boiler - 'reverse circulating'

[Dancer]

My mum recently had her boiler (old, non-combi) serviced by Br Gas. Man said 'it ought to be updated (= replaced), it's reverse circulating'. Tried to look up what this means - seems to indicate the pipework has been done incorrectly. But the boiler/pipework has been there since about 1975 - how can it suddenly be wrong? It's not had this problem before. Symptom is water isn't getting hot when it should, but getting hot at others times (or I think thats what she's told me). Any thoughts appreciated?

[Phil Anthropist]

British Gas used to pay fitters commission for drumming up business such as boiler replacements but I thought they had put a stop to that some time ago after loads of complaints. As with any work it usually pays to get several estimates and diagnoses. A cowboy who is struggling to find work may say you need a new boiler, and tell you they can do the work next week, whereas an honest plumber who has loads of work is more likely to say that it can be repaired, if that's the case, but you will have to wait in the queue.

[tab]

I have this reverse flow.In my case the radiators get heat when the hot water is being heated.this is ok in the cold weather and in hot weather I turn off all radiator valves.Both the C/H and hot/water return pipes meet to go back to the boiler and it depends on how they are connected.

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[Dancer]

Yes, that's exactly the problem, now I've been able to talk directly to the (very patient & helpful) Br Gas engineer. He's done exactly what you have done to deal with the 'problem' during he summer. Many thanks for the reply.