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Since any advice/opinions you get on here you are getting for free I don't think you can complain too much if you aren't happy with what you get. I will fit parts if customers want to source them but I will charge for any time spent fitting and then having to remove any faulty component I haven't supplied myself. That's just my choice I can understand why some guys won't do this. With regard to paying for training its gas safety related training that we get that simply allows an operative to work safely it doesn't include detailed fault finding on individual appliances that comes from experience but I would agree with you that you should expect someone your paying to be able to diagnose a fault however its not always possible to this on a single visit especially if the fault is intermitent and the appliance is working properly on arrival as any tests done will show correct operation so your left to take an educated guess at the cause. In my experience intermitent faults are nearly always electronics but I'm not allowed to be any more specific
 
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It is about 15 years old.

Recently I had a problem with the boiler when it wouldn't fire up using the timer, but we were able to fire it up manually using the boiler thermostat control. Then boiler wouldn't fire up manually either.

An engineerfrom a company I had used previously said it would cost £400+ vat to fit a new PCB, he told me that the PCB was £200.00. I !checked it out and found that I could get one for £78.00!

I got a heating engineer via Rated People. He came out and checked the boiler over. He checked the PCB, using a meter, he said the PCB had a loose connection. He also found the gas pressure was low. He sorted out these problems and fired the boiler up.

The boiler didn't fire up on the timer again the next day and we couldn't fire up the boiler manually either. The engineer returned and fitted a new PCB and this time did another test with the wall thermostat set at maximum and minimum. The boiler worked for a few days and then wouldn't fire up again on the timer or manually.

The engineer charged me for fitting a new PCB and sorting out the gas pressure, he didn't charge me for the second visit. Cost was £194.00

I have now been informed that I need a new Gas Valve and a Thermostat Control.

Can anyone please advise me on what is happening with my boiler, and if the engineer should have been able to diagnose all the faults listed on his first or second visit. He wants to charge £225.00 plus vat this time.

I checked up on the internet and ebay and the gas valve is about £77.00 and a thermostat sensor is about £22.00. Should I pay for fitting these? He has offered to repay me the £100 labour charge if I do not use him.

Would I be better off going for a repair contract with Baxi or British Gas? these cover the initial repair and all parts and labour plus any call outs after that for a monthly fee of around £20.00. This is a 15 year old unit, so it is likely to go wrong again I assume. I have never had a problem with it for 15 years. I just had my kitchen re-done so a new combi boiler is out of the running.

If one of you helpful people would be good enough to list the sort of things I should keep an eye out for, something like a fault finding list would be useful.

Thanks in advance.

If you had a service contract from day one you would have paid thousands in to it. one off repairs are cheaper in the long run do the maths and keep your money in the bank.find yourself a local company to service your boiler yearly and supply and fit parts when needed.
 
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