Hi,
You may remember that I rent my old house out and that last summer the boiler broke and the tenant was without hot water. It is a glowworm combi boiler and the fan needed replacing. When the plumber replaced the fan, something else broke, I can't remember what now - I must find the paperwork, and so the plumber fixed that too.
This week I had a phone call from the tenant saying that the boiler was leaking. The plumber who repaired it last time said that it was an old boiler and he would not be interested in looking at it again but he would fit a new boiler for me. Now I am prepared to admit that it is an old boiler and might be time to replace it but I would rather that he made that decision after diagnosing the fault rather than before. Silly example but I don't want to replace the boiler just because a compression joint has come loose for example.
I also thought that because I only had the repairs done 6 months ago, the parts and work might be under some guarantee (12 months?).
I think I paid about £600 to fix it, so I was reluctant to rip it off the wall so soon after spending all that money.
I don't live in the area any more so I don't know who the good and bad plumbers are. I know British gas sometimes has a bad reputation and is seen as expensive but I needed someone to look at the boiler ASAP and I figured it would be quicker to call a 24/7 call centre rather than wait for local one-man bands to return calls, and easier to track a large company down if the work wasn't good or doesn't last long!
They tried to sell me insurance: £99 for the call out and repair the fault, or so I thought. They have been but claim there are three faults and their policy will pay for the first fault only. I need to look into this. I can't remember what the first fault is, but no doubt it is the cheapest!
They say that the leak is from the heat exchanger and the fan is broken. I am disappointed that the fan has not lasted 6 months but he said it definitely is a new fan, because I was paranoid the last plumber had fiddled me!
Why do heat exchangers fail? Do they just rust through? Although the CH has inhibitor, with it being a combi, does the DHW cause the rusting?
Are there still problems with using the wrong type of inhibitor? Could the plumber last year have put the wrong type in and caused the leak?
BG wanted £500 to fix these but when they learned the fan was recent, they said they might be able to do a warranty repair. they have not told me how much this will drop the price by.
So I could end up spending £1000 in 6 months on repairs. OTOH isn't that what a new boiler would cost? Is it time for a new one? Am I throwing good money after bad having this repaired?
BG's web site lists six boilers: BG own brand (rebadged presumably, but what?), Baxi, Worcester, Valliant, Potterton, Glowworm.
I know a sample of one is not good but I am not keen on glowworm having had the problems with this one!
I know Worcester are good but I guess that comes with a price.
I think Valliant are supposed to be good but don't know why; perhaps it's something I have read here? Would they be the best of the six to go for? What would you choose and why?
The existing boiler is a combi but I wonder whether to install a non-combi? At least if that broken in the future, there would be a HW cylinder to provide HW whilst the boiler was fixed. But that would come at an increased cost. I live too far away to go and fit the cylinder etc. myself and I doubt any plumber will want to do half the job; presumably they would want to do the whole install?
What do you think?
TIA