Boiler Fault Glow Worm 18Hxi?

Question

I have the above condensing boiler in my house which failed on Friday night. A friend of a friend of a friend is a plumber and came to take a look at it for me, he is NOT corgi registered. The fault with the boiler is nothing to do with gas, it is the spark electrode and a danfos motorised valve thingy which is upstairs next to the hot water tank.

He has fixed it for me and replaced the parts, he said he could do this as it is not a gas issue. Is this right? I have paid for the parts and labour £252.00 and my landlord is allowing me to deduct it off the months rent as she couldnt sort it as was going away.

Anyway, it is all fixed and am going to send the paid invoice to my landlady.

Answer 1

Actually, the legal liability for boiler maintenance rests solely with your Landlady so you are absolved providing she was aware of your actions. My advice in future would be to make sure that she arranges all work in this connection. I hope you have a copy of a current CORGI safety certificate as this is mandatory. Again, provision of this is exclusively her responsibility.

Answer 2

Agree with T Rex about cost of parts and you would need to be corgi reg to change the electrode, but come on T Rex only £40 to diagnose,obtain and change those parts-get real! How do you make a living wage?

Hi T Rex. I to have my doubts about a motorised valve and electrode being at fault-not usually related problems. I too carry universal spares but even so £20 an hour is cheap but good luck to you.

Answer 3

If it was spark electrode boiler would have shown fault code in display . Very rare for spark electrode to go faulty anyway.

What people charge is up to them but if he had changed spark electrode because boiler was faulty he would have had to have been Corgi Registered as would have needed to have carried out checks for safe operation of boiler. Especially note that taking electrode off would have meant breaking into the combustion chamber which is definitely classified as work on a gas fitting under the Gas Safety Regs.

Answer 4

Jonathan S, sadly you have been ripped off and i would demand that the person that carried out this repair for you hand back at least £150 or so.

The cost without any discount being applied on the parts used are>>>

1 - motorized zone valve     £53 inc. Vat

1 -  Spark electrode           £06 inc. Vat

Total Parts                        Ã‚£59.00  

You have been charged a whopping £193 for what should have been no more than 2 hours work and i'm even streaching that a bit.

The bill should have come to no more than £100

On another note, while fitting a new motorized valve is ok for a plumber to carry out, the fitting of the Spark Electrode  is attached to the gas valve / pilot light assembly and does require a CORGI reg. fitter.

In reply to Ted below,   all i would have charged is £40 pounds as i only charge £20 per hour, as a heating engineer the first thing i would have checked was to establish weather or not i could fire up the boiler IE. the electrode, this would have only taken a couple of mins. as for the motorized valve i have my doubts about that one, i suspect it was just changed to justify the price as you and oi both know it would not have stopped the boiler from firing up. I also carry most of these parts on-board so i don't have to go running back and forward to the suppliers all the time and wasting more of my time and running up a higher bill for the customer.

As a final foot-note Jonathan S, as you have told her how much the job costs and the fact that you have deducted same amount from your rent, then i would just play it by ear for now.

In future, i would remind the landlord / lady that it is their responsability to maintain the heating and hotwater in the premises and perhaps she should set up a maintinance contract with a private company or British Gas for a monthly fee, this would cover all breakdowns, callouts and parts also a yearly service and safety check, iether way she MUST have the gas appliances tested every year without fail and a landlords gas safety certificate issued, one copy to her and another supplied to yourself, all this should be set out within your lease details. Good luck.