Jack,
Calling a qualified Corgi engineer to service the boiler and give me a certificate was the first thing I did. He who have been servicing the boiler foe the past six years came in, tested the gas fires, the hob, oven and the grill (separate units) and when he went round to do the boiler and I explained the fault symptoms he said he can't do it for the same price and that he will call me back with a quote, which he never did.
That was just an excuse to leave sweet, as he had travelled 20 miles to get here, had already tested all the other appliances, had to travel back 20 miles, when I asked him to rectify the fault and bill us for the extra work, he said "I can't do it today, I have to go back" and that he never called me back with a new quote.
As I am a qualified Electronic engineer and used to occasionally service boilers many years ago before having to be Corgi qualified to service gas appliances I decided to have a look at it myself.
This is not about money mate; I do not get paid anything extra for doing this and have to call someone in to issue our company with a certificate at the end of the job anyway.
The whole thing is about,
1, proving to my boss that I was right in judging that all the guy could do was to test appliances for gas leak and other safety matters and if all O.K. issue us with a certificate and that when it came to fault finding he didn't know where to start.
2, in two years time, if not sooner, they are going to separate the building in two residential houses and sell it, in which case they need two separate boilers and have to replace our massive cold water tank with two small ones and separate the hot and cold water pipes and the central heating accordingly, so it does not make sense to spend several thousand pounds on a new central heating boiler for just one winter.
Unfortunately we have a through away economy and specially when it gets to old stuff, unless you find a honest and knowledgeable engineer, most engineers turn to salesman and try to sell you a new unit to earn their commission. Even when I contacted Potterton to service the boiler they did the same.
If you want to help me by advising me what part to replace and how to rectify the fault I will be most grateful, otherwise thanks for answering the question and your sensible advise.
Fash
fshenassa@hotmail.com
Fash, May 2005
