Help! Is my boiler going to explode / burn the house down?

[Ihavenojob]

Incandescent materials or flame

Incandescent materials, unless MI's state otherwise.

 

[ianmcd]

Well I remembered the 225 mm dimension.

But did not want to state it in case anyone complained I was giving out gas safe information.

In the picture the boiler looks as if it does not meet that distance. Surprised no one else noticed.

Well yet again in your quest to show off you have got it completely wrong, the base plate of the boiler has to be 100mm to 125mm above floor level when mounting a wall mounted fire to a Baxi Bermuda BBU

 

[FiremanT]

Well yet again in your quest to show off you have got it completely wrong, the base plate of the boiler has to be 100mm to 125mm above floor level when mounting a wall mounted fire to a Baxi Bermuda BBU

Yes. The Top 100 man strikes out again

Although I thought it was 4"-6" floor to plate. But its been a few years.

 

[ianmcd]

Yes. The Top 100 man strikes out again

Although I thought it was 4"-6" floor to plate. But its been a few years.

Fireman just re-checked all my Mi`s as would never argue with you over fires and all say 4"-5" above floor level, I gave my answer in mm as fed up getting told that we dont use BTU or inches anymore, I do but I have been a gas engineer for a very long time

 

[Doggit]

But have you informed Superproof of what's happened yet. They'll need to look at it in order to handle the HSE, and to handle any complaint/compensation you may want to put in.

 

[oilboffin]

Yup where there's blame there's a claim

 

[Adam H]

But have you informed Superproof of what's happened yet. They'll need to look at it in order to handle the HSE, and to handle any complaint/compensation you may want to put in.

Yep - they've got pictures, explanation, know a Gas Safe engineer is coming round and I was waiting for a call back / email from them all day in reply to my call/email first thing this morning (didn't get one though). They had already arranged a guy to come round to 'fix it' who we didn't let touch it as he was just going to pull it all out. He did take a look though, for what that's worth. I guess I'll speak to them tomorrow, but I'll keep an eye on the sky for pink pigs...

I'm not sure I want to claim for compensation, outside of them paying for my boiler to be fixed. A discount on their price would be an acceptable gesture as it's pretty damn expensive. As with these things, a phone call back convincing me they shared my concern over their mistake and that this sort of thing wouldn't happen again would have gone a long way.

 

[Adam H]

As sods law dictates I know what's going to happen if and when this is all sorted out. We'll find mouse droppings again...

 

[Doggit]

I feel that in light of needing to call out an RGI to check and service the boiler, they should at least refund the cost of the mouse job, in addition to boiler service, not just a discount. That's be lettting them off lightly for all the problems they've caused.

 

[dilalio]

You need to seriously consider whether to accept 'hush' money, or to have their practices investigated on other homes they've done work in!

 

[Doggit]

I wouldn't consider a refund of their fee as hush money; more like just recompense for a poorly done job that wasn't up to standard. If they are a professional company, they'll hold their hands up to an HSE investigation, and if they're not, then they deserve all they get.

 

[dilalio]

But they might!

 

[ianmcd]

as a customer you have no duty to Riddor the company, your attending gas engineer does, if I was you I would phone HSE before your gas engineer turns up and inform them what the problem is , this company really needs to be dealt with

 

[Madrab]

As @ianmcd mentions, it is important that companies who's employees aren't trained properly and that could create life threatening issues like this are investigated and monitored by the HSE. No matter what they say, the only way to guarantee the company changes is to hand them to the authorities.
What would you do if later down the line you read that the company were under investigation due to work they had done in a similar situation may have killed an old couple, due to blocking up critical ventilation airways??

 

[Adam H]

Thought I'd update the thread as I went to the flat today, met the gas engineer and took a look at the boiler with him. I only just read the comment by @ianmcd - so didn't talk to HSE before meeting them. Ultimately the engineer thought issuing a report was a long shot, but I'm not sure if he thought if RIDDOR was strictly for work that has caused accident or injury. In the end a safety switch/measure had locked out the pilot light due to lack of oxygen and there was no soot build up inside the boiler itself. It's back working again.

So nothing is moving on the HSE front but I'm not sure if the door is closed just yet. I have no experience in this however.

Taking the front cover off the boiler was a bit of a shock - the SuperProof worker had obviously taken it off himself and completely sealed every side of the boiler. Here are a few more pictures I took. Enjoy.

I emailed these photos to SuperProof this morning with a few strong words. I STILL haven't heard anything from them. I didn't have any time to ring them this afternoon but it wasn't hard to find out who their managing director is so I'll get touch with him on Monday.