5 minute service

[kris]

Hi guys this topic has probably been done but ive got to get your views,
Last week on my dinner break i had to nip to a friends flat which is owned by a large housing association and during my visit an engineer arrived for the boilers annual service, ( obviously they have maintenance contract for said housing) what i saw was simply just laziness and disgraceful , The engineer walked past me into the kitchen not really noticing me with the position i was sitting and i can HONESTLY say within 5 minutes he'd took out his analyser ran the hot tap for 15-20 seconds and that was IT, Because the chair i was sitting in i could see most of what he was doing as kitchen door was slightly opened, The engineer in question farted about with his tool case ( tidying it up i presumed) and that was him finished not even taking the boiler case off, I couldnt believe it , But what i did found brilliant is when he came out of the kitchen to tell my friend he was done after his huge service he had to pass me face to face and all my work gear is well labeled with the gassafe logos and my details and i noticed his eyes as i said hello to him passing having a glance at the logo, This guys hole demeanor changed trying to go back to the kitchen, now hed just told my friend he was done and everything was ok, my friend signed a piece of paper and i dont know if when he saw my clothing i was there to observe his service but he certainly went a pale colour, he walked back into kitchen then straight back out you could see he was flustered, he muttered il have to renew CO detector then 5 mins later off he went, now i realise these guys are doing this type of job day in day out and that it would feel repetitive but what a disgrace , its guys like this that give us all a bad name sometimes, I made a joke on a post the other day about an analyser service just a bit of humour but its astonishing to see it first hand, I would say 15 mins and that was that , Unbelievable guys

 

[kris]

By the way it was a valliant condensing combi, about 4-5 years old.

 

[jtsplumbing]

Probably a contractor working on a price per service, has to do at least 10/12 a day to make it pay, see this on the job sites all the time £17 for a service and CP12, My son is a mechanic and does MOT testing, the Gov. set a time for each mot, I think its 1 hr. per Mot, So why cant GS to something along these lines, laying down a min time per service, then it would cut out this sort of practice that puts life's at risk.

 

[Leo21]

At five years Vaillants are supposed to have a new burner door gasket. But tbh other than that they don't take a long time to service. Analyser, inlet pressure, empty trap and general look at the condition. Oh and check flue routing and intergrity, but if it's one of yours that doesn't take long either.

 

[kris]

At five years Vaillants are supposed to have a new burner door gasket. But tbh other than that they don't take a long time to service. Analyser, inlet pressure, empty trap and general look at the condition. Oh and check flue routing and intergrity, but if it's one of yours that doesn't take long either.

I realise theres not much to do leo but i mean the guy couldve cleaned the trap checked the flue etc Nothing was done he never even left the boiler on to heat up 15 -20 seconds and that was his fga test. I dont even think he gave it enough time to achieve a true reading. I was just taken back with the corner cutting it gives us guys a bad name.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

A gas test alone is 5 ish minutes.

 

[Leo21]

I realise theres not much to do leo but i mean the guy couldve cleaned the trap checked the flue etc Nothing was done he never even left the boiler on to heat up 15 -20 seconds and that was his fga test. I dont even think he gave it enough time to achieve a true reading. I was just taken back with the corner cutting it gives us guys a bad name.

Didnt mean to disagree, five minutes is disgusting.

 

[Leo21]

A gas test alone is 5 ish minutes.

A tightness test isn't a requirement on a service.

 

[kris]

I know you didnt leo but your right its disguting. I usualy do a quick gas test every time i work on a gas appliance even a service as im the last person there. I do believe that come time there will be a lot of changes implemented on things such as benchmark commisioning and service procedures and detailed documentation. Slowly but surely gassafe are making the nescasary changes.

 

[Millsy 82]

A tightness test isn't a requirement on a service.

It's not but most housing associations require a full gas safety inspection including a tt. They are not worried how long it takes the people and the companies they work for are not bothered either. As once both have that cp12 with that engineers name on it they are covered and if something goes bang it's the engineer who will be in trouble and they will just get rid. Also housing associations would rather they do a poor job as when the boiler is written off due to poor servicing then it will fall back on to the company to replace. (Or at least that's how it works for the one I do a lot of work for)

It's disgraceful it shouldn't go on but it does. It usually takes me 25-30 mins but I know lads on my company do them in 10-15 not taking cases off etc.

 

[Scott_D]

Have you ever had people complain you take too long?
"The last guy to service it only took 10 minutes, how much longer will you be?"

 

[zeebeedee]

Housing associations are more concerned with the safety as opposed to the cleaning on condense etc. He should really have taken the case off to check the seals/pressure test on a worcestor but a full strip down and clean is not going to happen. He won't have the time to do 8 a day especially if there's fires in most of the property's.

You shouldn't really compare a private paid for service with a annual gas inspection that housing associations have to perform. It's more of a landlord check than anything. If you where to charge full wack privately and do that id understand the problem but this is bog standard safety. As long as you do your full 16,9 on each appliance, cleaning condense traps etc doesn't come in to it.

Personally when I do them, it's tightness test, boiler case off visual check, pressure test on worcestor, Fga check adjust max/min if needed. Case on recheck max/min gas rate. Visual on flue note down any ncs's. Fire is off the wall redo closure plate tape clean catchment space. Flue flow/spillage burner pressure. Visual on fire note any ncs's. Cooker is visual only tennants own , note any ncs's final tightness test, check meter/pipework for ncs's complete paperwork.

 

[Leo21]

The only time I do a tightness test on a service is when a smell of gas is reported or the spidey senses are tingling.

 

[mountainman]

Have you ever had people complain you take too long?
"The last guy to service it only took 10 minutes, how much longer will you be?"

I hear that frequently, another good one is when I hand them a warning notice they remark than 'no one else has ever mentioned that'

 

[Ch4 plumbing]

The only time I do a tightness test on a service is when a smell of gas is reported or the spidey senses are tingling.

I always tightness test, your going to the meter to gas rate and other checks so why not spend a few minutes more to TT.

 

[Ch4 plumbing]

I hear that frequently, another good one is when I hand them a warning notice they remark than 'no one else has ever mentioned that'

Or they say no one has ever taken the front off before.....do you know what your doing?

 

[stevetheplumber]

i get it all the time no ones ever done that before, will you be much longer the last bloke was in and out in 10 mins and he was on the phone all the time , no one else has taken the fire out ,and why do you need to get to the meter no one else has

 

[Poxi]

A lot of companys get away with it by calling it a "Annual Safety Check" not a "Annual Service" as long as the Anayliser readings are within limits as you said they dont even take the cover off.

 

[kirkgas]

A lot of companys get away with it by calling it a "Annual Safety Check" not a "Annual Service" as long as the Anayliser readings are within limits as you said they dont even take the cover off.

Your phrase "getting away with it" is a bit harsh, it all depends what the contract is, legally a landlord must get a safety check done every year, not a service, although some do both, if the result of the safety check is as per MI then nothing else needs done, although I can't see even the safety check being done properly in 5minutes, by the time you do the safety checks for the landlord it must take more than that

 

[hammers4spanner]

Probably a contractor working on a price per service, has to do at least 10/12 a day to make it pay, see this on the job sites all the time £17 for a service and CP12, My son is a mechanic and does MOT testing, the Gov. set a time for each mot, I think its 1 hr. per Mot, So why cant GS to something along these lines, laying down a min time per service, then it would cut out this sort of practice that puts life's at risk.

Liberty gas 18 quid a service in plymouth

 

[anz]

Have you ever had people complain you take too long?
"The last guy to service it only took 10 minutes, how much longer will you be?"

I had one like this the other week, wasn't a service but an install.

System to Combi conversion, vertical flue, boiler in place of cylinder. I was there from about half nine until five.

As I'm flushing the system towards the end, the woman comes out and says haven't you finished yet? I think you've had long enough, downstairs had there's done in 3 hours! This isn't good enough!

I was speechless.

 

[Millsy 82]

I had one like this the other week, wasn't a service but an install.

System to Combi conversion, vertical flue, boiler in place of cylinder. I was there from about half nine until five.

As I'm flushing the system towards the end, the woman comes out and says haven't you finished yet? I think you've had long enough, downstairs had there's done in 3 hours! This isn't good enough!

I was speechless.

They wouldn't want me doing it then that would take me over a day.

 

[IDCHAPPY]

A tightness test isn't a requirement on a service.

I wouldn't sleep at night if i didn't tightness test every single place i inspect...

 

[IDCHAPPY]

Thing is, really, it's not even a service, it's a check. BG started all this shyte and I think they have a lot to answer for.

 

[gasmanrob]

Thing is, really, it's not even a service, it's a check. BG started all this shyte and I think they have a lot to answer for.

To to be completely fair it was glowworm and that bg330 service instructions state as long as the readings are within tolerances at high and low level no further action is required never did feel comfortable with that. Thing they had a bit of egg on face after the whole flue collector faliures that came through oh and the burner door gasket

 

[Leo21]

I had one like this the other week, wasn't a service but an install.

System to Combi conversion, vertical flue, boiler in place of cylinder. I was there from about half nine until five.

As I'm flushing the system towards the end, the woman comes out and says haven't you finished yet? I think you've had long enough, downstairs had there's done in 3 hours! This isn't good enough!

I was speechless.

Im speechless that you can do conversion that quick on your own! And flush! And vertical flue!

 

[gasmanrob]

Leo I'll 2nd that

 

[anz]

Im speechless that you can do conversion that quick on your own! And flush! And vertical flue!

I'd never be able to that on my own in a day either, I had an apprentice with me, so that helped.

 

[AWheating]

One a days are never done right, but hey you can't blame the installers most of the time. They adapt to what's asked of them. I've worked on council and ha mods for about half my career and I've never been on a job where short cuts were not made. It's very common still to find under sized gas supplies, unsupported flues,unflushed systems, un patched flue holes, wrong flue clearances and so on.

ive even lost work this year because "I don't turn a blind eye to issues". This was on a job where I was pulling dangerous cookers and no earth bondings. I had a few day off and was told I was not wanted back

 

[Millsy 82]

This is why people should do a proper service. I went out to fit a pump. When testing I looked through the spy hole really bad yellow flame. Went and got my Fga went straight up to 7000ppm. It was serviced less than 3 weeks ago and it wasn't working quite right so the engineer put it in for a new pump!. The base of the burner has come apart so I can fit my hand in it, the heat exchanger probably hasn't seen a brush in years.