In my judgement, yes, that is a serious structural issue, it weakens the entire ceiling, loft floor. What was he thinking, when he cut through that?
Possible bodged boiler install
- Thread starter SomethingSomething
- Start date
In my judgement, yes, that is a serious structural issue, it weakens the entire ceiling, loft floor. What was he thinking, when he cut through that?
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I nearly fell off my chair as well when I saw that "notch", but if the walls of that airing cupboard are structural it's probably not really an issue.
Yep, looks a right bas***d doesn't it.
Installer clearly didn't want to go up the roof, probably done it standing on a ladder instead.
As it goes, Viessmann are awful to deal with.
Great sales team, but the warranty side wriggle like a greased up piglet if you need some help.
Installer clearly didn't want to go up the roof, probably done it standing on a ladder instead.
As it goes, Viessmann are awful to deal with.
Great sales team, but the warranty side wriggle like a greased up piglet if you need some help.
The MIs for my boiler flue say it must be fitted level as the fall takes place on the inner pipe internally.
IMO notching the beam like that is the worst thing there by far. Not supposed to notch anything at all from the bottom.
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you will find its only on a standard flue that the fall is built in once you start fitting extensions then it isnt
I don't need the extension on mine but I've looked at it and it definitely maintains the fall internally. That said it is an oddball boiler (Intergas) so that might be why !
Yep many do have them built into standard flue as it is a very short length of 60/100 flue but impossible when extensions come into play as is the case with this install
Why is the extension join not foil taped up ?
and why would they need to be ?
Because we had to have the pipe join taped for a loft flue install in a pair of flats as it was marked defective on the inspection ...mind you that was British Gas who did the service and gas safety check. as part of a contract, they said it was a treated as a void not open to inspection, at the time we thought fair enough as the loft space was locked off from the tenants after clearing out other peoples junk and the remains of a weed grow . If that helps. We did'nt pay for it directly...sure there was something in the monthly charge. Both were done.
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Thanks all!
I really do regret going with Viessmann based on their support, and the boiler is louder (noticeable at night if it's running). You can hear it in the dowstairs landing with the airing cupboard door closed upstairs. The same installer had a Vaillant only £100 more. They sold me on the Steel Heat Exchanger and the modulation tech which is supposed to be better suposedly. The boiler is only the entry level 0-50 30KW.
Viessmann are not much help considering the installer was referred to us by them via their website as a trained and accredited installer. They are not helping us on how to proceed with the benchmark, effectively asking us to contact the installer, who seem to think it's good practice to backdate the benchmark and call it a day.
I took some better photos, cleared insulation covering the flue pipe and have cleared most empty boxes in the loft in light of the possible issues with the beam being cut. There does appear to be a slight incline in the pipe down towards the boiler, but this is only until the joint where it meets the cut timber beam.
I was looking for some clarity from Viessmann on how the benchmark/commissioning sheet may be completed as it's blank one year in and the original engineer is unable to sign it as he left the company. It appears they used contractors for my job as they were coming from 60+ miles away and the job took nearly two weeks, not the initial three days estimated. They would get 'stuck' in traffic each day but we guess they were on other jobs. The main installer was gas safe registered but we discovered the helper he had with him was not. Oddly the non gas safe engineer semeed to have more technical knowledge as he was interpreting the install manuals and seemingly more effort in installing the radiators level, cleanly and properly and not rushing the job. He even took the liberty to explain what OpenTherm was!
The problems we've had with the installer so far - We paid the deposit on credit card, and then bank transferred the rest. Roughly £4800 without including cost of our own supplied radiators. This is in the Midlands.
1. As this is a new CH system the quote included removing the old gas storage heaters, the old gas multipoint water heater and bricking up the flues. Their contractors who came to install failed to do so and left this for our builder to remove, dispose and brick up. (They did cut the gas supply to the heaters prior though. The installer was aware our builder was to reskim the whole house and refloor but at the time did not suggest second fixing to us, and we were too naive to ask.
2. The pipework drop from the boiler was chased into the wall but not far enough, so our builder had to reconfigure the pipework where it meets the skirting so that there was enough clearance for plasterboard to go ontop.
3. They installed the condensate pipe, blew the brick, and failed to fill in around the pipe outside.
4. They broke our water stop tap causing a fair leak, failed to tell us about the broken tap until we discovered it ourselves, but in fairness it was fairly old (Property 70 years or so old). We had HomeServe charge us £60 to repair this and stop the leak.
5. Our builder was able to reinstall the radiators himself upstairs but downstairs as the old plaster had blown and it was taken back to brick and then reboarded, so required more work. Our original installer didn't mention the option of a second fix in the original quote so charged us a further £375 to reinstall the four radiators downstairs, patch up the flues and around the condensate pipe which they completed to a not so great standard, as below.
6. A few months later we noticed the radiators downstairs were coming away from the wall and reported this back to the installer. (Wrong wall plugs used on plasterboard wall). We also at this point as the boiler was coming to a year old, reviewed the boiler paperwork, noticing the commisioning benchmark booklet was blank.
7. A different enginer from the same company reattended 30/5/2024 to resolve the concerns discussed above, and suggested they would perform the year 1 service free of charge, retrospectively complete the benchmark but backdate it to the original installation date, a year ago on 2/5/2023. The engineer refused to sign the document though as he wasn't the original commissioner.
8. As part of my insurance a different / third-party attended to service the boiler the same day 30/5/2024, as above / health check and this is when he raised the issue with the flue. It is only when taking a look for myself I noticed the big cut in the roof beam.
9. I also noticed today there is daylight where the pipe exists from, it's too far to see if water ingress has occured. Perhaps I need a bright torch.
I really do regret going with Viessmann based on their support, and the boiler is louder (noticeable at night if it's running). You can hear it in the dowstairs landing with the airing cupboard door closed upstairs. The same installer had a Vaillant only £100 more. They sold me on the Steel Heat Exchanger and the modulation tech which is supposed to be better suposedly. The boiler is only the entry level 0-50 30KW.
Viessmann are not much help considering the installer was referred to us by them via their website as a trained and accredited installer. They are not helping us on how to proceed with the benchmark, effectively asking us to contact the installer, who seem to think it's good practice to backdate the benchmark and call it a day.
I took some better photos, cleared insulation covering the flue pipe and have cleared most empty boxes in the loft in light of the possible issues with the beam being cut. There does appear to be a slight incline in the pipe down towards the boiler, but this is only until the joint where it meets the cut timber beam.
I was looking for some clarity from Viessmann on how the benchmark/commissioning sheet may be completed as it's blank one year in and the original engineer is unable to sign it as he left the company. It appears they used contractors for my job as they were coming from 60+ miles away and the job took nearly two weeks, not the initial three days estimated. They would get 'stuck' in traffic each day but we guess they were on other jobs. The main installer was gas safe registered but we discovered the helper he had with him was not. Oddly the non gas safe engineer semeed to have more technical knowledge as he was interpreting the install manuals and seemingly more effort in installing the radiators level, cleanly and properly and not rushing the job. He even took the liberty to explain what OpenTherm was!
The problems we've had with the installer so far - We paid the deposit on credit card, and then bank transferred the rest. Roughly £4800 without including cost of our own supplied radiators. This is in the Midlands.
1. As this is a new CH system the quote included removing the old gas storage heaters, the old gas multipoint water heater and bricking up the flues. Their contractors who came to install failed to do so and left this for our builder to remove, dispose and brick up. (They did cut the gas supply to the heaters prior though. The installer was aware our builder was to reskim the whole house and refloor but at the time did not suggest second fixing to us, and we were too naive to ask.
2. The pipework drop from the boiler was chased into the wall but not far enough, so our builder had to reconfigure the pipework where it meets the skirting so that there was enough clearance for plasterboard to go ontop.
3. They installed the condensate pipe, blew the brick, and failed to fill in around the pipe outside.
4. They broke our water stop tap causing a fair leak, failed to tell us about the broken tap until we discovered it ourselves, but in fairness it was fairly old (Property 70 years or so old). We had HomeServe charge us £60 to repair this and stop the leak.
5. Our builder was able to reinstall the radiators himself upstairs but downstairs as the old plaster had blown and it was taken back to brick and then reboarded, so required more work. Our original installer didn't mention the option of a second fix in the original quote so charged us a further £375 to reinstall the four radiators downstairs, patch up the flues and around the condensate pipe which they completed to a not so great standard, as below.
6. A few months later we noticed the radiators downstairs were coming away from the wall and reported this back to the installer. (Wrong wall plugs used on plasterboard wall). We also at this point as the boiler was coming to a year old, reviewed the boiler paperwork, noticing the commisioning benchmark booklet was blank.
7. A different enginer from the same company reattended 30/5/2024 to resolve the concerns discussed above, and suggested they would perform the year 1 service free of charge, retrospectively complete the benchmark but backdate it to the original installation date, a year ago on 2/5/2023. The engineer refused to sign the document though as he wasn't the original commissioner.
8. As part of my insurance a different / third-party attended to service the boiler the same day 30/5/2024, as above / health check and this is when he raised the issue with the flue. It is only when taking a look for myself I noticed the big cut in the roof beam.
9. I also noticed today there is daylight where the pipe exists from, it's too far to see if water ingress has occured. Perhaps I need a bright torch.
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Deleted member 267285
If that condensate pipe runs externally the that’s been done wrong too, as they’re now supposed to be lagged or prevention against freezing conditions.
That is an absolutely shocking story, of appalling workmanship from a company. Worth contacting the BBC, for inclusion in one of their consumer programs.
D
Deleted member 267285
I think if you zoom in it is 32mm, but in white? - looks like a reducer on the elbow.
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