Pulsacoil 2000 update....

[John Smith]

Regarding my issues with the Pulsacoil 2000 boiler reported several days ago, my agent has been in touch. She says that she sent a contractor round to the property today to investigate - I was at work - and "they found that the boiler was working properly and is not faulty", in spite of the header tank getting hot.

Apparently "the boiler is not designed for economy seven; it is a boiler that is designed to permanently top its self up as there is no timer as such", in spite of writing clearly saying on the front of the boiler that it is.

"If the boiler was to ever over heat the error light would come on the front of the boiler and the thermal stats would cut out to ensure that would it not become a safety hazard and would stop it from over heating" - Yet the header tank is not supposed to get hot.

"I would recommend calling your electricity supplier and ensuring that they do not have you on a tariff for economy seven to ensure that you do not receive inflated electricity bills" - really don't understand this. All the info from the internet and printed on the boiler seems to indicate this should be the case.

No reference to hot water running out after 10 minutes.

I don't know where to go from here - perhaps a case of like it or lump it?

Marcus

[YAPH]

And they entered without your permission?

Maybe you should make reference to it?

Or find a place with a better agent?

Or find a friendly plumber who will come in and have a look at it and write a report on it for not too much money (which anyway you should be able to get back - but perhpas not without a hassle - when you do eventuallu get it fixed).

You might also ask about the legal/tenancy issue on uk.legal.moderated. But you might need a proper newsreader to post there, not sure...

[John Smith]

Well, I had already told the agent that they had permission to enter beforehand to fix some other issues. I also said that I considered it potentially serious if the header tank failed due to the water being as hot as that coming out of the taps.

I did mention this in my e-mail, but not mentioned in her reply.

Here for six months.

Thanks for the advice.

[Toby]

Here is the user manual if you haven't already found it..

is the installer manual this is your "boiler" (It's actually a thermal store) then it is designed for off peak (Economy 7) power as it has two heaters, one at the top, so you can boost the top of the store with heat using your day rate power if you need to, and one at the bottom to heat the entire store during the night. (Page 6 of the installer manual, items 1 and 2 in the picture)

You should have a controller like this

to control both the heaters in the store, the boost button then boosts the top heater in the day time for an hour, so it doesn't get left on all the time by mistake which could easily happen if you juat had two simple switches.

You need an Economy 7 electricity meter to take advantage of the cheaper off-peak electricity, this will have two recorded meters, either two mechanical sets of digits or if it is an electronic meter, it will cycle between the two measurements either automatically or via a button (and possibly show 88888.8 too, as a display test, to prove all the segments are working.

Toby...

[Dave Liquorice]

I suggest you write (not email or fax) back to them taking each point in turn and explain your reasons and ask for a full explantion of why they think they are correct. Download the manuals and refer to them as required, enclosing print outs. Send a copy of this letter to the Landlord as well as the agent.

I suspect who ever they sent round has little or no experience of these things and just looked at the lights and how it is installed. The installation maybe incorrect but it is not "faulty" in that it hasn't tripped due to an overheat condition.

IIRC the header tank is remote from the boiler and may not have been looked at. Is this a plastic tank BTW, there have been some rather nasty things happen to those when they fail after getting filled with hot water. Young child killed when one collapsed and dumped it's contents through the ceiling onto the child in bed...

Is it worth the hassle for 6 months tenancy? In your letter finish by saying something along the lines that you consider the installation incorrect and potentially dangerous and you hold the agent and landlord jointly responsible for any of your losses incurred due to failure of the heating system from what ever cause. Include the news reports of the above mentioned incident, I think there are other incidents as well if you go digging.

[cynic]

Hmmm! to quote from my first reply "If you are still unhappy ask the agent to investigate and be prepared for the agent to use the cheapest tradesman not the best so may have to argue your case."

As good an example of sending a numpty round as I can think of!

As you have two differing prices depending on the time it sounds as though you are on economy seven but ISTR a recent advert for another "new" tariff which charges 20% lower at some time or other. IIRC you said your heating was electric - by storage heaters or simple radiators?

Tell the agent what we have said here and advise them if they can't get it sorted by a competent engineer you will call in someone who can and deduct the cost from your rent.

[mkgroup]

MK Group Limited is a UK based Company specialising in the sales, installation and repair of PulsaCoil Boilers. PulsaCoil are thermal stores, rather than hot water cylinders. Like conventional hot water cylinders, a thermal store is a container filled with hot water but here the similarity ends. Once filled, the water in a thermal store never changes. Instead, the heat stored in it is used to heat the tap water using a heat exchanger. This allows the hot tap water to be delivered at full mains pressure, and is one of the primary benefits of installing a thermal store instead of a conventional hot water cylinder. There are a number of variations of the PulsaCoil boiler in operation across the UK today.

The main PulsaCoil Boilers PulsaCoil 3 PulsaCoil 2000 PulsaCoil A Class PulsaCoil BP The PulsaCoil 3, 2000 and A Class were manufactured by Gledhill Water Storage Limited who went into administration. A phoenix company Gledhill Building Products Limited now manufacture the PulsaCoil BP. MK Group Ltd are the leading repair specialist of all PulsaCoil Boilers and offer self help video guides for the following PulsaCoil Boilers.

PulsaCoil 3

PulsaCoil 2000

PulsaCoil A Class

Simply copy and paste the URL for a free self help video which may fix your problem