possible split coil, help needed

[pauljones]

I may have a split coil and need some advice,
can anyone please explain how i find, check and replace (if necessary)
a faulty coil, im having to fix this myself cos we got ripped off by a dodgy plumber
and dont have the funds to pay someone else.
Can anyone also give me a rough idea of the cost of doing it myself compared to calling out another plumber?
I must get this fixed asap and any /all advice is welcomed and appreciated.
thankyou
Paul

 

[leelister6]

What makes you think the coil's split? And if it is, it will be a new cylinder as the coil is fitted at the time of manufacture. (I am assuming you're talking about a hot water cylinder)

 

[pauljones]

first the heating came on instead of the hot water
then hot water tank overflows constantly,
replaced hot n cold ball valves ,cold one dripping ,hot one seized up. worked ok for a few days then same again when hot waterswitched on, only hot radiators and overflow from hot water tank in loft started within minutes.
now called a plumber out while i was ill he took advantage and ripped my mrs off.
Now theres no supply to the Hot tank in loft but it still fills up with hot water and overflows constantly, both hot and cold tanks contaminated with brown scum,
I was told that it may be the 3way valve or a split coil and although the valve had been tampered with (by the dodgy plumber) i seem to have fixed this
What do you think??

 

[leelister6]

It does sound like a split coil I'm afraid. You can pick a 900H x 450 dia. indirect cyl up from screwfix for a couple hundred quid. If you get a plumber to do it expect to pay for a full day's labour (£150ish) plus mebbe £50 for an immersion and fittings.I wouldn't advise you tackle it yourself unless you know what you're doing as you could come a cropper and cause a lot of damage!

How did you get stung if you don't mind me asking?

 

[pauljones]

first it seamt like a stuck valve - both as the hot tank overflow kept pouring so i replaced them both.but when i switched hot water on it only heated up the central heating.
Then i got ill and went away for a few days to recover meanwhile my mrs called in a plumber from the yellow pages, he charge3d her £65 and only fixed a very slow drip on the downstairs top tap - and when i got back a day or two later the pipes were banging the hot water tank in the loft had very hot water in it and still overflowed but there was no water now from the inlet ball valve for the hot tank and the 3 way valve screws were loose and that now didnt work but these were fine before i left so he had been messing with various things charged her for nothing in my opinion. I think he thought she was a single woman and an easy target. He insisted on coming back to rip her off more 9inb my opinion).
Im disabled and we are living well below the poverty line,cant make ends meet and i now have to fix it with no cash, dont know really what to do for the best.
~Thats how we got stung!!!!
if anyone has any positive suggestions -please let me have em as i need some help
Thanks
Paul

 

[leelister6]

Unfortunately, if you don't know of anyone you can trust, Yellow Pages is the only way. Always try and find tradesmen by asking friends and family (or even blokes in the pub!) before resorting to that though! I would have to say that most tradesmen (the ones that I know anyway!) take pride in their work and value their good reputation, It just sounds like you got a bad'un!
Hope you get it sorted

 

[dontknowitall]

Unfortunately, if you don't know of anyone you can trust, Yellow Pages is the only way. Always try and find tradesmen by asking friends and family (or even blokes in the pub!) before resorting to that though! I would have to say that most tradesmen (the ones that I know anyway!) take pride in their work and value their good reputation, It just sounds like you got a bad'un!
Hope you get it sorted

Following on from this most tradesmen will only recommend someone they know and trust as a poor recommendation risks tarnishing their own reputation. So if you know of an electrician, builder, tiler, etc ask them.

 

[WaterTight]

Well if you've no money you can spend on this then it might be pointless people telling you how to find someone to sort it but unless you're very, very top notch with DIY and know a good amount about plumbing it would be unwise to do much more than you already have yourself. Ball-valves are one thing, mucking about with cylinders and heating controls is another.

If you do end up deciding to get someone but don't know anybody for recommendations go on to checkatrade.com, search for gas safe registered engineers in your area and pick 2 or 3 companies with a large amounts of recent positive feedback - specifically those with feedback that make frequent reference to jobs involving boilers, heating, full installs etc. It's free to search. Just about everybody offers free quotes nowadays so then phone up a few and get them to come round and give you an idea of what they'd charge for investigation / likely fixes and to explain what they'd do, most will prob give you a vague idea over the phone. You're unlikely to go far wrong by that method but I'm afraid plumbing is hard work that requires a lot of experience and lots of overheads and so if you get someone who knows what they're doing the reality is it's not going to be cheap. But any guy worth his salt will be able to give you an idea of best and worst case scenario money-wise before he begins.

 

[GQuigley67]

you could mention where abouts you are from, someone on here might be local and may be able to help

 

[pauljones]

I live in mixenden, halifax, west yorks, if theres anyone who may be local who could help then please let me know.
Thanks to all who read or replied my post, much appreciated.
Paul

 

[SafeGasInstall]

come on OP you have not been rip off as you have been charged accordingly for 1h labour

 

[GQuigley67]

very true SGI, this is a standard hourly rate I was charged this today plus VAT at the garage for them to plug in a computer to the van and look at fault codes, although not much involved it is still an hours labour you get charged, where as at another garage I could of had this done for £40+VAT. So shop around different plumbers to see who is the most affordable.

The plumber didnt rip you off for that price paul, although it doesn't seem like he done much physical work he was still there and charged his rate accordingly.

 

[SafeGasInstall]

can you tell me on your tree port valve which letter is going to where pls or just photo will do

 

[leelister6]

If I was to turn up to fix a toilet and just sat there for an hour having a big dump, then left without doing the job I was there to do and charged £65 for the privelige I would be ripping the customer off! I am assuming he was asked to do a particular job and didn't do it.

 

[GQuigley67]

theres a difference in ripping off and being useless I think this particular plumber was just useless but I dont know all the facts

 

[SafeGasInstall]

leelisteer6 what you just put dawn is a big dump!!!!

were you there ,did you speak to the engineer ....there is so much to know before you can make a such a comment !!

I am sure you are sensible person and you will delete /change your post

 

[leelister6]

leelisteer6 what you just put dawn is a big dump!!!!

were you there ,did you speak to the engineer ....there is so much to know before you can make a such a comment !!

I am sure you are sensible person and you will delete /change your post

Were you there and did you speak to the 'Engineer'?

All we can go on is the information provided by the O.P. and according to the O.P. the plumber was employed to do a job and he didn't do it but charged for it. If he couldn't do it, he should have said so and left.

 

[WaterTight]

I got that impression too. If they called him to fix tap and while he was there asked him to look at split coil / port valve prob then he charged accordingly. If they called him to look at the lot but all he fancied doing was tap he should have made this clear and given this as an option before work (albeit still bit of cop out.) If they called him to look at lot but all he did was tap charged anyway - without previous discussion before work - he did wrong.

 

[pauljones]

I understand that there is an hourly rate but he came to fix the overflow leak, did nothing but make that worse and fixed a slow drip from the downstairs valve that allows water to flow into the house , which he had not been asked to do, and wasnt even noticible!!! and for that it cost 65 quid, he did not do the job he was called out for but instead must of thought my mrs was an easy target so did tamper so as to call back at a later date, subsequently he rang back twice trying to get my mrs to allow him to come back and fix the 'problem'
The problem was him!!!!

 

[SafeGasInstall]

sorry to hear your experience with the yellow page plumber !

 

[pauljones]

Yeh thanks for that, i know most tradesmen are decent and takepride in what they do but theres always a few that take advantage in every walk of life,
its ironic that we got stung when we could least afford it

 

[pauljones]

thats right , he was asked to do one job ,didnt do it but made it worse , did something else that he was not asked to do, charged us for the privaledge and set us up to come back for more money!
Now that is being ripped off, im sorry but ive now still got the problem and hes got our cash!!
I know how this kind of thing makes it difficult for the majority of you good guys to maintain a good reputation so i will delete this thread once ive found out if i can sort this out myself.
I was not intending to make an issue of this or upset anyone on purpose, sour grapes and all that, i came on here to get advice to see whether i can fix this myself as now we can not afford to call anyone else out. Appologies if any of you were offended but im sure you guys dislike cowboys as much as we do??

 

[REDSAW]

thread acceptable.

 

[leelister6]

thats right , he was asked to do one job ,didnt do it but made it worse , did something else that he was not asked to do, charged us for the privaledge and set us up to come back for more money!
Now that is being ripped off, im sorry but ive now still got the problem and hes got our cash!!
I know how this kind of thing makes it difficult for the majority of you good guys to maintain a good reputation so i will delete this thread once ive found out if i can sort this out myself.
I was not intending to make an issue of this or upset anyone on purpose, sour grapes and all that, i came on here to get advice to see whether i can fix this myself as now we can not afford to call anyone else out. Appologies if any of you were offended but im sure you guys dislike cowboys as much as we do??

Can only speak for myself and I'm not offended. The only thing that offends me is people like your 'plumber'! As you say, it gives the good lads a bad name as we all get tarred with the same brush. As most of us have advised, this can be a challenging job for a professional and the potential for some serious damage is a real possibility so if you do decide to tackle it yourself, get some buckets and towels ready!!!

 

[pauljones]

cheers, is there anyway that a faulty 3way valve could cause this to happen or is it most likely the coil?