Three Way Valve Issue ?? Am I being ripped off ??

[Dylanthetiger]

Hi
I've had my old Baxi Wm38/3/rs replaced a couple of weeks ago with a Worcester Greenstar system boiler. The enginer quoted me £1,990 and the bill ended up as £2,030. House is two bed semi with 5 radiators.

The quote included installing a 3 way valve so that, as I was told, the rads would then work independently from the hot water and therefore the hot water could be timed to come on say for an hour in the morning and evening independently, saving heating costs.

The system is 30 years old and was previously an "open system" at least I think that was what it was called. There was no thermostat on the bathroom radiator to stop it being turned off and the hot water and rads all worked together......hope that makes sense.

Boiler has been installed and next day I noticed the bathroom rad was not working although all the others were fine. (He had fiitted a thermostat to the bathroom rad at my request). Rang engineer he told me it only works with the hot water on. I told him I was not happy and that the whole idea of the 3 way valve was to have rads working independently from hot water. Told him I am not happy to have hot water on all the time to heat the bathroom rad. He says to correct this he will have to make a further charge as it will involve substantial further work.

Question is do I pay the bill or insist he comes back to wire up the bathroom rad correctly first ?? Is he trying to get away with only doing half a job or am I being unreasonable by insisting he carries out the remedial work within the price he quoted ??

 

[Goldspoon]

Sounds like he should really have said what he was going to do.

Personally I like the idea of hot water through the towel rail - dries towels when rads off e.g. summer.

These things happen - maybe a compromise somehow...?

 

[transam]

sound s like the bathroom rad has been piped off of the h.w side of the 3 way valve , ucan & we often do make the bathroom rad independant meaning it will work all the time the boiler is on , in order to do this the flow for this rad should be t'd off before the 3 way valve e,g between the pump & the entry to the 3 w valve ???

 

[londonboy]

Leave it as it is. Wet towels in the summer drive me loopy!

 

[transam]

Alter it , bathroom rad under the control of the cylinder stat ?? in the middle of winter

 

[londonboy]

Its got a trv on it too

 

[transam]

its got a trv on it what has that got to do with it ??? what if hes got a super duty heat up cylinder , middle of winter no demand for hot water , cylinder up to temp , bathroom rad cold , what should he do turn cylinder stat up ??? in order to heat the bathroom ??? or perhaps he should disco the cylinder stat ?????

 

[tamz]

I take it you only had a boiler swap and mid pos valve added not full new system?

Towel rail would have already been piped that way.

If you want it altering it will cost you. Your man isn't a charity he is running a business.

 

[londonboy]

I thought it was off primaries

 

[Dylanthetiger]

I thought it was off primaries

Sorry I'm bit thick what does this mean ?

 

[transam]

it should not have been piped up like it , its that simple , there is nothing wrong with a rad being piped off of the primaries , so that it will work all the year , e.g in summer e.t.c but it should not be under the control of the cylinder stat , I would not pay any one to alter it . logic must dictate that if the rad is piped up on the h.w side of a 3 w valve prob's would occur ,
either 1 put into the heating circuit or 2 if u want a rad to work independant pipe it up between the pump & entry to 3 w valve !!!

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

cost you at least 200 quid to get someone to alter that

yes he should of told you, but come on you can not expect him to do this for free?

 

[Dylanthetiger]

its got a trv on it what has that got to do with it ??? what if hes got a super duty heat up cylinder , middle of winter no demand for hot water , cylinder up to temp , bathroom rad cold , what should he do turn cylinder stat up ??? in order to heat the bathroom ??? or perhaps he should disco the cylinder stat ?????

Yeah that's my point. I've got to keep the hot water on all bloody day to heat the bathroom otherwise it's too cold in there !! To be fair that's the position I was in before the 3 way valve was installed but I knew about that. Seems I've completely wasted my money on the 3 way valve installation, what have I achieved ??

The engineer told me the rads would work independently of hot water, I reckon he should have explained that the bathroom rad would be different then I'd have left thing as they were and saved some money. I appreciate he's got a living to make but he's already billed me over £2,000.

This is for a boiler replacement not a new system. And he never even power flushed the system saying it was not necessary and he only fitted new thermostatic valves leaving all the old valves at the end of the rads still in place.

OK so I'm not happy, he's not even offered me a price to come back and
sort it out. If I don't pay the bill what happens next ??

 

[onlyfitidealboilers]

well for a start your installer will be a bit cheesed off! just a bit.

did you advise him you new the bathroom rad got hot in the summer?

 

[tamz]

To be fair that's the position I was in before the 3 way valve was installed but I knew about that.

But did the installer know that? He is not a mind reader. If he was aware of this beforehand and you had made it clear that you wanted it changed he could easily have done so at the time and allowed for it in his initial price.

[/quote]If I don't pay the bill what happens next ??

That is very much up to the installer but can range from court to some broken bones