Steven Oakes wrote:
Hi,
I wondered if anyone could advise. I've just had a man round from British
gas inspecting my central heating system after the radiators stopped
heating. The radiators were barely getting warm, some of them not heating
at all, and the upstairs ones were making trickling noises. I bled them
all - then water totally stopped circulating and a loud vibrating sound
could be heard which continued long after I turned the heating off.

He says the cold water inlet is blocked (sadly not covered by my 3 star
maintenance - which is just my luck!) - and the pipe needs to be cut and
flushed to clear it. He says it is not a big job and shouldn't cost much.
Do the symptoms and diagnosis makes sense?

My question is - and not exactly being an expert on this - how much should
this cost me? I am in the South East. I am concsious of being ripped off -
are there any extras that could be foisted on me? Is it a straight forward
job?

Many thanks for any advice.

Had the same happen on a couple of clients' systems, more recently this:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/...7986a8166b7638

Difficult to say how much it'd cost: the one above was relatively easy
to get at and fix and cost just over £100 including a bottle of Sentinel
boiler scale reducer, but it could take ages to find & fix and
consequently cost a lot more. I'd wager more than I can afford that BG
won't be your cheapest option though!