Corgi Home Care - Central Heating - What is and is not covered??

Hello

My mum has a Corgi Home Care cover plan for the plumbing in our home and today I have been told over the phone with the plumber trying to sort out leaks on the system.
He has said that they have been working on it for 4 hours and what was a small job is now turning into a disaster as disturbing and releasing joints and fittings and a few drain downs the system has blockages and air locks. He said the header tanks have never had lids so crap has got in there. He said all the pipework is rubbish and the house need a whole new central heating system replacing all pipework, boiler etc for 6K.
The Corgi home care plan does not cover the 40 year old pipework, sludge or power flushing the system,

So, my question is now we have no central heating which was working before they tried to fix the leaks why are we not covered?
On a previous visit to service the boiler they would no clean the MagnaClean so I email the manufacturers with the question:
"
We have had our Boiler (Worcester Greenstar 18Ri) serviced today and he asked my mum that she needed to sign a disclaimer as he said the MagnacleanProfessional has been installed on the Flow and it "Must" be on the return and he could not guarantee the work for leaking if they do service the filter... The filter has not been cleaned because she refused to sign the disclaimer.

Googling your product it recommends it is best installed on the return but not a "Must"...

Please clarify as it does seem like they are maybe looking to make a job out of it and rubbish British Gas's installation."

They replied:
"
We would always recommend that the filter is fitted on the return as this is Adey’s best practice. However in circumstances where it cannot be, then it can be sited elsewhere, but the protection of the boiler is then reduced.
The filter, if sited on the flow, will still function fine, will not invalidate the warranty and can still be serviced.
I cannot speak on behalf of any installers, but there is no reason why the filter cannot be serviced. Where it is sited, it is not the easiest place to service, but can be done."

We did have to get BG back who installed it to clean it out.

Your thoughts please?

Stand your ground with Corgi. Your argument should be it was working before you started work on it. Just out of curiosity if it was all working before hand why was he working on it?

Thanks for your reply
BG found leaks only small, when they cleaned out the MagnaClean.... tit for tat I think what's going on here..

This is a statement from the (Subcontract?) Plumber currently working in the house?

Ring Corgi Home care (or is the Plumber there for B.G?) and ask them thier view.

If they won't repair the leaks and put it back as it was, tell them you'll get a heating engineer in who can and then send them the bill and that you're not being Blackmailed into spending £6000 when it may not be needed.

Thanks Snowhead..
The plumbers there today were from Corgi.....
They said powerflushing could cause leaks everywhere as the state of the soldering when the house was built in 1980 is poor. They said they would not do it and it's not covered by the plan. We moved into it when the house was built. I remember Wimpey had to sort a lot of it out after we moved in.... like they did not lag the pipes etc...

What they are saying about the header tanks not having lids.... they have not had any since day one.... BG installed the new boiler about 10 years ago I think and if it was a requirement then surely they would of installed them as part of the Central Heating system wouldn't they?

Okay, home now so reading British Gas's engineers report he mentions that it is okay where it is but to please Corgi he said until the leaks he found have been fixed he will not reposition the MagnaClean on the return.
Mum says that the leaks are fixed but the system is blocked...
I am not to impressed by the state of the prep and soldering.... to me it looks like they have not cleaned enough of the paint off...
We now are left with no heating and no hot water as they have not replaced the immersion heater element...

See Attached.... a bit messy don't you think?

Okay.... been thinking after speaking to both tradesmen..... My initial thought was why didn't they bung up the header tank before draining off as this is probably the reason.... I am pretty sure I have one of those when I did some plumbing back in the day to avoid having to wait for it to empty and also avoid float and debris on the bottom become dislodged etc.... If I was working on any heating pipework I would have gone up in the loft to check the header tank condition...

Some engineers do not like using bungs.

Harvest Fields said:

Some engineers do not like using bungs.

Click to expand...

Well at least make sure the tank is reasonably free of large debris though eh before drain off?

As it mentions here - Flushing your central heating system – simple & something you really should do!

"First things first – get a clean start

Before doing anything else however, go and have a look in the system’s Feed & Expansion (F&E) tank. If you’ve never properly flushed the system or cleaned the tank, I’d imagine you’ll find that it’s full of sludge. This usually takes the form of brown gunk on the tank’s walls, and can look like a thick layer of sand all over the tank’s base."

Found this on this forum also - Cleaning loft header tank

The engineer returned after receiving an email with some of what I have mentioned above contained in it.... It turns out that yes there is sludge in the system, some of which is from the header tank but it did not help not opening the valves each side of the pump for the water to flow through and the boiler to kick in FFS...

This is the feedback I sent to Corgi HomePlan:

Hello
Our calls where always answered but we where left without central heating and hot water. The excuse of sludge in the system and we argued that the system was working before the work was done and told you that if you google before doing any draining off of a central heating system is to check the header tank for condition as any debris in it will end up causing blockages. The excuse of looking at the boiler and Magnaclean is not good enough in my opinion, as with anything on a customers property, it does not mean the rest of the system is upto the same standard. Mentioning the plumbing is poor and 40 years old does not stand up neither as you are happy to take our premiums each month without knowing the condition!


The first engineer before the last visit to fix leaks to service the boiler would not clean the Magnaclean as it could lead to leaks and that it has been installed incorrectly as he said it "Should" be on the return and not on the flow. According to the manufacturers Abey they said it is recommended to be on the return for the best performance but it is not a "Should" as it will still work anywhere on the system. I would suggest that your engineers educate themselves the difference between a "Should" and a "Recommendation". We have had the Magnaclean serviced by both British Gas would also said that the Magnaclean is fitted correctly and also your last engineers "Nothing wrong on where it is". My mum is getting this moved though which is really unnecessary and not sure if we will have to pay for the British Gas engineer to do this work. This is only being done due to the first engineer's misunderstanding of the installation requirements. Asking my mum to sign a disclaimer is wrong as the Magnaclean is part of the boiler service and not something that I would expect to leak as they are designed to be serviced with iso valves etc. If it was something that any engineer insists on a signed disclaimer then the British Gas engineer and your second engineers would have also requested it.

Going onto the fix to get the heating up and running the engineer returned on the Sunday to get the air out and also opened the valves each side of the pump which was obviously causing some of the issues with the heating/hot water system not working. So a bit of human error there.... one to put down to experience... please get your engineers to check valves are open when trying to start the boiler and also check the header tanks for debris before starting to work on a heating system - see this website article here - Flushing your central heating system – simple & something you really should do!....

It would have saved a lot of hassle for everyone involved.

Oh dear.... further problems...
We have had a Gas Engineer from British Gas to alter the Magnaclean onto the return and he has pointed out a couple of problems.

1. There is still a water leak in the airing cupboard which he said to me on the phone has not been soldered properly. It is the one closest to the floor. He also said, and put right, a leak that was still there above the boiler with a new drainer off.
2. The central heating pump has been fitted on the wrong way round so the flow of water is wrong and could cause the boiler to overheat if set to high.
3. FFS...

It’s the same old story when you pay to engineers you only get . Sadly a common story with insurance schemes. Profit goes before service.