2, 3 or more flushes they are done free of charge.

If youv've already seen a load of much coming out of the system yourself then you should also know if needs flushing evn when it runs clear there will still be loads of muck in other parts and solidifying in rads and pipes. It's a very quick diagnosis when the system is blocked with sludge.

800 quid seems rich, the powerflush is a fixed cost of 568 including pipework alterations if required although it will be a fair bit more if you get one of the big magnacleans fited as part of the flush.

 

[nickso]

I asked why the higher price, BG say "well unlike them our powerflush is guaranteed for 10 years" - What!!! how can a flush be guaranteed for 10 years?

Well beacuse if it requires another 1, 2, 3 or more flushes they are done free of charge.

If youv've already seen a load of much coming out of the system yourself then you should also know if needs flushing evn when it runs clear there will still be loads of muck in other parts and solidifying in rads and pipes. It's a very quick diagnosis when the system is blocked with sludge.

800 quid seems rich, the powerflush is a fixed cost of 568 including pipework alterations if required although it will be a fair bit more if you get one of the big magnacleans fited as part of the flush.

remember his postcode may bump up the flush quote, it does sound like a magnaclean has been added to the quote too, no bad thing.

i agree his initial diagnosis does seem a bit quick, what did he do in that 10 minutes? i would have said the diverter was faulty myself but if the system is sludged up then its going to be the same symptoms. when did you clean the system?

in a nutshell, if the system has poor water quality then they are within the contract to ask you to flush it if they think the water quality has caused the issue. if they do a repair and warn of that then they can outright refuse to repair anything further until you flush it.

 

[Nige F]

£800 to a National company with shareholders......£600 to a one man band for a day`s work (changing a boiler)...who`s the bad guy ...........hire a powerflush machine and D-I-Y

 

[DP]

Nige fail to see how a replacement boiler (for £600) is going to cure the problem. All well and good when a boiler is replaced. Day one it works just great and plenty of hot water to steadily get worst as muck in the system takes up residence within the boiler. Then you have the same problem.

The only way forward is to clear out the muck and then, only then (if a new boiler is needed) replace the boiler.

 

[simond]

I agree and i would firstly take off one of the rads (double panel because they sludge up quickest) and if it is not full of sh*te check the pump out.

Or did I mean chuck the pump out?

 

[Bamber gaspipe]

Hi,

I have had British Gas (part of service contract) round to diagnose and fix a problem with our central heating. We have a Potterton Puma (7 years old) with 7 radiators in our ground floor flat. The first radiator (bathroom) is fairly hot, the rest in the house are a mixture of cold of very cool. Within 10 minutes of arriving British Gas declare it's a job for a powerflush (£800). The boiler seems to fire every 60 seconds and stays on for 30 seconds. Hot water is very hot at the nearest tap (5 feet from boiler) and warm/hot at the shower.

I have seen reviews of British Gas and their insistence of Power Flushing which turn out not to be the actual problem in the end. If the power flush does not resolve the issue I was told they would continue to work on the issue until its resolved. And so they should, I pay a maintenance contract of £300 per year for central heating and pipework. My £800 will not be refunded if this does not solve the problem. Separate quotes from other companies have estimated £400 - £450 for the same work. I asked why the higher price, BG say "well unlike them our powerflush is guaranteed for 10 years" - What!!! how can a flush be guaranteed for 10 years?

I called Potterton/Baxi's technical department and they've told me it's either the diverter valve that needs replacing or there is a leak somewhere on the hot water system.

I already cleaned out my CH system and used the Fernox cleanser, drained it (lots of gunk but eventually water ran clear at a reasonable pressure)

I'm stuck and don't know what to do. I don't trust BG at all having such a quick diagnosis of the issue so far?

Thoughts much appreciated.

Thanks

John

Unfortunately for you, half of the posters here work for british gas, they may help you.
I doubt it.

 

[johnMA]

I eventually forced British Gas to change the diverter valve on the boiler before I would agree to having any powerflush done. The engineer came and change the diverter valve and hey-presto all radiators came back on with full heat within minutes. So, no heating since November all because of British Gas and their insistence that my system needed flushing.

I could be cynical and believe the powerflush is prescribed because it's the next most costly thing they can do other than replace the whole boiler (which by the way was also suggested). Some people would probably take their advice and pay the £800, my advice is don't, your interests are not necessarily in their interests insist they back up their suspicion that your system needs flushing. If possible if you do go down that route, get it in writing that if the powerflush fails to resolve the problem you don't pay!!

I will cancel my contract with BG and go back to my local company who seemed more interested in resolving this issue.

 

[baxpoti]

I called Potterton/Baxi's technical department and they've told me it's either the diverter valve that needs replacing or there is a leak somewhere on the hot water system.

One they got right then!

 

[Goldspoon]

Out of curiosity and me being a novice to heating systems...

If it's the diverter valve that's the problem how come one rad might get hot but others not? Surely a valve is yes/no as to whether it supplies the flow to the rads and it cannot say "oh, I'll just let one rad have some water today"?

 

[Gasguru]

The Puma diverter is unlike any other diverter valve. It uses a wax element to provide the force to shift the diverter internals from hot water mode to heating. The wax element becomes "lazy" and it doesn't fully shift to heating mode. With just a little movement the nearest radiators will often heat up. A flawed design by Potterton when a Giannoni valve would have done the job much better....bean counter cost cutting no doubt. Normally start to play up after 6 or 7 years.

 

[Agile]

The diverter valve does not close fully and so only a small pressure will create a flow through the heating system.

It puts a little heat into the rads with the lowest flow resistance, usually those close to the boiler!

It may have been a very good design but it was a wonderful earner for Potty as that valve is only available as their spare part at a high price!

Tony

 

[Gasguru]

I was lead to believe that the significant design faults on the Puma led to Baxi taking over since Potterton could not meet their warranty obligations..ie the failure rate within the extended warranty period was very high.

If only a one year warranty had been offered then reliability would not have been an issue and the Puma would be a good earner thereafter.

 

[heatingman]

I was lead to believe that the significant design faults on the Puma

and Suprima and Kingfisher MF/CF and Envoy, after the Profile it all went to pot