British gas state they could not see size of my gas pipes

[Keefy]

They held up my building work for three days. Things like the worktop could not be fitted because of this or the sink and I had to pay the builders because of this. Also none of the homecare people spotted the faults in 5 years so i want a refund on this as well. The boilker install was over £3000 so I dont think my demands are unreasonable.

Keep Tweeting about it including those hashtags and they'll soon do something about it, either give you more compensation or send a hitman round. I just checked and most people using the #BritishGas hashtag are - like yourself - not happy.

 

[BG hater]

The £850 includes the cost of the powerflush the electrics which I paid for twice and the cost of piping. I do not feel there is any good will in that offer. They did not offer me anything for ages and ingnored any complaint I made. They have lied over and over again saying that the gas flow was unaffected but bosch say you cannot get these figures on worcester boiler that were written on the install report.

 

[jase158]

They held up my building work for three days. Things like the worktop could not be fitted because of this or the sink and I had to pay the builders because of this. Also none of the homecare people spotted the faults in 5 years so i want a refund on this as well. The boilker install was over £3000 so I dont think my demands are unreasonable.

I dont mean this badly in any way but is this a case of bad timing or that the builder saw it was wrong and you halted work until it was put right. either way it shouldnt of been done in the first place, they shouldnt have tried to lie there way out of it and the work should of been agreed before they came out and tried to charge you for something they already agreed they would put right but It is better to accept something then to end up with nothing and also better to have had some sort of correspondence rather then hearing "this persons phone is unobtainable" but it does sound like i dont know all the details

 

[BG hater]

I think it was the fact that the FSA wrote to them that has made them do something. It generally takes around a month to 6 weeks to get an answer from customer services plus they are lying about not being able to see my gas pipes. I take it is illegal to just connect to a pipe that you cant see and that you dont know what size it is.
They are in clear breach of the goods and services act not to mention the gas regs as well as what is stated in the manufactures manual. I have not recovered the money that I have lost as a result of their actions. I dont see much goodwill in that.

 

[Millsy 82]

I am by no means a BG fan but as long as the working pressure at the boiler was ok with all appliances working and there wasnt a problem with circulation the service engineers wouldnt notice that the pipework was under sized.

What I do like is the fact they must have got the condense pipe down to the waste so they should have noticed the pipesizing when they installed it.

 

[BG hater]

They could see the pipework if they looked as they used to move the fridge when they serviced the boiler. Also BG have made up the bit about the pipes being concealed . There was never a cupboard there. Thanks for the point about the condense pipe, I had not thought of that.

 

[BG hater]

Here is a section of an email from Bosch Worcester who I sent the installation report to . They do not seem impressed with the pipework either and do not understand the figures given by the gas installer. The contractor who saw the original fault also looked at these figures and said he could not belive them.



[FONT=ArialMT, serif]We can only state that the gas supply to the boiler should not be less than 22mm, which at some point it clearly is, as per your engineer's report..[/FONT]

[FONT=ArialMT, serif]The certificate you have attached - is this from the original installation? We would be wary of it - there are measurements on there that simply cannot be taken on your Greenstar boiler.[/FONT]

[FONT=ArialMT, serif]For example, "Burner Operating pressure" - this is listed at 8.5mbar. There is no clarification on exactly what has been tested here, but it is impossible to measure a burner pressure on a Greenstar boiler. They use something called a zero governor gas valve, which means that measuring a pressure on the burner side of the valve is impossible.[/FONT]

[FONT=ArialMT, serif]Which begs the question, what does the 8.5mbar quoted refer to? If this is the available pressure on the inlet side of the valve, it's far too low. Did BG record the standing and working gas pressures available at the gas valve inlet test point? They should have done so when the boiler was fitted. It would be worth checking through your paperwork to find this measurement.[/FONT]

[FONT=ArialMT, serif]Again we need you to confirm that the boiler in question is indeed a Greenstar 28i Junior.[/FONT]

[FONT=ArialMT, serif]Regards[/FONT]

[FONT=ArialMT, serif]Technical[/FONT]

I should Imagine the British Gas response to the pipework, wiring and gas pressure would have been rather different if one of the non British gas fitters on this forum had put in my boiler in this way! I am prepared to carryt on fighting them and will not back down but I feel sorry for old people or other vunerable people that get this kind of treatment from fitters and who then get lied to and ignored by customer services.

 

[petercj]

Believe me you're not alone.

When cornered BG will say that they are a big company and that occasionally mistakes will happen, blah, blah.

I often wonder how many of their mistakes go undetected - as initially happened with you.

In the past I have put complaints in to CORGI, and Trading Standards about BG, (different issues) and neither complaint was followed up on.

BG are pretty well bullet proof. But then not many such companies have ex managers in the Government.

But stick with your complaint, even Goliath got caught out by a lucky shot!

 

[BG hater]

I will have a go at them about the stuff in the letter and see what happens. I understand it is against gas regs to just connect the gas up to any old pipe that you can't see which is what the british gas letter implies, even though this is not what they actually did, but I wondered if this is classed as a criminal offence or is simply negligent?

 

[GrahamM]

I will have a go at them about the stuff in the letter and see what happens. I understand it is against gas regs to just connect the gas up to any old pipe that you can't see which is what the british gas letter implies, even though this is not what they actually did, but I wondered if this is classed as a criminal offence or is simply negligent?

In a perfect world a new gas run would be put in in every new instal, but it is not a perfect world and sometimes an existing gas pipe is used. Otherwise your original bill may have been a few hundred pounds more. It is not always possible to trace an existing gas pipe route in every instal, but an educated guess of the route length can be taken and calculations made to ensure the boiler is getting the required volume of gas.
Unfortunately it is not a criminal offense to install a boiler incorrectly, and it is unlikely any action will be taken against the installer unless his poor workmanship was to cause harm.

 

[BG hater]

In a perfect world a new gas run would be put in in every new instal, but it is not a perfect world and sometimes an existing gas pipe is used. Otherwise your original bill may have been a few hundred pounds more. It is not always possible to trace an existing gas pipe route in every instal, but an educated guess of the route length can be taken and calculations made to ensure the boiler is getting the required volume of gas.
Unfortunately it is not a criminal offense to install a boiler incorrectly, and it is unlikely any action will be taken against the installer unless his poor workmanship was to cause harm.

Thanks for your reply so fast. They did actually charge me for a complete set of new pipes anyway so I did not save any money. They just did not fit them

 

[secret squirrel]

On a lighter note what is that thing your holding,

the reason I ask is there is something similar in my girlfriends underwear draw

 

[BG hater]

Actually that is the magnetic part of the powerflush machine with muck sticking to it being held up by the contractor who spotted the problems with the installation. The black stuff is muck from my heating system. That is about a fifth of what came out of a smanll system with about 6 radiators. I had actually paid to have the system flushed on install and the should have put in a flilter and inhibitor, you wouldn't want to find that stuff in your girlfriends drawer! Obviously a well maintained system!

 

[armourer]

A lot of BG haters on here. (By that I mean BG not the OP lol)

As a balanced view I would say as for the pipe sizing, as long as the standing and operating pressures at the boiler and gas rate are correct. The actual size of the gas pipe is irrelevant and you dont need to see the whole pipe run.

Also in regards to the power flush it is stated in the BG letter at the time of install, there was no indication of flow issues so a "cleanse" was carried out? Which to me is just a chemical addative such as X400 or F5 added to the system to clear it out and not a full power flush which you seem to think you paid for?

Also that muck that was pulled out of your system was 6 years after install?

 

[lame plumber]

:iagree:

 

[BG hater]

It was a power cleanse that was supposed to have been done not just a chemical flush. They also did not fit the magatech filter which would have shown contamination and there were gas flow issues. The manual states 22mm for the pipes. At the end of the day a paid a lot more to BG than I would have done to an independent and yet they did a poor job that is not up to the terms of their advertising or contract. On top of that I am out of pocket as they caused delays in my building work. It would have been cheaper for me to have got the fitter changing the gas cookers to sort out the piping and put in a filter rather than have the other work halted because BG were messing about, doing nothing or arguing. I realise that a power cleanse is not as good as a flush one but that was not what I was sold and they have stated that it was flushed to the manufacturers specs which I have reason to doubt. Also by choosing to just use my old pipes they seem to hav invalidated my guarantee with Worcester. If I pay top price for a service I do not expect corners to be cut or the job to be subcontracted out to someone who turns up a day late and who obviously does not care about any standards.

 

[zeebeedee]

What the hell is that third photo?

 

[secret squirrel]

Actually that is the magnetic part of the powerflush machine with muck sticking to it being held up by the contractor who spotted the problems with the installation. The black stuff is muck from my heating system. That is about a fifth of what came out of a smanll system with about 6 radiators. I had actually paid to have the system flushed on install and the should have put in a flilter and inhibitor, you wouldn't want to find that stuff in your girlfriends drawer! Obviously a well maintained system!

Mmmm, nothing wrong with the maintenance of my girlfriend.... well, that is my opinion anyway. :cry_smile:

 

[stratplus]

What third photo?

 

[ManchesterGas]

What the hell is that third photo?

Magnaclean lid upside down..