Gritish Bas on the make?

[The Medway Handyman]

Changed two vents for a customer today on an exterior wall. Boiler was in a cupboard on the other side of the wall. Two vents on the interior wall.

The old vents were obviously built into the brickwork when the house was built (1960's), brown plastic ones.

Gritish Bas apparently told the client that he had to have the vents changed as the existing ones were not suitable. If not, they would cut off his gas supply. They wanted £200 to do the job.

Customer bought the vents they specified, white plastic ones of a well known brand name that I can't recall.

Broke out the old vents, enlarged the openings very slightly & replaced the vents, hour and a half, £55. Doddle of a job.

The old vents had a sticker specifying a free air area of 19.5 sq ins, the new BG specified ones were 21.5 sq ins.

Are Gritish Bas having a laugh here - or more likely tucking up the punter something chronic?

[Rob]

It depends on the type of boiler, not being CORGI registered you probably don't have a clue.

That is correct, look at the various regulations. Maybe £200 was a bit much. It depends on the type of boiler and whether there is a gas fire in the room.

Good, but why didn't you question the reason for doing them. If you suggest they were not required then you have ripped off the customer by doing work that isn't required.

Go away and calculate the air flow through them and the area of the room.

I think you're the one who has just admitted to doing a job you don't think was required. Regulations and Health & Safety are no laughing matter - wait until someone is killed and see. I hope you learn to leave things alone if you do not understand them!

Maybe someone to avoid!

[geoff]

In message , The Medway Handyman writes

I hope you told the customer to change to another insurance

[geoff]

In message , Rob writes

Had he not done what the customer asked of him having been told by BG that it was necessary?

sort of like

"Sorry mate, I really don't think that you need that decking, you should put it to grass"

[Cerberus .]

When we stupidly had a service contract with BG, their trained pup who did the annual safety check stated that the basket on our boiler flue wasn't to spec (too small allegedly). I told him he was talking total b*ll*cks & reminded him that the flue was in fact over 2m above ground and didn't require a basket anyway. The contract wasn't renewed!

Don.

[Alan]

In message , Rob wrote

British Gas take a completely cavalier attitude to safety. The last safety check that BG insisted on doing in my house was undertaken by one of their a sub contractors in under 5 seconds!

[<me9]

Unlikely to be plastic unless very late 60s.

Anything goes to boost their profits! I wouldn't touch them with your barge pole. Will they condemn your ones next year, hoping to gain extra cash?

[Tim S]

Rob coughed up some electrons that declared:

Bit harsh isn't it? The way I read it is that Dave did the job that BG specified with the specified parts.

But he appears to be questioning two things:

a) £200 labour cost vs. £55

b) A curiosity (which I agree requires appropriate knowledge to comment on) concerning the benefit of an extra 1 sq inch per vent.

I do realise that a square inch may be significant and there are probably precise calculations or tables concerning these things. But he did not attempt to alter the specified work, he did what he was asked to.

Seems perfectly professional behaviour AFAICS.

Cheers

Tim

[Paul Matthews]

Could he pricing there be "menu pricing" rather than estimate each job specifically? They would have a standard price where they make money on all but the most troublesome ones.

[Bob Mannix]

I've had worse - they actually left my house in a dangerous state. Changed the meter and checked the cooker worked. "What about the fire in the front room" says I. "Oh that'll be OK" says he an p*sses off.

Hmmm. Go into front room, light gas fire and sit on carpet watching it. 15 secs later it goes out as air comes through, then just gas (old fire mind you, with no flame detect but he never checked either way). Previous occupant was an old lady who might well have lit the fire and toddled off to make a cuppa.

And he disn't clear up the mess where he drilled through the wall

I tend to avoid BG

[dennis]

Have you done the maths just in case BG got it wrong and you need bigger vents? I doubt if 10% makes much difference, however if it isn't marked on the outside how does anyone know? A sticker on the inside is less use than a chocolate tea pot.

Just covering their backs, I bet you have done the same.

[dennis]

Hmm, I wonder what the fault condition is to cause that? You need to bleed the air from appliances with pilot lights as air can get in while you are changing the meter. Air shouldn't get into a pipe sealed at one end unless you leave it open for ages. It implies there is a fault in the fire or someone turned it on while the meter was being changed. Having observed the potential problem did you call BG so they could come back and find the fault?

[Bob Mannix]

No fault, it was just open for ages. Diffusion rates for gases are reasonably high, especially where there is a density difference to help

[Bovvered?]

That was rather harsh. As BG had declared new vents to be mandatory it appears that all TMH has done is saved the customer £145.

[Grimly Curmudgeon]

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Tim S saying something like:

Indeed. Rob is just a wanker.

[dennis]

When they changed my meter a few weeks ago he plugged the pipes as soon as he disconnected them.

He bled the cooker and checked the boiler but not the fire. Not that anything happened when I lit the fire.

[John Stumbles]

Depends on the precise calculated ventilation requirements for the boiler. The regs are about to change (from July 1st) so that if ventilation for an appliance is under 90% of the calculated amount then it must be declared At Risk and the appliance should be disconnected from the gas supply (with the owner's permission) and a written warning issued. Before July 1st anything down to 40% of correct ventilation was simply 'Not to Current Standards' and could be left as-is with an arse-covering warning.

[Clive George]

A charitable explanation is he took a shortcut coz he'd seen that you were an apparently competent person who wouldn't have done that.

cheers, clive

[Man at B&Q]

Do you?

He didn't.

He hasn't.

He admitted to doing a job a lot cheaper than BG wanted.

What's to understand? BG specified exactly what was required and he did the job.

Yes, you!

MBQ

[Rod]

Just looking at exactly this topic. We wish to replace the door on a compartment containing a gas boiler.

Followed a link to Corgi Direct, saw this:

"The Compartment/Ventilati "Keep the compartment door CLOSED at all times, except for access"

So - is the door to be kept open? Or closed? :-)