On 15 Oct 2004 02:35:20 -0700, (Jo) wrote:

My mate's central heating system needs to be flushed to get rid of a
build-up of sludge. British Gas came round and told him that although
his boiler is working fine, it is a bit on the old side and it might
be badly damaged when the system is flushed so it would make sense for
him to buy a new boiler. (If he buys the new boiler they will flush
his system for free, if he doesn't, it will cost £400 PLUS the cost of
a new boiler if it breaks during the operation.)

I guess my question is - is he being conned or is there a real chance
of this happening?

Cheers,

JD



He's being conned. Basically they are putting all the risk onto
him. It is possible that during the powerflushing that the heat
exchanger reveals some leak etc. that would necessitate a replacement.
On an older boiler, this may not be economic.

However a powerflush at £400 is an outrageous price - you can rent the
equipment and DIY it or even take the radiators off and outside and
clean them with a pressure washer.

The best advice is not to do business with BG


..andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl