Plumbers of OcUK is this hard?

Noto

Noto

Noto

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/Edit: The fault is: When i turn on the boiler - the CH will not turn off no matter the thermostat setting. The boiler is 10-11 years old (glow worm ultimate) Now i've spoken to another plumber and he states that because the boiler is so old, its not worth changing the filter. Is this the right diagnosis? as i think i can get the actuator for £45 and i can fit it myself. Thx in adv

I had a visit from british gas as our Central Heating wont switch off when it reaches the right temperature on the thermostat. The description of repair is as follows:

Drain system
install 28mm system filter
refil and inhibit.
Replace central heating actuator (i am pretty sure i can do this, its just wiring in a Sunvic 2port actuator) The part is about £45.

Is this really that time consuming or difficult as im being quoted pretty much £250

Thanks
 
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As with all things plumbing related, I doubt it's particularly hard to do but it's what happens and what you're able to do if something goes wrong... I procrastinate extensively when it comes to plumbing... :/
 
Don't think you are allowed to mess with that stuff unless you are Corgi approved, If it all goes bang you'll be liable. Ring around a few independent central heating engineers & get some over the phone quotes for the work you need.
 
4T5 said:
Don't think you are allowed to mess with that stuff unless you are Corgi approved, If it all goes bang you'll be liable. Ring around a few independent central heating engineers & get some over the phone quotes for the work you need.
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It's all external to the boiler and doesn't involve gas work, so I don't see why it'd need to be done by someone Corgi registered :confused:

£250 sounds about right for the quote from BG. Reckon it'd be around £220 via an indy.
 
4T5 said:
Don't think you are allowed to mess with that stuff unless you are Corgi approved, If it all goes bang you'll be liable. Ring around a few independent central heating engineers & get some over the phone quotes for the work you need.
Click to expand...

Thought Corgi was only needed if it was the gas lines you were playing with, thought the plumbing/wiring could be done by anyway with the knowledge?

And tbh, it's usually only if the insurance requires it. My has man is corgi and fitted our cooker, but as the fire place wasn't ready he showed me how to connect the fire and left me to do it on my own.
 
If your compentent in most plumbing tasks this can be done, but its worth considering the question "What do I do if it goes wrong!"

Good luck if you do attempt this!
 
I think your not allowed to mess with anything pipework related and obviously gas related in the boiler and a meter around the boiler (pipework) although since then I expect the regs have changed, it's gas safe btw not corgi.. Corgi is a brand not a reg.

anyways yes, it's very simple what you have to do, boilers don't just blow up there are many safe guards that will prevent that unless your working with un-vented kit and you have to be a bit more careful.

The filter and inhibitors is a different issue and before you fit that depending on the age of the system a flush would be beneficial.
 
amigafan2003 said:
It's all external to the boiler and doesn't involve gas work, so I don't see why it'd need to be done by someone Corgi registered :confused:

£250 sounds about right for the quote from BG. Reckon it'd be around £220 via an indy.
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Hi there,

it seems you are a plumber or in the trade, I've spoken to another plumbing place to get an idea of the cost of the fault.

Basically. When i turn my heating on, the CH never turns itself off (despite the thermostat setting. Now my boiler is 10-11 years old. A glow worm ultimate. And they have said that since the boiler is so old it is not really worth changing the filter. And that all i need is Actuator. Does this sound about right to you?

I am pretty confident I can wire in an Actuator (i've taken it off and looked at the part number. And I am thinking of doing it myself as the part is only £45 online. Saving myself £150+ could go a long way this xmas
 
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The whole "gas safe" thing is a bit ambiguous.

If you are a professional, then yes, you must be gas safe to carry out works. However there are no regulations on DIY gas work other than you must be "competent". But nobody can agree/prove/decide what "competent" actually entails. So DIY gas work is, essentially, unregulated. Not that I'd recommend it.
 
all this gas safe talk is getting confused... (i spoke to plumbers and also british gas)

essentially the part that is failed is pretty much plug n play and regulates a water valve. No gas involved its upstairs. But my question regarding if i need to change the filter stands :)

Thx for looking!
 
tom_e said:
Why not change the part then if it works lovely, if you still have problems then look at having the filter done? Or am I misunderstanding.
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This. I'm not big on plumbing but of changed a few taps and radiators so I swapped a 3port valve on my system myself. Saved me a bunch of money.

I think I read somewhere about BG install filters as a matter of course - at your cost of course - and have refused to do other work where they haven't fitted a filter. That's £70-odd quid in parts alone right there and maybe an hours labour to fit it.

I'd be tempted to dump a load of system cleaner in, leave it a week then drain, replace the valve and refill plus inhibitor.

If you are feeling like you have plenty of time to spend, you could remove each of your rad, take it out into the garden and shove a hose in one end and run untill the water runs clear. I only had 9 rads in the house and a weekend to kill so I did this last year - the amount of crap coming out of the rads was scary and I'm sure not having that in the system this year has really helped.
It's no match for a proper power flush, but as I have 10mm microbore it's not recommended for me.

When I drained down the system last week to replace the 3 port valve, the water was a brown watered down Pepsi colour, not opaque black stuff that came out last year!
 
Noto said:
Hi there,

it seems you are a plumber or in the trade, I've spoken to another plumbing place to get an idea of the cost of the fault.

Basically. When i turn my heating on, the CH never turns itself off (despite the thermostat setting. Now my boiler is 10-11 years old. A glow worm ultimate. And they have said that since the boiler is so old it is not really worth changing the filter. And that all i need is Actuator. Does this sound about right to you?

I am pretty confident I can wire in an Actuator (i've taken it off and looked at the part number. And I am thinking of doing it myself as the part is only £45 online. Saving myself £150+ could go a long way this xmas
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Sorry - didn't mean to give the impression I'm a professional - I'm not - but I do all my own diy at home, so I am competent.

I agree with just chagning the actuator.

Places like BG always quote for a "drain, flush etc" as it's basically just labour cost - it makes them a lot of money!
 
It might only be the synchron motor within the actuator that needs to be replaced which would be cheaper still. This would depend on the actuator type so you'd really need to find out if it has a replaceable motor, and then check that it was definitely the motor that had failed before buying a new one.

I had one fail a year or so ago and it was a pretty easy job.
 
Lopéz said:
The whole "gas safe" thing is a bit ambiguous.

If you are a professional, then yes, you must be gas safe to carry out works. However there are no regulations on DIY gas work other than you must be "competent". But nobody can agree/prove/decide what "competent" actually entails. So DIY gas work is, essentially, unregulated. Not that I'd recommend it.
Click to expand...

Indeed, i have no idea why there is such mystique surrounding work on gas systems.

The same myth surrounds electrics too, i do not understand why people believe it to be the case.
 
Lopéz said:
The whole "gas safe" thing is a bit ambiguous.

If you are a professional, then yes, you must be gas safe to carry out works. However there are no regulations on DIY gas work other than you must be "competent". But nobody can agree/prove/decide what "competent" actually entails. So DIY gas work is, essentially, unregulated. Not that I'd recommend it.
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More to the point, it's perpetuated by just about any plumber screaming their head off on DIY forums. Any mention of even opening a boiler case in some places and you'll have the regulars jumping all over you :eek:

I wouldn't recommend (Or for that matter touch personally) DIY gas, but it's a very simple set of processes when push comes to shove. A competent engineering type with an understanding of the factors involved and appropriate test equipment would have more clue than some plumbers I've seen :p

-Leezer-
 
Had the exact same problem. Zone valve had broken. Very easy fix. Filter is a precaution due to draining the system dislodges a lot of crud that would have gathered and settled in the radiators. The filter will catch any thing that the flush pre-refill misses. This stops the small thin pipes in the boiler getting clogged and causing kettling, as sort of whistling noise you get from the boiling due to restricted water flow.

The instructions you need to google.

1. Isolate water supply to heating system header tank. Don't want it refilling as you try to empty it.
2. Draining heating system for maintaince, cleaning, repair.
3. Make sure the wiring is comparable, different systems have different wiring on the zone valve/port valve.
4. Fitting new valve.
5. Flushing heating system and associated chemicals to use.
6. Refilling heating system, avoiding air locking in, hot water tank and radiators.

If you want to at the appropriate stage fitting a filter, if the flush is done properly and rust inhibiter used this is only a long term preventative measure not really needed, but advice is to do it. May as well while the system is empty. I didn't.

As long as you don't open the boiler you are fine to do all this work DIY. No need to touch the boiler or gas supply.

Oh as a tip, while the system is drained fit room stats on each rad if they aren't already. This will drop the bills a lot as each room can be heated to its own temp. Not relying on the main thermostat that is normally fitted in a cold rarely travelled hall way.

Total cost with
1 zone valve, 5 rad stats, PTFE tape, flush chemical, rust inhibiter chemical, rad spanner, £80 from screw-fix. An afternoons work.
 
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Jez said:
Indeed, i have no idea why there is such mystique surrounding work on gas systems.

The same myth surrounds electrics too, i do not understand why people believe it to be the case.
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You might not need gas safety, part p etc. but if you don't and you want it to meet building regs then you need the work signed off by someone qualified. This can often cost the same as getting he work done by a qualified person in the first place.

Most plumbers, electricians won't sign off other peoples work. It's not in their intrest.
 
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