British Gas CO Devices

[TheScullster]

Hi all

Is anyone else having trouble with BG Carbon Monoxide alarms? Two of my neighbours, one elderly (but sprightly), have reported faults with theirs. Both appear to be battery faults, but the batteries are not user-replacable.

Last night I went to look at my neighbour's, and it was declaring "battery fault", chirping once a minute, after a little over a year of operation. The instructions claimed a 5 year warranty with no mention of the battery being excluded (these are battery only devices, not mains powered). Sorry can't remember the make/model.

Phil

[Pete Zahut]

IIRC they'll send you a postage paid Jiffy bag to return it to them, they'll change the batteries and send it back to you.

Pete

[dennis]

I would take them back, the battery in my CO2 alarm has been going 4 years now and as you say they are not easy to replace. The only things that might flatten the battery early is over testing as the alarm uses a lot more power than the idle state or cooking it somehow.

[TheScullster]

"Pete Zahut" wrote

Thanks Pete

I could be wrong, but the number you have quoted sounds familiar. Both my neighbours are covered by a BG plan so, as the installer/contractor, I would expect them to do the replacing. Would not be surprised if they batted it back to the OEM though!

Phil

[js.b1]

I have now had 2 fail (different makes), might be worth having a paper version as backup.

[Cash]

Tell the neighbours to contact British Gas to report the problems and under their Terms and Conditions they will send someone to rectify the fault - besides, under SoGA they are contracted to resolve the problem anyway having supplied and fitted them.

As a matter of interest, being a British Gas customer of very long standing (on a three star heating contract), I have never had any problems with them returning to sort out and problems that have been caused by their workmanship or materials [1] - from posts here, some may differ

[1] In fact. my No 2 son who was on the same contract once took it upon himself to do some work on his heating system and totally cocked it up.

I advised him to contact BG, explain the situation and ask for an engineer to call to sort it at his cost - the engineer duly called, spent 4 hours sorting it out, and when son asked what the cost was - the answer was "nothing sir, its covered under your contract".

Unbelievable to some, but quite true.

Cash

[Pete Zahut]

You're going a bit OTT there aren't you?

The problem is simply duff batteries in CO detectors. The batteries are not user replaceable so all you do is call the CO Detector Advice Line on 01202

645789 (if in warranty), they send a postage paid Jiffy bag in which you place the detector and post it to them. They replace the batteries free of charge and return the detectors. The detectors also undergo a service and testing while away, so if it's something other than batteries it gets sorted anyway.

[Cash]

Pete,

Could you elucidate on why OTT please?

British Gas supplied and fitted the dectector[s] - so if they are defective within the warranty period offered by them, then they should be replaced by them [1] - which would be done quicker than waiting for the jiffy bag, sending them off, and then awaiting their return, notwithstanding the fact that elderly customers would possibly have to remove and replace them if for some reason TheScullster was unable to it for them.

[1] That is their legal obligation - and not the "CO Detector Advice Lines",who legally, don't even have to offer any warranty.

Cash

[Pete Zahut]

Well, one of us has the wrong end of the stick somewhere. My experience is this:

We used to have a central heating contract with BG that included a boiler service once per year. While carrying out the service one year (about 4 years ago IIRC), the engineer asked if we wanted to buy a CO detector. No obligation to do so but if we did we got a bit of a discount on it (think it should have been £38 and we got a fiver off).

As such, it wasn't part of the heating maintenance contract, it was simply us buying a CO detector off the BG guy. The detector itself is warrantied for five years but they use three ordinary alkaline batteries of AAA size and although they are ordinary batteries the units do not allow for the end user to change them. Ordinary batteries are unlikely to last five years so, when they run out, the unit is sent away (return postage paid) to have them replaced free of charge and it also gets a service and test while away.

This is all explained before purchase of the unit and it is the correct procedure. There is no need to ring BG and quote their terms and conditions, or SOGA, or demand an engineers visit. As to BG fitting them and so being responsible, they didn't actually fit ours but it is simply one screw in the wall at a convenient position and then the detector is 'hung' on the screw by means of a 'keyhole' in the back of the unit. This link shows the detector that we have:

[Andrew Gabriel]

That is a key problem. Sensors have a limited life, and can easily be poisoned by other chemicals, and are not easily tested. Non-replaceable batteries may be deliberate to prevent you using an alarm after the detector becomes ineffective.

[geoff]

In message , Andrew Gabriel writes

Which reminds me

I recently inherited a Telegan, its out of calibration, but in working order, if anyone round this way wants to borrow it

[Andrew Gabriel]

Just found the oxygen cell has died in my flue gas analyser. It's done over 3 years, which is the longest I've had one last. The CO reading didn't look believable either (too low). It's obviously trying to tell me it needs to go off and get serviced...