"Grunff" wrote in message
...
Brian wrote:

With regards to the maintenance contract - over the years I have use
their
services on average of perhaps four to five times a year with about half
of
those times requiring spares - I estimate that I have broken even on the
contract subscription and certainly paid less than calling out a private
contractor.

What kind of system do you have that it needs 4-5 callouts a
year?? I would seriously consider a complete replacement. I
would not be prepared to live with a CH/HW system that required
that much attention.

Hi Grunff,

Sorry for the delay in replying but my VIA motherboard suddenly took a
dislike to my Alcatel modem and the thing had to be changed (motherboard
that is)

Back to the subject. It was a Potterton Neataheat wall mounted, balanced
flue boiler that was rather old and tired and the pipeworks AND electrics
were designed and installed in a new house (the whole site was the same)
literally the "wrong way around" thus causing a great many problems - hence
the 3 star British Gas maintenance contract - no other firm could sort out
the mess.

In our last house, we had conventional gas CH/HW. In all the
time we were there, I cleaned out the boiler every couple of
years, checked the CO at the same time, and added inhibitor.
That was about it. The only things it ever needed was a new
thermocouple and a replacement pump.

The Potterton was a nightmare for BG to maintain, at its peak they would be
attending at least once a month for a huge variety of problems and it
finally gave up the ghost when the cast iron flue rusted away and there were
no spares available. A new Baxi Wall mounted boiler cut the call outs down
for a few years - but even this has a problem with condensation on the
electrode which prevents it igniting now and again - and BG gets the call to
fix it.


In our current house I installed our oil system just under 2
years ago, and haven't touched it since.

To me, that's how they should behave.

I quite agree but unfortunately, short of a totally new installation and the
mess and upset it causes, I am stuck with what I have got. When I had
fairly major problems with silt in the pipes getting BG to flush it out was
a damn site cheaper than replacing the system.

Brian