will you fix anything?

[timmy74]

or is there a point where you'll just say look enough is enough when a boiler gets to a certain age, in me previous job the older engineers would always encourage people to keep BBU's as they easy to work on.

personally if a combi was say 15 yrs old and problematic i'd be saying come on now lets have this out and a new one in..

discuss

 

[gas4you]

So would I. I give a quote and tell them if their old one is repairable, then discuss their options. I always leave final decision to customer.

The only time I advise renewing a boiler un-necessarily is if they are spending thousands on a kitchen refit and they have an old floor standing boiler that would have to built in to new kitchen and might fail in the next 2 or 3 years therefore spoiling their kitchen design when replacing it.

 

[ollski]

If it works and you can get parts and the customer doesn't care about efficiency or controls then why shouldn't they keep it?. If you get a call every 2 weeks to repair it then that's money in your pocket and if you really don't fancy working on it any more just tell them and let them get something else. We don't really have any business in telling folk to replace their goods only to advise them in the benefits if required.

 

[corgiman]

With the dross that is availible these days I activly encourage customers to repair (where practicable ) their boiler

I am getting to the point where I HATE NEW BOILERS

 

[gas4you]

I'm quite happy with my old boiler. Cleans and cooks well

 

[Agile]

I will happily repair any boiler with only one exception the Saunier Duval !!!

I have no problem with any boiler even the Gem, Protherm, Savio, Ocean, Sime, Tri-Save, Heatline, Powermax, Sine 18 or any of the teasers which most others like to avoid. In fact its almost a challenge to repair something BG has given up on or which others have said is beyond repair.

Whilst I will repair them, I do tell customers that a Lynx, Worcester 9.24 or Sine 18 are getting quite long in the tooth and they should be considering replacing them soon.

Tony

 

[ChrisR]

INtermittent faults can be killers. I went to an Ideal Response 7 times in a year. Most were specific faults, but then it would randomly not light, or overheat, and as they don't last long anyway it came out.
There's another one in the same block going the same way. May be scale in the h/e primary. I've suggested they put up with it or dump it.

5 of the faults were timer, pressure switch, ignition module, electrode, flow switch(twice) and a sensor. Oh that's 6!

 

[simond]

I used to advocate my team repairing older boilers if the customer wanted it. We even had a guy who had been a BG specialist on Saunier Duvals that would fix any Saunier.

But regrettably, the great British public have changed my view. So many times we would go the extra mile and fix a fault on a miserable old boiler (oh, thank you, no one else would touch it blah blah).

8 months later, I would receive a call. 'Mrs Jones here, you fixed my boiler last year. Well its gone wrong again. I paid good money for that repair.' Mrs Jones assumes that your company have a picture of her on the wall and have only 4 other customers, you will remember her house and her boiler.

So you go round having replaced the divertor 8 months ago and the PCB or fan has gone. They want it fixed for nothing. If not they will tell everyone in the Bridge Club that you shafted them.

So, I'm afraid, if it is a combi and its old and looking crusty we tend to say 'get a new one'. Not because we want to fit it, but because someone owning a seriously crusty boiler and not wanting to change it is exactly the sort of person who will try and get free repairs forever after the first visit.

Frankly, they make it bad for the rest of the general public but we have to protect our company and staff from sharp customers.

I know Agile likes to think he can repair anything, well so do we. The difference is, we are careful about which individuals we offer this to. If the boiler hasn't had a service for 5 yrs, this tells you all you need to know.

 

[Agile]

I really wanted to stress the point that we will repair the boilers that others stay clear of.

Just like you Simon an old boiler poorly maintained is just that and before repairing it we tell the customer that the boiler is old and in poor condition and will be expected to fail again soon and whilst our repair is guaranteed that does not cover any of that other parts in the boiler.

I had a classic case of a fellow whose boiler we serviced about April which had a failed diverter a couple of months later. He thought he would have a full years insurance all for the price of a £55 service. He did pay for the repair when I explained the facts of life to him.

Tony

 

[gas4you]

How long before he fell asleep I wonder

 

[2scoops0406]

slightly off topic here, but I remember when I left the parental home, we still had the original boiler from when the house was built in 1935, I left in 1985. Now I'm not making any assumptions on its efficiency (very low I'd guess) or even how safe it was, but 50+ years is still some going. Pity the poor s*d who had to rip that beastie out it was made of cast iron.

Actually I've made an assumption there, the house was built in 1935, but I am quite possibly wrongly assuming the boiler was put in a the same time

In fact I'm almost certainly wrong there, but it certainly was a bloody old boiler.

 

[namsag]

About 15 years ago i came across 2 fires in bedrooms that had been fitted when the house was new in 1933 still connected with original radiants . Never been serviced and had been used up to a couple of years previous.

 

[Soggy_weetabix]

I have to agree with Tony, Corgiman and Dave on this one.

Old boilers are worth repairing (generally) but never a Saunier Duval.
One of the first words my father told me when I came into gas was "if you get a call to repair a SD never take it on"

Wise words, as I thought..."why, if I get a call Ill have a look"

Never again!

As you probably know, Ill do gaskets on nearly any bbu and if a gas valve fails on an old Ideal E 'Type' Floor standing I can always make a honeywell fit. In fact I will make a honeywell fit on most appliances where practible.

On these old work horses there is so little to go wrong that if you do a major repair it will be so long before the boiler fails again you may have had kids and grand kids before your called again.

Unless they are on my service contract.

David

 

[Onetap]

Old boilers are worth repairing (generally) but never a Saunier Duval.
One of the first words my father told me when I came into gas was "if you get a call to repair a SD never take it on"

You think you have problems with old boilers? Have a look at this.

http://forums.invision.net/Thread.cfm?CFApp=2&&Message_ID=174920&_#Message174920

Old boilers seem to be a regular challenge for US heating contractors; cast iron, coal fired, converted to oil, converted to gas, asbestos insulation.

A lot of them are still in use, read the posts. 75% efficiency possible/ achievable.

Not even Tony...........

 

[corgiman]

Thats a beautiful thing