Keston C55 Experienced Service Engineer Required SW London

[andrewjameshoward]

I have a 10 year old Keston C55 requiring its annual service. I live in SW London. My regular service engineer (who has done an admirable job for the past few years) now seems to have disappeared. For various reasons, I prefer to go to an independent rather than to Keston. It's difficult to wade through sites like Check-a-Trade or Google because this requires someone to specialise in the make and these sites don't have this information.

Who could carry out this job for me?

 

[Dan Robinson]

A 10 year old Keston???


Blimey that's some good going. Most are lucky to make it to 5 years.

 

[andrewjameshoward]

A lot of the original boiler has been replaced over the years, so to call it 10 years old is a bit of an exaggeration.

 

[neiltheplumber]

Get a keston engineer in! ie, call keston! Most others engineers will run a mile!

 

[ianmcd]

take it out and skip it really surprised you have had it this long call Keston they will want to take photos of it , they are absolute shoite

 

[andrewjameshoward]

Lots of fun but not very helpful. After my experience, I wouldn't buy another Keston. Nor would I employ Keston to do any work. But why should I put a working boiler in a skip and spend my hard-earned brass on a new one when none is required? My old engineer (who appears to have now emigrated to Thailand) has been able to keep it going reliably for the last few years. Are there any other competent engineers out there, or are there only comedians?

 

[ianmcd]

Look up an engineer on here called Agile he is London based not sure which area he might be able to sort you out he has contact numbers on his profile and he talks Keston on most of his posts

 

[Dan Robinson]

Perhaps he emigrated for a reason? Embarrassment/stress/fed up with working on these boxes of pooh?


You have to have a sense of humour in this game.

SW London is a big place. What is the first part of your postcode?



Seriously though - these really are one of the worst appliances/brands/companies in the trade. Don't expect to keep it for long even with a decent service engineer. The spares prices are horrendous too.

 

[andrewjameshoward]

SW15

 

[David937]

Don't know if this helps:

http://www.kestonaid.co.uk/

 

[Dan Robinson]

Christ. I bet they don't go to bed Sunday night looking forward to the morning.

 

[Agile]

Don't know if this helps:

http://www.kestonaid.co.uk/[/QUOTE]

They have almost as many web sites as Ben.

They are also experts on Potterton boilers as well as all other makes!

 

[Agile]

My old engineer (who appears to have now emigrated to Thailand) has been able to keep it going reliably for the last few years. Are there any other competent engineers out there, or are there only comedians?

Even the best engineers can usually only keep them going unreliably. Or perhaps you have been the one lucky lottery winner owner who has the perfect Keston which has never failed.

Most people would take out a British Gas cover for that model.

Even that is not guaranteed. I went to a tenanted house on a Sunday to look at a C55 which I diagnosed ( as best as one can when its not working ) as a PCB fault.

It was under BG cover and they came on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but still did not fix it or seem to know what was wrong. They changed many parts EXCEPT for the PCB !

The only reason they apparently did not change the PCB was that it had been changed a year before! That made no difference to my diagnosis because any part can fail at any time!

By the Friday the landlord had had enough with BG and got others to fit a new Vaillant boiler!

Tony

 

[andrewjameshoward]

"kestonaid" is one of a number of results which comes up on google but doesn't look like a genuine firm of heating engineers - more like a call centre trawling for jobs.

My Keston has failed a few times over the year. I have had a few new fan assemblies and a new heat exchanger. It seems to me that it has more chance of functioning without further failure if it is regularly serviced by someone familiar with the product who is conscientious and knows what they are doing. Hence my wish to avoid Keston themselves, British Gas and dodgy-looking outfits on the internet. Eventually this boiler will have to be replaced. Then I will again be at the mercy of an installer like the cowboy who put this one in. There is very little way for me as a residential consumer to judge one boiler from another or one installer from another. It is not the first year that matters (where there is a guarantee) or even the first 5 years (where a full service and insurance contract can give adequate protection). It is the full life of the boiler.

If someone has direct knowledge of "kestonaid" and is thus able to recommend them, please let me know.

 

[Agile]

The British Gas and similar cover schemes usually continue until they tell you that parts are no longer available ( meaning at their own parts stores ). With an unreliable boiler like that they are very good value.

You cannot assume that the installer was a cowboy.

That model looks like a good design with industrially specced components particularly the fan.

Its just that it soon became obvious that placing an AAV over electrical components was not a good idea, that the fan was not as reliable as expected, that the control unit was not so reliable, that flue flexible pipes leaked and spoilt the insides with hot damp gases, that the flue rubber seals leaked badly and worst of all that heat exchanger was liable to burst without warning and when that happened Keston took no responsibility by just claiming that the water quality or flow rate was inadequate.

Sentences are meant to be kept short to reduce the "fog factor" !

Tony