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Discuss Worked all day, haven't made a tanner - Keston Celcius 25, flues in the Plumbing Jobs | The Job-board area at PlumbersForums.net

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Dannypipe

Plumbers Arms member
Plumber
Gas Engineer
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I had a horrible day today and managed to not repair anything, just went around condemming boilers.

I get a call from a builder who provides me with around 30% of my work....though he does get a fairly good rate from me.

Anyway, he owns and lives in a top floor flat and the people who own the ground rent (as with flats) had organised an inspection of all the boilers in the property.

Anyway they're all Kestons (lovely right!!) and my client has been ordered to change one of his flues, (intake) as it was the wrong material. he has also been ordered to take out the mechanical couplings and change them to solvent.

He wanted me to do this as it would be cheaper than using the guy who did the inspection.

Anyway, I check his and see the mechanical connections. Fine, easy. However both flues are made from the same material. So alarms start to ring. Also to my horror there are two more sets of flues passing right through the customers property. All in a compartment. Worse still they're both made with the wrong material and even worse, one of them is sealed with silicon and not solvent welded. The silicon has failed and shrunk back in places.

So I had to knock on his neighbours doors below his flat, look at their boilers, some of them were shambolic. Silicon used in joints that should be solvent welded, and mechanical couplings to the boilers.

The compartment where these flues pass through is the storage cupboard to the most adorable little girls bedroom. So now I'm on a mission to get the whole lot straightened out. I can't see the neighbours downstairs wanting to pay me as they're mainly rental properties. All in all I was at the property nearly 3 hours. I know I won't get paid for that time, which sticks in my craw! I know the builder should pay me, but I know if I charge him, I'll stop getting the nice jobs he puts my way. Even when I go back to change the flues, he'll want mates rates. Sometimes you just have to suck it up. I just finished a seven grand boiler install job for him, so I want to keep him onside.

Anyway next job I went to was installing two relays with a total of 12 connections. No wiring diagram came with the relays. They had been delivered to client from a website I had reccomended, which when I called them to check said they would arrive with wiring diagram. So said I will call them tommorow and return with a wiring diagram.

End result, loads of calls made and miles driven. End result in Danny's pocket? Sweet FA.
 
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Chin up mate ... Good things will come back round to reward you!!
 
Hopefully you have just made a little investment for the future
:)
 
That 'sweet' Fanny Adams is a miserable dame Danny. Ive met her myself ;). Better luck tomorrow.
 
Cheers chaps.

Chin up, tommorow is another day. Feel better for venting!
 
Sympathise. I too, have spent all day trouble shooting on Keston Combi's in flats. No easy solutions though. Nothing wrong with the boilers, its the size and heating design thats the problem. I think?
 
Went out today to faulty boiler for 2nd time as first attempt to fix had failed. parked on double yellows to unload, came back for spares box to find a ticket, thought sod it, added ÂŁ15 to bill to cover some cost, only read ticket later to find it had gone up recently from "25 to ÂŁ35" on early payment, so only made pin money once travel, hassle etc taken into account, gutted!
 
been out all day for letting agent 4 breakdowns,have to give price on each job,before work can be done,
not heard a thing yet,this really annoys me because i find out whats wrong price up the gear,then give them a costing
i would not be surprised if they ring around asking for prices on the faults i have diagonosed.so annoying should of stayed in bed
 
Danny lad try ringing the Keston rep if you can, cant hurt him to show a bit of generosity your way especially if you mention the forum. Worst case scenario send a letter in to Roger Bisby and take a few pics, least you'll get a free dewalt out of it.

Karma is a pig sometimes but on the brightside you've probably saved the life of that little bairn
 
Great feed back and good advise. Glag to see I'm not alone!

I get a free Dewalt if I send it into Roger Bisby....sounds good!

As an update, we're now altering all the flues...I have taken photos allready. I will upload the before and afters so you guys can take a squint.

I will call the Keston rep. I don't think much of their tech line. Right grumpy swines!

Anyway, from the posts above it seems like we're all in it together. Solidarity brothers!! :)
 
thats how it goes insnt it? eing self emplyed you can make alot of money one day and nothing the next
 
tomorrows another day as said,you earned sweet fa but probably saved lives,you can sleep at night you are a good engineer
 
did i read the thread right danny? solvent weld flues? not heard of these.
 
Cheer up Danny. It's nearly Christmas :D

Cheer up Danny.jpg
 
Disappointment all round, went to expand the little santa claus above, and she stayed as a minature photo, lifes full of disappointment and let downs.
 
Lol I posted that piccy up on the sly as the missus was sat next to me. As soon as it was posted I sent it to the trash can. I thought I would dig it out and see if I could make the picture larger to repost for oldplumber. Imagine my surprise when I discovered lots of *** pics in there. Ohhh that lodgers in trouble :D
 
Right, well said I would update and I will.

In this block of flats I have now condemmed one boiler and installed an electric 'Trianco' Aztec 12KW in its place. Landlord owner very pleased that he'll no longer need CP12's and has safe flat to let.

I have repaired one boiler (replaced flues, nice short simple run)

Changing another boiler in a couple of weeks to a new gas fired (in different location) - the owner caught me on the stairwell and asked me to price his up.

and condemmed one other, which went down like a turd sandwhich with the owner...who proceeded to have a go at me, and tell me it had been signed off 3 months ago. Showed me the paper work and it was AR!! What an idiot. So I told him so, very politely of course.

I will now attempt to show some photos.

Thought I'd do this as I was grateful for the advice, and promised to supply some feed back.

Oh and the boiler which I replaced with the Aztec, well a section of its flue was made from duct tape and a coke bottle...madness.
 
A week or so ago, I was called at 4:00pm for boiler breakdown. Went out and wasn't paid as was working and decided as it was the first time that day it was probably best to let it continue until building warmed up. Never called back and not paid. Then on way back home called to another customer with faulty shower. Nothing fixed that night and decided to give job to the shower manufacturer to save myself much hassle.

Three hours and no payment and after trundling around in the van in the dark I arrived back home. Later on I felt I was so lucky with life. On the 10pm news there was a story about children in Pakinstan(?) scavenging around rubbish tips looking for valuables to sell for about $3 for the day.:(:(
 
It breaks my heart seeing kids suffer, my little girl is the main reason I work so hard...so to see kids suffer is horrible. The reason I got the bit between my teeth with this job is that three flues passed through this little girls room. One from the flats owners boiler, and two from their neighbours boilers. One was spilling, the other unbeknown to me, had allready been ID'd by BG and shut down.

I have just condemmed the other and repaired the boiler in the flat she lives in.

At the end of it all I did earn some dosh too...but genuinely peoples safety have to come first, and making dough comes a close second!
 
f***@*@ hell atrocious work well done id ing it Danny frighting work
 
I thought keston boilers required 50mm ABS solvent UPC pipes and fittings? this is rotten.
 
Reg Man I have PM'd you back. Good luck with yours mate.

I'll just add, I was threatened with legal action from one letting agent as I switched their boiler off as they had tenants coming to stay for the week, and had to find them a hotel instead. The girl on the phone said, we've had it signed off, blah blah blah. I was furious when I got off the phone...and crapping myself about getting a letter from a legal firm.

Anyway, I stuck to my guns and I'm glad I did. This forum is a great place to get your confidence back up when people kick it...and i'm glad I found it.

My other half just sighs now when I put the laptop on, as she knows I'll be on here for a quick read, but it really is a useful source of info and help.

So thanks all.
 
That coke bottle flue is shocking, I don't know how someone could leave it like that.

Some people really do worry me!

Good reading though, keep it up ;)
 
Surely this is a candidate for Eye Spy or whatever they are calling it these days.
 
hi Dannypipe that does not look like a celcius 25 more like a c55 ,the 25 comes with a 50mm upvc flue from memory
 
Think I'll send it in to the Gas Safe Mag rogues gallery. There's a nice prize for best (worst) pictures. Think I could be onto a winner! :)
 
hi Dannypipe that does not look like a celcius 25 more like a c55 ,the 25 comes with a 50mm upvc flue from memory

No it was actually a 28, the C25 was in the upstairs flat (the one which i replaced the flue on). The block is all Kestons and Vokeras.
 
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