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

 

[Aire]

Has he left any kind of report after the service or just verbally say the system is dirty?

 

[ShaunCorbs]

do you have problems with your rads heating up evenly ?

 

[townfanjon]

Question is , does he mean the boiler, or the system.

 

[Aire]

Question is , does he mean the boiler, or the system.

Maybe just needs a spray with some Mr muscle and a quick wipe

 

[Rob Foster]

Modern boilers have small heat exchangers with very narrow water pathways. The sludge is derived from the reaction between various metallic components in the heating system. There are numerous chemical additives for the centralheating water to prevent this sludge reaction happening. However home owners often ignore the warnings and end up with sludge in their system. Then a chemical treatment is not enough and a full system flush is required and can take a day to do throughly. After which the preventative chemical are added. The homeowner might wish to put a
magnetic and non magnetic filter near the boiler return as well. Manufacturers will invalidate warrantee on their products if the above are not implemented...a simple test will establish the situation. Some insurance type schemes stipulate a similar approach.

I would check the small print, a flush might be already in your scheme. I cannot see they can insist in your case...after all my new Honda is not serviced by Honda but with genuine honda parts at a much cheaper price.

However September is just around the corner but the big outfits are short of work at this time of year and desperate for extra work. Rob Foster aka
centralheatking

 

[Riley]

Another thread asking am I being “ripped off” is it possible that the engineer is actually right?? Why always so accusatory

 

[Burger]

Another thread asking am I being “ripped off” is it possible that the engineer is actually right?? Why always so accusatory

The world we live in I suppose. All these programmes about consumer rights and being ripped off.

 

[Deleted member 32524]

These contracts are set up in the contractors favour. They will happily take your money untill such time as they think it is going to cost them money and I see loads of people chucked off their contract as boiler gets older with rubbish like parts are no longer available or sludge in a system they have been "looking after" for 10 years.

 

[Riley]

Oh I’m not debating that but it just grips me when so many of these threads start like this whether it’s a big company or a sole trader