Hi,
Often plumbers are portrayed on television as being robbers and I am inclined to agree.
I let out the house where I used to live. You may remember me recently saying the tenant had no hot water. The plumber said it needed a new expansion vessel and a new PCB. he claimed this was an uneconomical repair, he said it would cost £400 to repair it but recommended spending twice as much to replace the boiler. I can't see how that makes the repair uneconomic when it is less than half the cost of a new boiler.
The advice here was to make the repairs. Geoff told me he could supply a reconditioned PCB for £50. The plumber has gone AWOL. It seems to me he lost interest when I did not want to pay for a new boiler. My poor tenant is still without hot water.
I'm guessing only a gas safe registered person can fit the PCB as it involves opening the boiler in a rented house?
I typed the postcode into the gas safe web site and emailed all the local plumbers.
The first plumber to reply said: "I don't deal with reconditioned parts even if they have a warranty". He then said he would want payment up front "because I don't know you... Sorry about this but I live and learn!". I felt tempted to reply "I am not paying you up front because I don't know you!" What's to stop him running off with my money without doing the work?
Second plumber said: "Unfortunately we do not carry out repairs to boilers we only carry out full systems or boiler replacements. This is due to experience, we have replaced certain parts on boilers in the past but once a boiler starts to fail it is inevitable at some point that it will fail completely and it is then seen as our fault for not recommending this.
In my opinion I feel that a new boiler would be the best course of action to take to save yourself money/expense in the long run, especially if you are renting the property."
So on this basis I should not replace my tyres or brake pads when they are worn, I must buy a new car? What a load of nonsense!
Third plumber said: "[company name] would not be prepared to install reconditioned parts, personally I do not feel this is the best approach and would therefore not wish to offer you a below standard level of service."
Fourth plumber said: " to be fair I wouldn't fit a reconditioned PCB board it would have to be new... £40 to diagnose but to be fair that boiler is over 10 years old. Too many times you find you repair what's wrong with it now and then something else will be going wrong. It might be better to cut your losses now and install a new boiler.
Fifth plumber said: "I don't deal in second hand parts especially PCB's. I would expect the job to be more expensive fitting an external expansion vessel due to the system having to be drained down first, refilled then vented."
I haven't has a system with an expansion vessel before, but wouldn't the system need to be drained to replace the one in the boiler too? Or why not freeze the pipe work either side?
I have had one chap reply that he can help, so hopefully it will get sorted out soon. It seems to me that the others re just greedy and want a bigger job with a larger mark-up.
What is the market like for plumbers: does demand exceed supply? I am amazed seven plumbers think they can afford to turn the work down.
OFTEC plumbers are not any better. I had half a dozen OFTEC plumbers tell me I needed a new boiler in my house until I found one plumber that was able to repair the fault for a fraction of the price.