WAMT....what annoyed me today!

When I changed my boiler I opted to keep the tank as a back up, not that it hardly ever gets switched on, but its nice to know its there.
Also at the time there was some debate as to whether of not combi boilers were as efficient / reliable as they were supposed to be.
And that was from a "gas safe" engineer, and not the one that was doing the work.
Just one I happen to know.
 
broc said:
We had a very short debate about whether to stick with a system boiler or switch to combi but I was overrruled as 'someone' wanted a warm airing cupboard to air the laundry and it wasn't worth the agro to argue otherwise :rolleyes:
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:thinking: If that refers to keeping the tank, wouldn’t it be better/cheaper just to fit a fan?
 
Cobra said:
When I changed my boiler I opted to keep the tank as a back up, not that it hardly ever gets switched on, but its nice to know its there.
Also at the time there was some debate as to whether of not combi boilers were as efficient / reliable as they were supposed to be.
And that was from a "gas safe" engineer, and not the one that was doing the work.
Just one I happen to know.
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The guy who installed our replacement boiler almost 8 years ago said system boilers were less complicated than combi, & implied they were more reliable. He was happy to install either for us. He gave us the advantages/disadvantages of the two options and left us to decide. Other potential suppliers were all heavily promoting combi. We have a large house so we needed multiple heating zones too. We have TRVs on most radiators and wireless zone thermostats for each zone.
 
sphexx said:
:thinking: If that refers to keeping the tank, wouldn’t it be better/cheaper just to fit a fan?
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That thought had struck me, but in the end it was also down to the fact that with long pipe runs (boiler is in garage) we were advised a combi boiler might struggle to meet the simultaneous demand for hot water from several bathrooms/showers etc
 
broc said:
The guy who installed our replacement boiler almost 8 years ago said system boilers were less complicated than combi, & implied they were more reliable. He was happy to install either for us.
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I had the choice also. And similarly about 8 years ago.
There was never any preference stated by the guy doing the work TBH.

broc said:
Other potential suppliers were all heavily promoting combi.
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I had that to, from the other guys quoting,
The prices were about the same, but I just liked the guy that was quoting...
No pressure and he was happy to walk away, once he'd quoted, and " I'll never hear from him again"

TRV's on all rads apart from one, apparently its a safety feature in case they all shut down at the same time..
And just one thermostat down stairs, in the middle of the house. ( Its sort of open plan )
 
When we had a replacement boiler fitted, we went for a direct replacement so there was minimal disruption. Basically just remove old one and bolt in new one. Of course the flue needed slight jiggery-pokery (knock out 4 bricks and reset them around new flue) and a condensate drain had to be routed to the drain. Still got the airing cupboard and immersion heater if we ever need it. Pretty sure we've never needed the immersion, although I do check it when I remember! I just look at how fast the meter disc is spinning - fairly obvious when there's a big load on it!
Considering having an electric shower plumbed in when we get the bathroom done - possibly wired to the immersion circuit on an either/or switch.
 
broc said:
The guy who installed our replacement boiler almost 8 years ago said system boilers were less complicated than combi, & implied they were more reliable.
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According to my late brother, who usually knew what he was talking about in this area, the combi boilers don’t last as long as the older type. Of things may change and it will (hopefully) soon be time to abandon gas & use solely electric — imagine how much simpler that would make house heating :).
 
sphexx said:
According to my late brother, who usually knew what he was talking about in this area, the combi boilers don’t last as long as the older type. Of things may change and it will (hopefully) soon be time to abandon gas & use solely electric — imagine how much simpler that would make house heating :).
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Electric is expensive.
No new boiler, whether system or combi will last as long as the old boilers.
 
I've been aware of the shortcomings of BG for a good while and it's why we went with a local Worcetser-Bosch dealer and no service contract,we just had it done annually for £72.

A couple of posts supporting BG which, having had good experiences is fair enough but there are far more negative reports around. Re Trustpilot (link below) I appreciate that people ,in the main, write reviews when the've had poor experiences..if only to alert prospective customers. I check customer reviews before I buy anything and not only the product but the supplier generally with Amazon. I'm sure I've saved myself some grief. Quite often there will be several 4/5 star reviews but I tend to go to the 1/2 star ones and depending on what the problem was make a decision based on those..If someone is complaining about the time it took to arrive or something generally out of the control of the supplier I don't take that into consideration but wrongly-advertised items, poor customer service,if you can get through atall, no address of premises just online..posting out wrong items, failing to refund for ages if atall. These are red flag alerts for me.

The latest Trustpilot review here was an hour ago. having read just a handful I'd be reluctant to sign up with them, well I wouldn't.

uk.trustpilot.com

British Gas is rated "Great" with 3.8 / 5 on Trustpilot

Do you agree with British Gas's TrustScore? Voice your opinion today and hear what 160,975 customers have already said.
uk.trustpilot.com uk.trustpilot.com

Watchdog from 2018 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ar...wvXKkKjR/british-gas-looking-after-your-world

More grief from October last year. https://247homerescue.co.uk/blog/anger-from-british-gas-boiler-cover-customers/

Daily Mirror November 2019. https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-gas-hot-water-over-20795467
 
amazon prices.

I'm trying not to go anywhere except a walk for exercise.
The boiler condensate pipe has developed a leak.
A 250ml tin of solvent cement will fix the joint, but it's £10.30 on Amazon for home delivery or £5.40 at Screwfix (fairly close by).
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
Electric is expensive.
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Getting cheaper and obviously much cheaper to install & control. There are places where it’s already free off-peak from the grid.
 
Cobra said:
My back boiler was at least 30 years when it was "up graded" to a wall mount.


And expensive!
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Getting cheaper and obviously much cheaper to install & control. There are places where it’s already free off-peak from the grid.
 
sphexx said:
According to my late brother, who usually knew what he was talking about in this area, the combi boilers don’t last as long as the older type. Of things may change and it will (hopefully) soon be time to abandon gas & use solely electric — imagine how much simpler that would make house heating :).
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Heat pumps seem to be the preferred option for the future, unfortunately they are very expensive to install at present and don't easily retrofit into UK existing housing stock. They might be a better fit in new builds as they need much higher insulation standards and either much larger radiators or underfloor pipework as the heat output is much lower than a traditional boiler.
 
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broc said:
Heat pumps seem to be the preferred option for the future, unfortunately they are very expensive to install at present and don't easily retrofit into UK existing housing stock. They might be a better fit in new builds as they need much higher insulation standards and either much larger radiators or underfloor pipework as the heat output is much lower than a traditional boiler.
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More new builds are so highly insulated and are coming with heat pumps fitted but as you say, they're not really suitable for older properties, which is where hydrogen boilers are like to play their part.
 
Bobsyeruncle said:
More new builds are so highly insulated and are coming with heat pumps fitted but as you say, they're not really suitable for older properties, which is where hydrogen boilers are like to play their part.
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Isn’t it better to use the electricity directly (for which there’s already a distribution network) than use it for splitting water?

I know there are grand plans in N Australia for hydrogen production for export but that seems a different situation to me.
 
Today I am greatly naffed off... I managed to find a vegabox 667 for my durst enlarger. Being shipped from china.

After three weeks of waiting, it arrived today... a lovely little case with some cheap imitation raybans.
 
The idiot that parked a supermarket trolley in a car space and just drove off.

What may have annoyed THEM is remembering its a £1 to get a trolley.
Thanks I'll have that :D
 
Cobra said:
The idiot that parked a supermarket trolley in a car space and just drove off.

What may have annoyed THEM is remembering its a £1 to get a trolley.
Thanks I'll have that :D
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:LOL: but our closest one does not have coin releases on the trolleys and the most annoying one for abandoned ones is near the "parent & child" bays.................there they are left blocking the pathways. It does me wonder if they drop litter in the street "because there are folk paid to pick it up......so I am giving them work to do....."
 
Box Brownie said:
but our closest one does not have coin releases on the trolleys
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TBH its the only one in my area that does charge.
The one close to that, that doesn't, often has trolleys littered around.
But there a guy collecting them. So I guess its OK to dump them :D
 
Nod said:
I've seen you on the telly!
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I'm sure you have, once in Motor sport and once at falconry at the MK Don's stadium.
Clearing the pigeons from the stands....

:p
 
I was on the first Westcountry TV magazine segment, desperately trying to keep a ball, a ring and a club in the air (or hands!) while being interviewed.
 
Bloody councils!

New town being built by us. Sports pavilion plans submitted and there are no electric car charging space, just loads of normal ones. Short sighted at worst. How are people going to be encouraged to go electric unless we have the infrastructure and what better time to put this in when building from scratch!!!
 
The immersion heater definitely doesn't work. We might be a little smelly by the time the new boiler is installed next week. It's probably a good thing we're on lockdown! :ROFLMAO:
 
Marc said:
The immersion heater definitely doesn't work. We might be a little smelly by the time the new boiler is installed next week. It's probably a good thing we're on lockdown! :ROFLMAO:
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If it has a fused switch then it's worth just changing the fuse in that switch to see if that gets it going ok. It's definitely got water in the tank?
 
Auto renewal of insurance policies...

I hate this. Today I got an email from RAC saying they'd auto renewed my insurance which was annoying as I went with another company £30 cheaper. I always make a point of telling these people to cancel auto renew so I asked them why they'd done it and the reply was that when I signed up for electronic documents this includes auto renewal. What? That made me even angrier. They will refund in time but Gosh I hate this auto renewal thing.
 
Marc said:
No, not a fused switch
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Asking the obvious.... a fused spur or a circuit breaker on the Consumer Unit?

PS in the past I had immersion heaters blow but also the thermostat fail, that once replaced the heater works OK. The thermostat was/is replaceable without the need to drain the tank ;)
 
Box Brownie said:
Asking the obvious.... a fused spur or a circuit breaker on the Consumer Unit?

PS in the past I had immersion heaters blow but also the thermostat fail, that once replaced the heater works OK. The thermostat was/is replaceable without the need to drain the tank ;)
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TBH, you lost me at "Asking"! :LOL:
 
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