Extraordinary amount of gas!!!!

[Riley]

Chaps a little help if I may.

Glowworm 30CX

Moved a boiler for customer on Friday no probs tightness tested and on my way.

Called back today saying ignition fault. Went over, no gas on card, easily sorted.

Customer then points out that they only put £30 on the card a couple of days ago.

Yes they had the heating on solid for two days to help with drying out plaster but £30 in 2 days sounds ridiculous. There are no leaks on the system have tightness tested it at least 4 times now.

Is it likely to be a faulty meter???

Any thoughts as ever gratefully received.

Cheers

matt

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

customer lies?

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

customer lies? what did you get on gas rate?

 

[Riley]

Everything spot on and burning nicely. Customer is a really close mate of mine so am reluctant to think he'd lie. I have a suspicion that one of the chavs on the estate might've nicked their card but I don't have a lot of experience of card meters so don't know if the cards are interchangeable.

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

good thinking about stealing. I dont have much experience same as you with card meters. Hopefully somebody can share more info.

 

[Riley]

Cheers Galaxy lets hope so as £15 a day on gas seems stupid to me. !!!!!

 

[galaxy_plumbing]

how was the gas before?

 

[Killy Bing]

Permanent marker the edge of the card to see if it gets nicked.

do you know how much they pay per m3 of gas to work out the usage?

 

[Riley]

In what sense? Do you mean how much was used before?? Sadly we have no means of comparison. My friend bought the property from a guy who went bankrupt. The boiler is the only appliance in the house and had already been taken off the wall to be moved.

 

[Riley]

Hi Killy, that's a good shout re the marker as I said above my friend has only just acquired the property so don't know if he has any utility details as yet. Will find out tomorrow

 

[IND_Nick]

Some meters have a debt balance on them and take some of the balance each week to pay this off. Not sure of your mates circumstances but may be worth checking with their supplier. Also take an actual reading and see how much gas is used over the next few days rather than just the cost, should let you work out if the meter is faulty etc.

 

[Riley]

That's a great call Nick cheers for that. As the previous owner had no money that wouldn't surprise me at all

 

[ADM360]

Could be that if you got it from a disposal type sale then the meter could be in a negative and also there are daily charges for having the meter so if it was your mates first top up for a while it could have swallowed up all his credit on outstanding charges and negative balances, also the cards have an emergency amount on them usually about £5 which if used goes back onto the card so to speak when topped up!

Put a small amount back on and see how you go!

you do need to check these thing when you move in! even though it is a pay as you meter they can still rack up quite a large negative balance if left for a while!

hope this helps!!

 

[Riley]

Cheers ADM this is sounding like the problem thanks

 

[Chalked]

The same happend to me a few weeks back when commissioning a new boiler in a empty re possessed house.
i put £10 on the card and when inserted it showed a balance of £2.30!
Was just enough to test.

if the last owner was in arrears, the meter card is programmed to take some extra back each time.

 

[Riley]

Think debit is our winner. Cheers all

 

[Resolute]

As others have said, it's most likely a debt on the meter. Get your friend to call the supplier ASAP and they will clear it and send a new card.

Also, once the cards have been used in a meter they are registered to it and not interchangeable therefore it's no good to anyone if they steel it.

 

[northcarr]

Yes it will be debt on the meter I went to one the other week no credit on it Tennant had no cash so I gave him £20 to go get card (went on the bill) put it on Meter and got £4 credit scrolled through the meter £1996 debt ouch.