Central heating advice

There are several faults with it and as a result the gas bill is getting scary.

First of all the hot water comes out of the taps boiling, i.e so hot it scalds you.

Secondly the pipes tend to rattle.

I suspect it must be a faulty thermostat, I tried turning it down on the water tank but its made no difference at all.

Secondly when you switch the raditors of at the valves nothing happens so does this mean all the valves need replacing?

It is like an oven in my house at the moment, the heating is on to dry some clothes but its like a suana.

I hope its not a fault with the boiler itself otherwise its a job for a Corgi

 

get some big class a valve amps and turn off the central heating.

 

Have you ever had it serviced?

 

About 10 years ago, we have a few electronic CO2 detectors in the house and a gasman did a basic safety check on it a year ago.

In the 24 years we have had it the only thing he have replaced was the pump .

 

Thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves both fail with age in fact they don't seem to last very long!

Definitely have a look at the one on the tank though, it's costing you money daily by keeping a tankful of water much hotter than required.

 

at

you really do need it serviced. cost me about 80ukp last time i had it done

 

Yeah, get a service engineer out asap or sign up for British Gas`s central heating cover care and report the problem in a week or two. Some old boilers are well dodgy and I`d imagine it`s costing you a packet to run it in it`s current condition, false economy and all that.....£50 for a service could save you £150 in your bills.

 

Does your boiler not have a temp. control on the front?
If you want a name of someone who might come and do it cheap PM me, one of my godparents is a CH engineer. I'm not sure he'd go to Chorlton though

 

If your family qualify for any tax credits or benefits of any kind, you may find that you can get free help towards heating and/or insulation from 'Warm Front'.
As I took two years off work to go back to college (and hence had zero income) we qualified, and we had two vists from them and they put draught excluders here and there and a new jacket around the hot water tank. You can also apply for a grant towards new central heating or repairs if it's knackered.

Anyway, maybe worth a look to see if you qualify:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/energy/hees/index.htm

 

Thanks la, I have a feeling my parents earn just over the limit for that but I will check.

And lord sadly there is no adjustable thermostat on the boiler, just an ignition switch.

 

at,
i've had my tax credit statement for this year and i was fully expecting to have them stopped or even to have to pay some back however after i informed them of (very) overestimated earnings for the past tax year and the comming year i'm still eligable - it's worth looking into.
cheers


julian.

 

Good old Mr G Brown & Red Ken.

AT,
a couple of years ago my father had the loft insulated plus draft excluders fitted to all windows and doors, the local council then added a few more heaters. All paid for by Red Ken and G Brown via grants and in my father's case age was the deciding factor. Go on give it a go, see if any cash is due to you and your tribe.

 

You really should have it serviced, the flu will have filled up with crap by now and probably isn't venting properly.

If you have a thermostat temperature adjustment on the front of your boiler it needs to be set to a minimum of 60oC, ideally between that and 65oC, any less can cause things you don't want in your hot water supply to start appearing

 

If it's a combi boiler and it's just taking it's supply from the cold water supply (which is drinkable) then there's no need to run your boiler like an autoclave! 65C for hot water is so hot it will scald you.

 

Not being a GCH engineer I couldn't comment on the problem, but I have to agree with most here about having it serviced, I have the 3 star cover with BG, not cheap, but neither is replacement parts, and its serviced once a year (which I had to remind them about), got my money's worth the first year here, since they had to replace all the rad valves. My boild still drinks gas like its going out of fashion though, told its the style of boiler, well if I had a spare £5-7k I'd replace it, but I don't.

 

Yep, that's the rub with new systems - maybe save 10% on your gas bills but it'll take 342 years for those savings to repay the cost of the new installation. AND in fact I've heard from more than one person that their new condensing boiler if in fact seemingly less efficient than their old ones.....????? ?????

Servicing is a good idea though, might have to get mine done......

 

We've been getting quotes of £4500-£5000 for a new oil boiler I think a service is a whole lot cheaper than ignoring it until the boiler breaks.

Condensing boilers only work best when the returning water is below a certain temperature, 45deg IIRC. So if the systems not balanced properly or can't meet that spec they're as bad/worse than the old non-condensing type. The efficiency of the old style boiler is also capped in the tests so they're more efficient than you would think from the numbers, it's done so only condensing boilers pass.

It's also mandatory that the installer fits thermostatic radiator valves if you don't have them. At £20 odd each.

BTW If you're on benefit there's lots of help available for heating/insulation improvements, if you're not on benefit then you're screwed.

 

FFS i've had enough of housekeeping bull****.
get a grip

listen to this http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/downtheline/pip/a87gg/

 

Is the show as funny as the messageboard?

I would listen but I can't be arsed to get real player.

 

anyone who listens to radio london on weekday mornnig s will know where the material came from