On Sun, 31 Jul 2005 22:44:16 +0100, "Grumps"
wrote:

My mother has a 37 year old hot-air central heating system. She has been
paying regularly for BG maintenance. This year, during the annual
inspection/safety check, they condemned the system as unsafe. It has been
'capped off' and now has a nice red warning label on it.
The reason for this was due to;
1) The safety cut-off valve being faulty (something that stops the gas if
the flame goes out).
2) The flame is yellow (should be blue).
3) The flue has cracks (these are in the loft space).
All 3 items cannot be repaired or replaced.
BG will immediately refund this years premiums. But I'd like to know, if
they knew that the system could not be effectively maintained, why have they
been taking premiums for the last 10 years (or more)? Obviously I have no
proof that all of these parts became unobtainable in just the last year, but
I'd welcome comments as to what we could do.
Could all of these items fail in a single year? Maybe it's just me, but it
seems that previous checks were not carried out properly. Indeed, the plug
that supplies power to the fan had a loose wire, which would appear to have
been unchecked for years (maybe the checks don't go this deep).

If the thing was 37 years old, it has done remarkably well.

Nevertheless, BG contracts are notoriously poor value for money. It
is far more cost effective to find a local CORGI fitter to do a
service and clean once a year - probably 50% less. The money saved
would go much of the way to a replacement system.



BG will be quoting on replacement systems. I have told my mum to get a few
more quotes. She had not even considered getting other people involved.

That would be very wise. BG are an even bigger rip-off when it comes
to replacement systems. Starting price is typically at least twice
the market average, and then they make the householder think that they
are getting a great deal by applying a modest discount or throwing in
some things for "free".



It's an old Potterton system. Do they still make hot-air systems? Ideally
she'd just like this system repaired, failing that, a new hot-air system
would be preferable to radiators. Are these systems still popular?

There are still hot air systems around.


http://www.johnsonandstarleyltd.co.u...r_warm_air.asp

is one example. As far as I know Potterton don't make them any
longer, and in turn are a shadow of their former selves anyway.



Thanks for any comments.
I don't 'have it in' for BG, but some things they say/do just seem to get my
back up.

Almost everything they say and do gets mine up. I refuse to deal
with the company.





--

..andy

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