at annual service told boiler was dirty - is this a way to be ripped off

[Riley]

Where has this error code come from you’ve never mentioned it before

 

[selondonman]

i am a landlord and wasnt aware of the code until today ..

 

[Riley]

Not that it should make any difference that you are a landlord but I would be tempted to bin the service contract and employ a local independent firm to look after your boiler for you and put the money saved on the contract into an account for when something happens like a breakdown. The boiler you have unfortunately really isn’t a good one, and it sounds like it’s been up kept very poorly. For nobody from this contract firm to mention that a filter would probably help the situation shows that they aren’t interested in longevity they are just interested in taking your money month on month. The error code you mention could be one of a number of things. The long and short of it is that your system could well be dirty as I’ve said before this doesn’t happen overnight so I would be going back to the company and asking why the system hasn’t been treated properly with chemicals over the years that they’ve been maintaining it and also why they’ve never made any mention of the installation of a filter to aid the cleaning of the system. Your initial question was is the engineer that came out pulling a fast one? Based on what you’ve told us I would say no he isn’t he’s making the final call on what is probably already a badly maintained system

 

[selondonman]

yes agree keston arent the best .. and yes in hindsight should have cancelled the policy and banked the money .. due to location of boiler there is a horizontal flue run of 6 meters .. would prefer to keep same location and not have to change flue pipes .. so dont really want to replace a keston with a new keston but from what i have read i will struggle to use a valiant etc ..
so not sure i have a choice

i see the keston know producers their own filters .. so if retro fitting a filter does it matter if keston or not ..

 

[Riley]

Right let’s backtrack, where are you with this have they basically told you the boiler is beyond economical repair and you need a new one? is it just coming up with this error code and won’t fire or what? Personally speaking my first port of call would be to go back to this company and say to them you’ve not maintained my boiler. I have no reason to believe that the last engineer to come out hasn’t done a proper job but based on his report there has clearly been a lack of proper maintenance on the boiler and by proper I mean recommendations to you the customer re a filter, dosing the system with chemicals and actually cleaning the boiler properly. You seem to be looking for a quick fix to get this up and running again yet I would say for a prolonged period of neglect and improper maintenance it requires a proper fix

 

[rpm]

Right let’s backtrack, where are you with this have they basically told you the boiler is beyond economic all repair and you need a new one? is it just coming up with this error code and won’t fire or what? Personally speaking my first port of call would be to go back to this company and say to them you’ve not maintained my boiler. I have no reason to believe that the last engineer to come out hasn’t done a proper job but based on his report there has clearly been a lack of proper maintenance on the boiler and buy proper I mean recommendations to you the customer or filter, dosing the system with chemicals and actually cleaning the boiler properly. You seem to be looking for a quick fix to get this up and running again yet I would say for a prolonged period of neglect and improper maintenance it requires a proper fix

Isn't it a case of a new company taking over? If so then they aren't responsible for what did or didn't happen before.

Don't see how the forum can help tbh.

 

[Riley]

I totally agree mate, However in the interest of fairness I wouldn’t say this company has done what they told the customer that they’ve done

 

[rpm]

I totally agree mate, However in the interest of fairness I wouldn’t say this company has done what they told the customer that they’ve done

The only thing that the op will get is a headache now he has switched companies.
Sorry but that's how I see it

 

[Riley]

I agree. Its principal but I would still argue the toss though😉

 

[selondonman]

tenants are telling me they have had to reset the boiler a few times recently as they are getting an error message on boiler .. time came for annual service .. tenant told plumber the issue .. plumber says needs flush .. service contract says wont cover flushing and wont do anything until flushing has occurred .. it hasnt got to the point of non economic yet .. the issue is the boiler cant be repaired until power flush has been done .. so i feel trapped into paying a lot of money whcih might not be needed if the ignition is at fault

i can mention lack of service or lack or suggestion to install filter .. not sure that will get me anywhere ..

asking questions re new boiler due to the concerns i have for replacing a keston with a horizontal flue

 

[rpm]

I agree. Its principal but I would still argue the toss though😉

And get pushed from pillar to post for ever in the name of principles!
You have to know when to fold a bad hand mate 😎

 

[TonyQJ]

I’m simply a layman but I’d have thought that an 11 year old system that has no inhibitor or filter would be desperate for a flush regardless of any error messages from the boiler.

 

[Riley]

You can but try but as far as I’m concerned they have not been maintaining your boiler

 

[selondonman]

thanks for all the advice .. whats a fair price for power flush 11 rads, 2 towel rails .. se london ... and cost to supply and fit filter

 

[ShaunCorbs]

I’m simply a layman but I’d have thought that an 11 year old system that has no inhibitor or filter would be desperate for a flush regardless of any error messages from the boiler.

depends on the system and how it was installed ive got a system on old rads (15) that i havent touched and im sure you can drink the water its that clear 😀

 

[TonyQJ]

depends on the system and how it was installed ive got a system on old rads (15) that i havent touched and im sure you can drink the water its that clear 😀

Interesting. Ours is filthy (although 25 years old now) and the filter catches a fair bit.

 

[Riley]

You should prepare yourself that there may be a leak on the system or something I am assuming it’s a sealed system in the property as such the water really shouldn’t be bad unless freshwater is being constantly added to the System to maintain pressure

 

[king of pipes]

It's a ********* error code and so the engineer should be looking at the ******* of the boiler the removal of ********** and ********* , this could quite easily be caused through lack of maintenance, filters and flushing is another chapter and if it was related to a blockage then you would have a different set of error codes. Kop

 

[Millsy 82]

What I think you should do is in writing ask how sludge is going to cause a flame failure lockout? Ask them what was carried out to determine that the system is sludged up.

No point going after the last company as they will have it somewhere in the small print that they wont be responsible.

Then learn from this and dont take out service contracts. Find someone you trust and use them for everything.

 

[centralheatking]

i am a landlord and wasnt aware of the code until today ..

So you are a landlord, and all your gas appliances are checked by law every year. So why not get them serviced at the same time ?
Properly..then you have happy tennants and little hassle.
All my properties are looked after this way and we have good retained tennants that like to stay. Nothing worse than the phone call at the weekend ..whatever is wrong or when you at the theatre
prevention is way better than cure. My colleague has 800 properties in North West and ALWAYS takes this approach. Sty = Pig so they look after their properties. centralheatking