Just had a new boiler fitted but no thermostat? Advice required ASAP

[t0ria]

hello all, this is my first post but could do with some advice ASAP please. I had a new boiler fitted today, it is a Baxi Potterton HE combi condensing boiler. My old Glow worm had totally given up the ghost. The problem I have is that the fitter didn't wire it in to my digital thermostat which is in the hall. In fact there is no thermostat at all, just the temperature control on the boiler itself. Also it only has a 24 hour timer, my existing thermostat had a 7 days programme.

When I asked him why I couldn't use the thermostat he said he was unable to wire it in. I don't actually think he even tried. He suggested I got myself a wireless one.

I haven';t paid him yet, he says he has got to come back tomorrow to look at my gas fireplace (even though I didn't ask him to). What does anyone think about this? Should he have fitted a thermostat? I have been reading that building controls on new houses require a themostat. Not all of my radiators have themostatic valves either.

If there is a better place for this question please let me know.

Thanks, Victoria, Manchester.

 

[ecowarm]

Hi Victoria welcome to the forum,


Yes you should have a thermostat fitted, ask the installer to get it wired by an electrician.

He could also use your old programer,

Eco

 

[t0ria]

Cheers ecowarm. We had agreed a price (although stupidly I didn't get it in writing.). Is he in his rights to charge me more for doing this?

 

[ecowarm]

No he should have allowed for a thermostat in the price

 

[Blackcatgas]

To comply with part L of the regulations the boiler should be fitted with an interlock (thermostat), the only time I havent fitted one is when Ive been instructed by the customer and even then Iam reluctant not to.

 

[t0ria]

Cheers all. My friend has just rung him (as I'm a bit of a girl when it comes to dealing with this sort of thing) and he has said that my existing thermostatic timer thing is not compatible with my new boiler. He has said a wireless controller ranges from £80 to £500. Having looked at some threads on here it seems like he has bumped the price up a bit? We told him that we would have expected this to included in the price and he kept saying I could use the boiler without one so it's not part of the price.

 

[ecowarm]

I think he is trying to pull the wool over your eyes, withold the money until installed correctly

 

[Puddle]

Cheers all. My friend has just rung him (as I'm a bit of a girl when it comes to dealing with this sort of thing) he kept saying I could use the boiler without one so it's not part of the price.

As said reg state you can not use it without a interlock ie thermostat,what thermostat/programmer do you have at the moment

imho

 

[t0ria]

It's says its a Danfoss TP5 http://danfoss-randall.co.uk/PCMPDF/022.pdf

 

[kimbo]

Building regs says that when a new boiler is installed a thermostat must be fitted to stop the boiler short cycling and the system must be updated that means that if there are no Thermostatic valves they must be fitted. If you wanted to get funny you could complain to gas safe.A friend of mine has just had a complaint which wasnt upheld and the gas safe inspector checked all these things, the only thing wrong with the installation was a thermostatic valve was fitted on a rad where the thermostat was.

 

[ecowarm]

Building regs says that when a new boiler is installed a thermostat must be fitted to stop the boiler short cycling and the system must be updated that means that if there are no Thermostatic valves they must be fitted. If you wanted to get funny you could complain to gas safe.A friend of mine has just had a complaint which wasnt upheld and the gas safe inspector checked all these things, the only thing wrong with the installation was a thermostatic valve was fitted on a rad where the thermostat was.

Thermostat where stat is, is ok if left on full

 

[Puddle]

It's says its a Danfoss TP5 http://danfoss-randall.co.uk/PCMPDF/022.pdf

This unit /your existing one can be fitted to the new boiler,not a problem,maybe he needs a electrician,if he had checked the wiring before he removed from old boiler,he should of been ok

imho

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

maybe the old one has a neutral but cant see why he could not have fitted a new digital thermostat on the old wiring its not rocket science

 

[t0ria]

Thanks very much everyone, I will just have to put my tough face on when he comes back tomorrow and confront him about it! Thing is he knows I don't really know what I'm talking about. I feel like I'm a bit less in the dark now though!

 

[ecowarm]

Just say your going to call gas safe to check the rules, that may make him change his mind

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

Just say your going to call gas safe to check the rules, that may make him change his mind

its not gas safe who will be interested its building control

 

[mooreofdevizes]

Ring Gas Safe with the question and they will give you the answer you need. Ask the installer for his membership number before you ring. Sounds like he is trying it on. Good luck.

 

[atty17]

a tp 5 is compatible, it requires a 2 core cable from the stat to the boiler, the danfoss tp5 is a programmable stat which will give you a 7 day programmer

 

[Blackcatgas]

a tp 5 is compatible, it requires a 2 core cable from the stat to the boiler, the danfoss tp5 is a programmable stat which will give you a 7 day programmer

Quite right, couldnt be easier to wire into the new combi, they still make them i think.

 

[plumbster3456]

gas safe will not be in the slightest bit interested its building control who will be more interested.
A boiler is not dangeous without a room stat so gas safe will not even look into it I would not have thought.

I have reported a lot worse in the past and then been given the run around such as a new boiler with no prv fitted fitter not registered probably they did nothing about this i dont even think they spoke about it again after i put the phone down.

guy should have fitted a room stat but as said before some people want the cheapest boiler at the cheapest price so maybe this is why theres no stat fitted.
not something I would ever do myself

 

[WHPES]

Without a room stat it can't meet building regs............

 

[bert large]

No excuse for not fitting a room stat, even a new one with the most basic of wiring requirements such as a Honeywell 6360 costs less than £20

 

[ecowarm]

I think the threat of phoning GS will do the job 😉

 

[t0ria]

guy should have fitted a room stat but as said before some people want the cheapest boiler at the cheapest price so maybe this is why theres no stat fitted.
not something I would ever do myself

Thanks for your help but that certainly wasn't the case, and the price increased after I had agreed it with him. I wanted a good, thorough job well done.

 

[kimbo]

I would have thought that gas safe wouldnt let a registered engineer not complying with building regulations carry on without having a word with him.

 

[Reg Man]

This person should have allowed for this thermostat in the original estimate/Quote. There are no excuses for him to push this back on you as an extra.

He is required to install this new boiler to comply with, manufacturer instructions and building regulations. The latter he has bombed out on.

If he don't play fair, you can complain to Gas Safe Register, but they only cover gas safety, alternatively Trading standards or your local building control office. In any event he has to produce a Part L building regulations certificate for compliance which he can do through Gas Safe Register (GSR) if his registered. Put loads of pressure on GSR if they don't want to know, because if they run a part L competent person scheme for part L they should have power to get the installer to put the work right.

 

[t0ria]

Hello again, thought you might be interested to hear the latest! Thanks to all your help I contacted the building regs people at Manchester council today who pointed me to the domestic heating compliance guide (thats a riveting read.....!). I also spoke to Main and to Danfoss to check whether the boiler and thermostat are compatible with each other (which they are). When the plumber came back I told him I was worried about the building regs and showed him what I had found- he said he would "try again" to get my existing stat working. FUNNILY ENOUGH- he's managed to wire it in now and it's all up and running. I think he just forgot to do it yesterday and decided it would be easier to lie about it and try to bamboolze me with made up techincal stuff.

Just wanted to say thanks again for all your help. It's difficult when you don't know what you're talking about so it helped having some facts to hand so I could confront him, which I couldn't have done otherwise. So cheers everyone! I am a happy, warm, toasty camper.

Victoria.

 

[Puddle]

thanks for the feed back t0ria,nice to know the out come of things,pleased all sorted out well
🙂

 

[Reg Man]

Hello again, thought you might be interested to hear the latest! Thanks to all your help I contacted the building regs people at Manchester council today who pointed me to the domestic heating compliance guide (thats a riveting read.....!). I also spoke to Main and to Danfoss to check whether the boiler and thermostat are compatible with each other (which they are). When the plumber came back I told him I was worried about the building regs and showed him what I had found- he said he would "try again" to get my existing stat working. FUNNILY ENOUGH- he's managed to wire it in now and it's all up and running. I think he just forgot to do it yesterday and decided it would be easier to lie about it and try to bamboolze me with made up techincal stuff.

Just wanted to say thanks again for all your help. It's difficult when you don't know what you're talking about so it helped having some facts to hand so I could confront him, which I couldn't have done otherwise. So cheers everyone! I am a happy, warm, toasty camper.

Victoria.

Thats great. So glad they came back and did the works. Just have to wait for for builing regulations certificate for Part L. But as the company has come back, I should think they will notify the work through the competent person scheme they are registered with. So look out for your post and a nice certificate should drop through your letter box. If not get straight back to them and remind them of their duty.

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

what i dont understand is why use the old stat ? the turn wheel analogue stats are never as accurate as digital or even better fit a honey well programmable its no good having a state of the art high performance combi with out the right controls to match

 

[ecowarm]

it was this stat gasman http://danfoss-randall.co.uk/PCMPDF/022.pdf not an old analog

 

[Billy Bob Bob]

it was this stat gasman http://danfoss-randall.co.uk/PCMPDF/022.pdf not an old analog

the light bulbs? they are not even the energy ones LOL,see what you mean eco thats a normal digital stat 2 wire circuit you cant understand why the guy would not wire it in the first place,can fully see the op,s concern the sad bit is they had to come on here to ask to get it sorted

 

[tamz]

The TP5 is a decent enough programable stat. Easy to work too.

 

[noleaksihope]

Glad to read your all sorted. Did the installer remove the integral time clock he d fitted to the boiler ? if not just leave it set to heating on constant to allow your 7 day digi stat to override it with your settings.
he might ve thought your existing stat was 240v (new is probaly 24v switching) and didn t have any testers with him y-day . giviing hime the benefit of the doubt anyway.

 

[gaspastemania]

Wouldn't bother with a digistat amount of times have to go through it with customers explaining how it works does my head in !!!
In all honesty he's probably forgotten to include it in the price or does not feel competent with electrics in anyway .Just tell him you need it fitted even if you spend 40 pounds on a stat and 50 on getting it fitted .