This is the standard of a heating engineer today

[chris watkins]

This is a classic & really does make me wonder!!
Some of you might think I am over zealot when it comes to the correct level of training for the industry but this might give you an inkling why I am like I am.

Just got of the phone an hour ago from one of our engineers he was booked for a technical visit to a house with a year old Vaillant boiler which has been turning itself on & off randomly all that time & has had a few people look at it so I am told.
Few checks & he finds the controls link still in place, so simple enough removes the 24V link & away we go all sorted, maybe not that uncommon & easy to miss if you don't read the instructions but this is not the issue here.

He is just wrapping up & taking payment when the customer mentions how difficult he finds it to top up the system as there is no gauge (boiler is a open vented / regular type).
Engineer where is the red vessel etc? - customer - haven't got one of them. Engineer - you must have, but quick search reveals, oh no he hasn't, no vessel, no safety valve, no gauge.
Customer - would you mind having a word with the installer please.
Which our engineer does & what do we think this GSR Vaillant approved installer said ?

Answers on a postcard please to PO Box ........

 

[dancinplumba]

WTF has it got to do with you ?

 

[chris watkins]

WTF has it got to do with you ?

Oh sorry mate I didn't realise it was your install.

 

[Chalked]

Probably thought all boilers came with an expansion vessel.

 

[chris watkins]

Probably thought all boilers came with an expansion vessel.

No, it seems they new what a 400 series boiler is & what it contains.

 

[SimonG]

I'm going to give the response a miss but guess it's a good one, just like my last job today.
Bloke been pestering me for weeks about his oil Boiler.
Turns up and it's a firebird kitchen model, condensing.
Keeps locking out won't run longer than 5 minutes.
Turns it on and gets a waft of fumes in the face. No plug in test port.
Runs a while, restarts itself every couple of minutes.
Pulls out burner, nozzles black and signs of sorting.
New 0.85 x 80 ES nozzle in and in goes the analyser.
13% co2, Co up and little excess air.
So ups the air and gets it set at just under 11 co2 and it runs like a train. Last 3 engineers all gas guys.
Bloke then starts saying underfloor heating stats have to be reset everyday. Powered from time Clock and De energise every time Clock knocks them off.
The boilers a 4 porter. Flow from top right hand side and return from bottom left hand side feed underfloor heating. Two port on flow and no pump other than on manifold. Return way hotter than flow.
Return on right hand side rises from boiler to pump, pumping away from boiler. Flow on right hand side rising from boiler hotter than pumped.
We had a discussion about re piping etc then thought better have a look at airing cupboard.
Well, big feck off gled hill cylinder sat on top of a dunsley neutraliser, but no second heat source. Apparently it was plumbed to accept ground source at some time.
Oh and in the boiler room, just below the ceiling there's a chrome towel rail fed from above straight into the top two connections.
Plus the three showers fed from the pump don't work properly.

Job for the new year. He's asked for an estimate. I rubbed the beard and said three hundred a day plus materials and it will take as long as it takes.

its honestly the worst I have seen

 

[Harvest Fields]

I think he said. Evening Chris. How’s my sister and the kids doing. Mom wants to know if your around this Sunday for a beef dinner? You bring the pudding.

 

[oz-plumber]

Waiting for Chris' reply on that one.

I have an image in my mind that Chris is 'Hannibal Lecter' and he's about to eat Harvest for dinner

 

[Last Plumber]

He said, " It's open vented".
Then added some "numb nuts" type comment under his breath?

 

[chris watkins]

I'm going to give the response a miss but guess it's a good one, just like my last job today.
Bloke been pestering me for weeks about his oil Boiler.
Turns up and it's a firebird kitchen model, condensing.
Keeps locking out won't run longer than 5 minutes.
Turns it on and gets a waft of fumes in the face. No plug in test port.
Runs a while, restarts itself every couple of minutes.
Pulls out burner, nozzles black and signs of sorting.
New 0.85 x 80 ES nozzle in and in goes the analyser.
13% co2, Co up and little excess air.
So ups the air and gets it set at just under 11 co2 and it runs like a train. Last 3 engineers all gas guys.
Bloke then starts saying underfloor heating stats have to be reset everyday. Powered from time Clock and De energise every time Clock knocks them off.
The boilers a 4 porter. Flow from top right hand side and return from bottom left hand side feed underfloor heating. Two port on flow and no pump other than on manifold. Return way hotter than flow.
Return on right hand side rises from boiler to pump, pumping away from boiler. Flow on right hand side rising from boiler hotter than pumped.
We had a discussion about re piping etc then thought better have a look at airing cupboard.
Well, big feck off gled hill cylinder sat on top of a dunsley neutraliser, but no second heat source. Apparently it was plumbed to accept ground source at some time.
Oh and in the boiler room, just below the ceiling there's a chrome towel rail fed from above straight into the top two connections.
Plus the three showers fed from the pump don't work properly.

Job for the new year. He's asked for an estimate. I rubbed the beard and said three hundred a day plus materials and it will take as long as it takes.

its honestly the worst I have seen

Do you not look at these jobs & think it took real effort to get it that wrong!!
Just the briefest of glances at the instructions would have been all that is required.
How many times have I seen the MI's with a size 10 signing off the front cover were its been left on the floor only to be picked up reluctantly when it doesn't work.
Is it some sort of pride thing that they shouldn't need to read??

What with the tinernet it only seems to be getting worse. Find a fix in seconds, find out how it should be installed in the first place - no chance.
yours GOM

 

[chris watkins]

Waiting for Chris' reply on that one.

I have an image in my mind that Chris is 'Hannibal Lecter' and he's about to eat Harvest for dinner

Funny enough I do like a bottle of Chianti Classico, you must come round some time soon, OZ.

 

[chris watkins]

I think he said. Evening Chris. How’s my sister and the kids doing. Mom wants to know if your around this Sunday for a beef dinner? You bring the pudding.

Wife's twin brother is a lead worker & never asks after the kids, let alone the old boiler she always comes round to us & it was lamb this Sunday

 

[Harvest Fields]

I think he said. Evening Chris. How’s my sister and the kids doing. Mom wants to know if your around this Sunday for a beef dinner? You bring the pudding.

This should say you’re and not your.

 

[Harvest Fields]

Wife's twin brother is a lead worker & never asks after the kids, let alone the old boiler she always comes round to us & it was lamb this Sunday

I had a Jamaican mutton curry on Sunday. It was awesome.

 

[chris watkins]

I had a Jamaican mutton curry on Sunday. It was awesome.

Home cooked ?

 

[Harvest Fields]

Home cooked ?

Yes mate. My Dads speciality.

 

[Harvest Fields]

So did we ever find out what he actually said?

 

[chris watkins]

So.... the installer said it had one (expansion vessel), to which our guy said where, up in the cylinder cupboard came the reply.
There is only the white one on the (unvented) cylinder said Mike our guy, where's the heating one & the safety valve. Why would it need another one & there are 2 safety valves on the cylinder!!!!!!!!

Just a filling loop was all that is needed, don't know why you guys waste your money buying & installing those sealed system robo kits?? One year it has been like that, Building control certs (via Vaillant) on site the lot.

I have a feeling he missed the day they did direct / indirect cylinders & primary / secondary waters on his 4 week plumbing course.
What do you think?

 

[Harvest Fields]

So.. the installer said it had one (expansion vessel), to which our guy said where, up in the cylinder cupboard came the reply.
There is only the white one on the (unvented) cylinder said Mike our guy, where's the heating one & the safety valve. Why would it need another one & there are 2 safety valves on the cylinder!!!!!!!!

Just a filling loop was all that is needed, don't know why you guys waste your money buying & installing those sealed system robo kits?? One year it has been like that, Building control certs (via Vaillant) on site the lot.

I have a feeling he missed the day they did direct / indirect cylinders & primary / secondary waters on his 4 week plumbing course.
What do you think?

 

[Welder]

So.. the installer said it had one (expansion vessel), to which our guy said where, up in the cylinder cupboard came the reply.
There is only the white one on the (unvented) cylinder said Mike our guy, where's the heating one & the safety valve. Why would it need another one & there are 2 safety valves on the cylinder!!!!!!!!

Just a filling loop was all that is needed, don't know why you guys waste your money buying & installing those sealed system robo kits?? One year it has been like that, Building control certs (via Vaillant) on site the lot.

I have a feeling he missed the day they did direct / indirect cylinders & primary / secondary waters on his 4 week plumbing course.
What do you think?

Suspect he missed all but the first and last days of his 4 weeks. They wouldn't have cared #BumsOnSeats

 

[SimonG]

Holy chit

 

[Harvest Fields]

You can never Under estimate the power of stupidity!

 

[Ric2013]

Sounds like a building project in Dovercourt, Essex where they got a plumber to install WCs and a SVP: the whole lot. BCO comes along and complains he cannot see the vent. The project manager asks the plumber where the vent terminates. The plumber points to the top floor toilet and says the stack is 'vented through the toilet: the toilet is the vent'. True story.

 

[Jim Goodenough]

I had a Jamaican mutton curry on Sunday. It was awesome.

Was it the "coloured" sheep of the family? Oh I must go to bed I've got to get up at 05:15....