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

[selondonman]

hello i have scottish power boiler cover .. a couple of times recently boiler shut down on its own (keston) had annual boiler service and engineer told wife the boiler is dirty ..

does this mean there is sludge which of course isnt covered

so it this an excuse for the plumber to try and make me spend more cash when he could repair it under the warranty ?

how will i be able to determine that ?

also if i have to go down the power flushing route .. does it have to be the plumber that did the service and i assume will try to charge max .. or can any registered plumber do the powerflush and the maintenance contract be continued

 

[selondonman]

Because you’ve come out and said your system doesn’t have a filter on it and no chemicals have been added at services. There’s some ammo to go back with. The likelihood is that your system is dirty BUT that hasn’t happened overnight, that has happened due to neglect and a lack of proper servicing.

would filters have be added as standard in 2008 ?

i have had a boiler service plan .. will the companies come back and say you need a a boiler and radiator plan to include chemicals ..

 

[Riley]

Small print mate. Filters have been around for years and people still choose not to fit them. Additionally has the company pointed out that one would be a good idea? They can be fitted after the event

 

[king of pipes]

All my systems get drained and manually flushed every 5 years with new inhibitor added, would you leave the same oil in your car for 10 years answer is no neglect your heating system and it will fail sooner or later . Kop

 

[rpm]

so the engineer came for the service


Interestingly had boiler cover with scottish power .. nothing mentioned .. suddenly new company takes over and tries to invalidate policy asap

i have had good experiences with independent plumbers .. who live and die by their own reputation .. others who work for insurance / service companies are definitely not on the side of the consumer

The middle paragraph say`s it all for me!

 

[selondonman]

so the error on the keston q28s is an e04 which is

E04
Flame lost 5 times in a single demand period - check combustion setting high
and low, and ignitor condition

would this be caused by sludge ?

need for power flush ?

thanks

 

[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