Boiler fitting standard - Am I expecting too much?

[Gixxerman]

Just had a system boiler installed by a local small business. I went with him as he has been doing it for years and is "time served".
The install went without a hitch until they came to switch it on.

Problem 1:
It wouldn't work on heating but would on hot water. The sparky checked his wiring many times and still no joy. Their conclusion, the pump is not working correctly. They put on a nearly new pump (to keep costs down). This didn't fix the problem. Then they concur that 3-way valve is broken. And looking at it, it looked broken as the manual override lever was pushed into the unit. They took it apart and found that the gearbox was broken off inside. Now I know that the valve is less than a year old as I had it changed, and it worked with the old boiler. Could they have accidentally damaaged it when they were fitting stuff (magnaclean etc.) in the airing cupboard?
Problem 2:
They removed some of the old electrical connections as it needed new supplies and a maintained supply for the pump run-overrun circuit. But the just left the old wires in the wall in plastic trunking and just plonked the boiler over it. Now I have a lot of loose plaster and exposed plastic trunking which I can't get to as the boiler is covering it. I would have expected them to have prepared the wall first before hanging the boiler. The hole for the flue is not flush with the flue (the hole is slightly too big) and they didn't plaster round the flue either. Is this normal?

 

[migoplumber]

just sounds like people who didnt really care !

 

[stevetheplumber]

did they arrive on horses?

 

[Mbear]

did they arrive on horses?

And spurs on the rear of their boots?

 

[justlead1]

Hi Not making good around a flue is a bit iffy to say the least. I would get that attended to post haste. On the positive side your lucky to find someone who would get involved in the installation of second hand controls. Good Luck

 

[Gixxerman]

I have had him back for a look and he says I'm nitpicking.
But he has agreed to send round a builder to do a bit of plastering.
They did make good around the flue on the outside and the new brickwork is good, but they did not make good round the flue in the inside wall. I will be boxing in the piping and the flue anyhow so it won't be seen. I would like to plaster round the flue on the inside. I reckon a bit on pollyfila will do a better job though. Is there any issues with filling the gap between the flue and the wall?
To be fair, the boiler is in a corner of the kitchen and above the boiler behind where the pipes are, there is no plaster on the blocks at all from when he house was built. I am not bothered about a bit of mess as the kitchen is being replaced in 2 weeks time, and the sparky rewired the kitchen at the same time.

 

[Gixxerman]

Bloody nora!
Just got the bill. £2852.
Not happy. I have had a word with him and he said that that is the chespest he can make it. There was only 2 guys here for a day and a half.
£2000 (ex VAT) for the boiler swap, powerflush and magnaclean.
£236 (ex VAT) for TRV's and wireless room stat and 3 port valve.
£105 (ex VAT) labour for fitting TRV's and 3 port valve. This is extra labour as he said that the TRV's were not included in the original quote. I am sure that we discussed it that they were, but I did not have it in writing. It was a gentlemans agreement, but obviously he is not a gentleman.
The 3 port valve, was just bad luck and it was found to be broken. That kind of made sense as the rads got warm even when the controller was set to "hot water only". I am dissapointed that this was not picked up by British Gas during the last service. Shows how good they are.
£87 (ex VAT) for the sparky to wire it up.
Total bill £2428 + £424 VAT.
As he is worcester bosch accredited, it does come with a 5 year warrenty + an extra year as part of the scrappage.
There was a silver lining, it worked OK on 15mm gas pipe, which was a relief as no need to trail 22mm pipe all round the exterior of the house.
The flue gas analysis says that it is 98.6% efficient, which I find hard to believe as the Worsester Bocsh website only puts it at 90.1%.
Here are the details of the analysis provide by Anton analyser:-
O2 (%): 3.6
CO (ppm): 30
CO2 (%): 9.9
Ratio: 0.0003
Pressure (mBar): 0.07
Temp net (C): 36
Temp Flue (C): 59
Eff net (%): 98.6
XS Air (%): 20.6

 

[doitmyself]

The flue gas analysis says that it is 98.6% efficient, which I find hard to believe as the Worsester Bosch website only puts it at 90.1%.

Different ways of measuring efficiency!

The figure quoted on the WB website is the Annual Efficiency, calculated according to a formula. It's supposed to indicate the average efficiency over a year.

The analyser is giving an instantaneous result.

 

[dontknowitall]

Just had my inspection and he told me O2% should be between 5 and 6%.
The flue temperature is only 59C on those readings. How long did they run the boiler for before testing? Oil boilers should be run for at least 15 minutes (and presumably gas too?)
Also CO2% (again for oil and I assume similar to gas) is usually 10.5% to 12.5%, normally 11.0-11.5%.

If you look in the boiler's manual you should be able to work out what the readings should be and match them with your print out.

Re prices and customer service, you might want to check out his qualifications. Unfortunately these types of people give us all a bad name, especially when we get something wrong and try to rectify matters as quickly as possible (without charging extra).

 

[stevetheplumber]

Bloody nora!
Just got the bill. £2852.
Not happy. I have had a word with him and he said that that is the chespest he can make it. There was only 2 guys here for a day and a half.
£2000 (ex VAT) for the boiler swap, powerflush and magnaclean.
£236 (ex VAT) for TRV's and wireless room stat and 3 port valve.
£105 (ex VAT) labour for fitting TRV's and 3 port valve. This is extra labour as he said that the TRV's were not included in the original quote. I am sure that we discussed it that they were, but I did not have it in writing. It was a gentlemans agreement, but obviously he is not a gentleman.
The 3 port valve, was just bad luck and it was found to be broken. That kind of made sense as the rads got warm even when the controller was set to "hot water only". I am dissapointed that this was not picked up by British Gas during the last service. Shows how good they are.
£87 (ex VAT) for the sparky to wire it up.
Total bill £2428 + £424 VAT.
As he is worcester bosch accredited, it does come with a 5 year warrenty + an extra year as part of the scrappage.
There was a silver lining, it worked OK on 15mm gas pipe, which was a relief as no need to trail 22mm pipe all round the exterior of the house.
The flue gas analysis says that it is 98.6% efficient, which I find hard to believe as the Worsester Bocsh website only puts it at 90.1%.
Here are the details of the analysis provide by Anton analyser:-
O2 (%): 3.6
CO (ppm): 30
CO2 (%): 9.9
Ratio: 0.0003
Pressure (mBar): 0.07
Temp net (C): 36
Temp Flue (C): 59
Eff net (%): 98.6
XS Air (%): 20.6

doesnt sound like a horrendous price especially when youve priced in the 5 year gaurantee obviously it depends where in uk you are and you dont say how many trvs the inside if theres no plaster on the wall i can understand them being reluctant to spoil your industrial breeze block look with some plaster round the flue