I've just had someone come and do a boiler service for me. We moved into
our place about 6 months ago and whilst the boiler appears to be running
okay (apart from 2 times the pilot light has gone out) I wanted to get it
checked that it was okay/safe - you know - the normal kinds of things you do
when you move into a place and don't know the history of things.

Anyway, I chose to use a local company we'd used before at our old place.
During that boiler service (very similar Baxi wall mounted balanced flue gas
boiler to the one we've got now) the guy took it apart, hoovered it out,
checked the pressure settings and replaced the pilot thermocouple. Seemed
very nice, competent and did the job well.

This time the guy arrives (8:50am) and immediately I notice something which
conerned me. His breath smelled of a brewery. Not being a drinker myself,
I tend to notice these smells - but my opinion is that if I can smell it,
then he's been drinking within a couple of hours. I would not expect
someone who had been drinking the night before to have a noticable aura of
alcohol around them. His hands weren't exactly steady either - though I
don't know if it was the shakes, or just clumsyness.

Anyway, the service started off by him asking if I had any problems with it.
I explained that the pilot had gone out twice in the last 6 weeks or so. He
said he would replace the thermocouple then. He didn't have too many nice
words to say about the boiler, discribing the boiler as a dinosaur and
moaning about the person who designed it. He also moaned about people (I
think British Gas, who he said he'd worked with last year) who just stuck
flue analysers into the flue and charging £60 before leaving.

The service was basically to remove the old thermocouple and replace it. No
cleaning, no gas pressure checks. He noted that the main burner
thermocouple was stuck in and would need drilling out - and it looked as if
he couldn't get the front of the boiler all the way off because of this.
Therefore I suspect that he couldn't have checked the burner or cleaned it
because of this. To do the change, he disconnected the gas pipe to the
boiler and got the front off enough to get the pilot thermocouple out.

Once he'd put it all back together again, he turned it on and went outside
for a fag saying he'd give it some time to let it settle and check that its
working all right.

Came back, looked at it, burnt nice and blue (with a few yellow whisps
appearing occasionally) and put the cosmetic facing back on and cleared up
(sort of, swept the dirt that had fallen out onto the draining board into a
dustpan and left it and the old thermocouple). I said that it had
occasionally pulsed with the whole burner flame going bright yellow, and he
saw it do it. He said it was just wind blowing in the flue.

He then left.

Personally, I'm not terribly happy with the service of the boiler. I'd not
call it that really. I found somewhere that it a service should be:

Remove main burners, clean and inspect for damage.
Clean and inspect gas injector(s).
Dismantle and clean pilot assembly and gas injector.
Reassemble burners and pilot assembly.
Check condition of ignition leads and electrode.
Clean the heat exchanger.
Refit burner assemblies and check seals.
Test disturbed gas joints for leaks.
Check appliance case and seals (where appliance is room-sealed) for damage
and correct assembly.
Check and adjust pilot flame.
Check operation of thermocouple (flame supervision device).
Measure gas pressure and flow rate, and adjust if necessary.
Inspect/test flue for faults/correct operation.
Inspect flue terminal for correct location and protection.
Check system bypass valve (if fitted) is correctly adjusted.
Check sealed system (if fitted) is at correct pressure.
Advise user to have the system checked at least every twelve months or as
specified my manufacturer.
Advise user of any defects found in writing.
Apply the Industry Unsafe Situations Procedure if necessary.

I accept that maybe some things can be done without me noticing (visual
checks etc), some things aren't needed on all boilers and that maybe not
everything is done every time. However there was no adjustments made, no
noticable checks of the gas pipe connection or other checks. The only tools
he used were a pair of bent nose pliers, adjustable grips and a spanner (+
new thermocouple).

Did I get a reasonable service of the boiler? Should I comment to his
employers about him smelling of alcohol? Should I complain about the work
done?

From this experience, I doubt I'm going to use this company again. Am I
being unreasonable? Incidentally, can anyone recommend a different company
for such work in the future should I need someone to work on a boiler? I'm
in Guildford, Surrey - so someone in this area would be good!

Thanks

David

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