Incorrect installation by British Gas - What to do?

[Agile]

How dare you question the experience and expertise of one of the best gas engineers in the UK.
Shame on you Bunny...I realise he came into the industry late in his life but even so.....

The first boiler that I installed was a CH502 !

Most of the engineers here will not even remember them!

 

[LikeMyHome]

Here is the photo of the EV pipe and the orange cap - as taken yesterday by the gas engineer from insurer.

 

[Agile]

Yes, that's exactly what has been suggested as an installation fault.

But I cannot see how anyone servicing the boiler and even repressurising the EXV would not have noticed the EXV was not connected.

My procedure for repressurising involves seeing the system pressure increase as I add air. That ensures that the EXV is correctly responding and that the communicating pipe to the boiler is clear.

However, since the insurance engineer would have reconnected it in minutes, I am surprised that he did not just do that rather than getting involved in a lot of additional reporting about the problem. Perhaps he thinks he is a little Hitler whose prime purpose is finding reasons not to cover the problem.

Tony

 

[LikeMyHome]

Yes, that's exactly what has been suggested as an installation fault.

But I cannot see how anyone servicing the boiler and even repressurising the EXV would not have noticed the EXV was not connected.

It's because the flexi pipe on ExV is hidden behind the condenser (see thee attach image), thus if the previous guys (2 from the insurer and one doing a service ~ 2 weeks before the leak was discovered) didn't take the condenser out - they wouldn't see it.

I was told that they re-pressurised ExV from the top, so they didn't need direct access to the ExV itself.

However, since the insurance engineer would have reconnected it in minutes, I am surprised that he did not just do that rather than getting involved in a lot of additional reporting about the problem. Perhaps he thinks he is a little Hitler whose prime purpose is finding reasons not to cover the problem.

Tony

Bravo, Tony! That's exactly what I thought when he refused to do it. I guess being a young chap (~25-ish) he was happy not to do the naughty-dirty job on replacing the PRV and saved himself quite a bit of time for meeting the day's plan by doing easier jobs for other customers! )))

 

[shambolic]

Never seen that before but glad it's sorted. BG installer needs a boot up the erse for that one.

 

[45yearsagasman]

Same here, never come across that before. I wasn't even looking at the right boiler. I've been out of the field too long

 

[LikeMyHome]

Quick update: BG engineer came and connected ExV, tested boiler for 10-15 min, the pressure was increasing from 1.1 to 1.9 bar (as opposed to 3.0 bar every day for the last 3 weeks). The PR pipe outside was dry, no water dripping. I keep testing it right now and will let you know how it goes.
Thank you all

 

[bernardgreen]

I am surprised that he did not just do that rather than getting involved in a lot of additional reporting about the problem. Perhaps he thinks he is a little Hitler whose prime purpose is finding reasons not to cover the problem.

Or maybe he felt that by reporting the incident it might result in an improvement in the training process for people seeking to be qualified to work on gas boilers.

BG installer needs a boot up the erse for that one.

Certainly he needs to be provided with a check list of things to do when fitting or checking a boiler.

Why is that seemingly important connection point which has to be made during installation hidden behind another component which has to be removed before the connection can be made. ? Cramming too much into a small casing ?

 

[D_Hailsham]

However, since the insurance engineer would have reconnected it in minutes, I am surprised that he did not just do that rather than getting involved in a lot of additional reporting about the problem. Perhaps he thinks he is a little Hitler whose prime purpose is finding reasons not to cover the problem.

The "insurance engineer" was probably not a GSR engineer but just a loss adjuster appointed by the insurance company to check if the fault was covered by the insurance policy. As the problem seems to have been an installation error it would not be covered by the policy.

 

[ollski]

Seen quite a few of these since the compacts came out. Can't recall if it was on a Worcester course or a memo but I do remember being told about them as they were popping and causing leaks.

 

[sooey]

My procedure for repressurising involves seeing the system pressure increase as I add air. That ensures that the EXV is correctly responding and that the communicating pipe to the boiler is clear.

Read more: //www.diynot.com/diy/threads/incorrect-installation-by-british-gas-what-to-do.452953/page-3#ixzz3zmtID0El

So you don't drain the boiler and leave an open end when pumping the vessel up Tony? Or are you talking boll*x?

 

[gas112]

Agile was that a radiation or a new world 502 also done a501

 

[Razor900]

Seen quite a few of these since the compacts came out. Can't recall if it was on a Worcester course or a memo but I do remember being told about them as they were popping and causing leaks.

It's not like that on the compact although it can cause similar problems. You take the plug out and drop the EV down into the PRV housing on those.

Soooooooooo whose going to apologise to the OP for the usual knee jerk jumping on the bandwagon then???

 

[Steelmasons]

My procedure for repressurising involves seeing the system pressure increase as I add air. That ensures that the EXV is correctly responding and that the communicating pipe to the boiler is clear.

Oh dear..

 

[LikeMyHome]

Excellent news - the boiler pressure stayed above 1.0 after it working for ~ 5 hours and cooling down for another ~6 hours. The PRV is not leaking either! (no water collected in the plastic bag on the PR pipe outside)

There is still a small leakage in the system, like 0.1-0.2 bar over 12 hours, but hopefully we can fix that with internal leak sealer (we already added 500ml of this one (~100ml of which poured on the floor - old rads, tiny inlet - very difficult to add stuff ), so maybe will add a little more plus inhibitor as I was refilling the boiler with tap water every day for the last ~3 weeks).

Thank you all for your help and comments!