thorn olympic boiler

[LauraLeah]

my boiler is knackered, and has been for 11 weeks
It was covered by british gas homecare agreement, which i was paying £32 a month for. ((whic sometimes isnt worth the paper its printed on as they wont replace any system, they will only fix it to there best ability))
I was paying this from november 2005 to june 2007, when the serviced it for the 3rd time, all of a sudden they told me it had been discontinued in around 1970 and it was too old for them to insure.
So my insurance was called.
British gas came out last week to quote us for a new system, which included removal of old lead piping, 1 combi boiler and 1 radiator.
The quote was £4497.20.
I almost fell of my seat!!!
Is it costly and safe to replace it our selves if we brought a new boiler and the copper piping.
Any ideas what the approx costing is for a corgi service once the new system is installed!!

 

[corgiman]

why do you think thats a high price?

have you had other quotes?

have you found any RGI willing to fit a boiler and pipework you have supplied?

If you have thought of doing it for yourself have you found an RGI willing to "commision" it for you?


Just interested thats all

 

[namsag]

Firstly it is worth the paper its printed on as it states on that bit of paper they won`t change the boiler or system and why should they, secondly your boiler cover didn`t cost £32 a month i would imaging you also have plumbing and drains cover a well as some of electrical appliances, thirdly boiler went obsolete in late eighties or early ninties.. 3 services in 18 months that is in anyones book good service.

As for quote for replacement shop about but you will struggle to get someone to install stuff you have bought and the labour cost will prob shock you if you do get someone

 

[kevplumb]

my boiler is knackered, and has been for 11 weeks

what is actually wrong with it ???

 

[LauraLeah]

the one thing that annoyed me was the gas company was willing to take £32 a month of me when all a long they new the boiler was discontinued in early 1980's.
They serviced the boiler when the cover commenced, so my argument was why did they cover it when they knew it was old.
i knew they wouldn't replace the boiler, as i read all small print, but with the boiler been sold old, one thing they never told me when i asked them was that they could only get one replacement part for it, which turned out to be a cheap digital time clock display casing with the controls on.
They told me getting parts for it wouldn't be a problem.

 

[LauraLeah]

we have had 3 quotes in all,
firstly the one that knocked me off my seat at £4400 or something daft like that,
then one at a more realistic £2300.
And one at £2600.
We have looked at purchasing copper piping to replace the lead piping on the hot water taps and a boiler from b&q, and fitting it ourselves.
And then just calling a corgi guy out to service it and check it is up to legal standard and requirement.

 

[LauraLeah]

to kevplumb:
boiler has never worked brilliantly.
But has worked, which is something i suppose!!
It started when we got some quite strong wind up here in the north.
The pilot light kept getting blown out, and we would have to spend sometimes upto half and hour getting it lit and within a minute or so, we would have to do it all over again!!!
We went away for a few days, and came back to an igloo, it just wouldnt work. It wouldn't even light, let alone stay lit!!
And in desperate times, 9, 10 and 11 weeks later, when its really cold on a night i have spent an hour trying to get it lit, but with no success!!!
It never rains but it pours!!

 

[nickso]

the one thing that annoyed me was the gas company was willing to take £32 a month of me when all a long they new the boiler was discontinued in early 1980's.

and you were willing to pay for it when i can almost guarantee you were told to replace it on the first visit. are you blind or something? can even a layman like yourself not see how much of an antiquated piece of carp it is?

the boiler was probably discontinued in the late 80's....not the 70's and now early 80's that you are claiming. the parts were not discontinued for some time afterwards.

They serviced the boiler when the cover commenced, so my argument was why did they cover it when they knew it was old.

and they serviced it a further 2 times and in that time covered you for your rads, ch pipework, controls and any parts that were available or could be repaired on the spot, not too mention out of hours callouts......such terrible value for money eh? when they intially took it on contract ill bet it was on a reduced service list and parts were available. read your terms and conditions.

i knew they wouldn't replace the boiler, as i read all small print

whic sometimes isnt worth the paper its printed on as they wont replace any system, they will only fix it to there best ability))

which is it? read your terms and conditions.....properly

 

[LauraLeah]

FAO NICKSO

how dare u???
i wanted boiler repare cover, so if it broke they could fix it, as when we moved in it did work.
they new the age of boiler and we didnt.
Abd as far as the parts go, we were told that when it was serviced the last time, tha parts had not been available for around 5 years.
I am only going on what i have been told by so called professionals, so dont u dare start throwing abuse at me.!!!!!!!

 

[LauraLeah]

oh and we werent told to replace it.
Oh, and 24 hour call out werent included.
As our boiler once broke late in the evening in the winter, and when we phone on the friday, we were not contacted again till the following monday,

So why dont you keep you 'valuable' comments to yourself!!

 

[ollski]

it was too old for them to insure.

I think you may have a fair point on this as bg cover almost any old rubbish, it is on the reduced parts list which means not all parts are available. This may or may not include parts you need. If it was the engineer who told you it could not be covered he has not been truthful with you, wheras if he told you it may be wise to consider if you want to continue with cover due to the parts availability then he has advised you correctly.

All the pilot assembly, injectors, gas valve etc which may be part of your problem are still obtainable afaik.

Bg don't provide insurance by the way.

 

[ollski]

Just to add that alot of bg patches are trying to bypass some of their greedy salesmen by fitting a boiler you obtain on an hourly rate. Try ringing for a quote from an engineer to fit your own obtained boiler.

 

[namsag]

Nothing new there ollski we where doing that 7 year ago

 

[LauraLeah]

well, i class it as insurance, it was called home care 4000.
It covered our boiler and radiators, and all internal piping.
But even without the internal piping and rads it would still have cost me nearly £20.
When the bg guy came out to service the boiler to see if they could accept the boiler under the terms and conditions on the cover, nothing was said about it been on any reduced parts list, infact he made a point of saying, yep, its not the newest boiler in the world, but parts will still be available without any problems at all.
I just dont think that big companies like bg should lie and cheat people.
If they had just told me the truth from the start, then i may not have taken it out, and we could have worked around it.
We also had a bg guy round the week b4 we moved in to turn all the gas back on as house has been empty for a while, he condemmed it, leaving us without the use of our gas cooker, gas fire or central heating or hot water in early november.
I wasnt sure whether to take his word or not, so i contacted a local firm, who came out and seviced the boiler two weeks later
I was told by them, that the boiler was fine, and he passed the boiler and turned all the gas back on.
He reccommended that that i made a complain to bg, i did, nothing become of it.....
well, now i dont trust bg as far as i could throw them, and i know alot of the engineer will be trusting, but im yet to meet one!!

 

[ollski]

Laura boilers go onto the reduced parts list every 3 months and is dictated by the appliance manufacturer. Perhaps it wasn't when you took out the contract but is now and you are being kept informed?.

The previous job you had a problem with is impossible to comment on without details although I can't imagine a scenario where all the gas has to be turned off unless done by transco after a refusal to allow isolation.

I'm still not exactly sure what the problem you currently have is.