I'm replacing a Gas Valve for a Glowworm 45 back boiler which seems to have packed in right at the coldest spell we've had in a while!!lucky me
*plumber wants £280 to do it which sounds sky high to me,please somebody agree!
*I've got the original instruction manual to do it & think I've sourced the correct part needed too.
*Is it a DIYable job?Is it as straight forward as the manual seems to show or are there any hidden problems such as post installation set up?
*Any constructive replies very much appreciated,any righteous silly comments ,I'll ignore.

ta in advance

The message
from kjhi98 contains these words:

*Is it a DIYable job?

I did mine no trouble.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

On Thu, 08 Feb 2007 21:23:22 +0000, kjhi98 wrote:


I'm replacing a Gas Valve for a Glowworm 45 back boiler which seems to
have packed in right at the coldest spell we've had in a while!!lucky
me
*plumber wants £280 to do it which sounds sky high to me,please
somebody agree!
*I've got the original instruction manual to do it & think I've sourced
the correct part needed too.
*Is it a DIYable job?Is it as straight forward as the manual seems to
show or are there any hidden problems such as post installation set
up?
*Any constructive replies very much appreciated,any righteous silly
comments ,I'll ignore.

ta in advance

The valve is about £100 so if he's supplying that he's charging you for
perhaps 1/2 day's work (say £40/hour + callout/shopping time getting the
valve) to fit it. Since there's a fair amount of work to do just to get at
the boiler (you have to remove the gas fire to get to it) and assuming
he's doing a conscientious job and servicing the boiler and gas fire and
checking that they're all safe to use again it's not an outrageous quote.

(Also assuming he's a gas fitter and not just a plumber :-))

If the price is for fitting a valve you've already bought then it is a bit
steep.

It is DIY-able if you're competent to do all the checks that this
potentally-lethal type of boiler & fire requi ventilation, flue
condition & spillage, safety interlock etc. If you're asking here then,
with respect, maybe you're not.

"kjhi98" wrote in message
...

I'm replacing a Gas Valve for a Glowworm 45 back boiler which seems to
have packed in right at the coldest spell we've had in a while!!lucky
me
*plumber wants £280 to do it which sounds sky high to me,please
somebody agree!
*I've got the original instruction manual to do it & think I've sourced
the correct part needed too.
*Is it a DIYable job?Is it as straight forward as the manual seems to
show or are there any hidden problems such as post installation set
up?
*Any constructive replies very much appreciated,any righteous silly
comments ,I'll ignore.

ta in advance




--
kjhi98

Tis a doddle. Just turn the gas of first though! ;-)

Steve

Call British Gas on 08450 777 111- ' British Gas will repair your central
heating problem for an upfront, fixed price. And no matter how big the
problem the price includes all parts, labour and call out charges, so you'll
know exactly what you will be paying from the start.'

Cost = £156 incl VAT

No idea if they are any good / how quick they come out
Jon

kjhi98 wrote:
I'm replacing a Gas Valve for a Glowworm 45 back boiler which seems to
have packed in right at the coldest spell we've had in a while!!lucky
me
*plumber wants £280 to do it which sounds sky high to me,please
somebody agree!
*I've got the original instruction manual to do it & think I've
sourced the correct part needed too.
*Is it a DIYable job?Is it as straight forward as the manual seems to
show or are there any hidden problems such as post installation set
up?
*Any constructive replies very much appreciated,any righteous silly
comments ,I'll ignore.

ta in advance

The message
from "Jonathan Pearson" contains these words:

Call British Gas on 08450 777 111- ' British Gas will repair your central
heating problem for an upfront, fixed price. And no matter how big the
problem the price includes all parts, labour and call out charges, so
you'll
know exactly what you will be paying from the start.'

Cost = £156 incl VAT

That just can't be right. What if the heat exchanger's buggered, for
example - just the parts will cost more than that.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.

any suggestions/advice for doing the job?
thanks

Guy King wrote:
The message
from "Jonathan Pearson" contains these words:

Call British Gas on 08450 777 111- ' British Gas will repair your central
heating problem for an upfront, fixed price. And no matter how big the
problem the price includes all parts, labour and call out charges, so
you'll
know exactly what you will be paying from the start.'

Cost = £156 incl VAT

That just can't be right. What if the heat exchanger's buggered, for
example - just the parts will cost more than that.


http://www.house.co.uk/cgi-bin/house/house/general/editorial.jsp?BV_SessionID=HHHH0291446415.11710203 46HHHH&BV_EngineID=ccccaddkdmfefdjcefecfngdfhidfmm .0&channelId=-1610622298&_txtDeepLinkURL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.house. co.uk%2faoneoffrepair_ms&com.broadvision.session.n ew=Yes&_txtName=oca_campaign_oct&intCCNumber=08455 711


£198 for my area. Includes the whole CH system so is a better deal than
the Worcester Bosch callout

Stuart Noble wrote:

£198 for my area. Includes the whole CH system so is a better deal
than the Worcester Bosch callout

Apologies it looks like its £198 in the South East, and £156 for the
remainder of the country??

Jon

Jonathan Pearson wrote:
Stuart Noble wrote:
£198 for my area. Includes the whole CH system so is a better deal
than the Worcester Bosch callout

Apologies it looks like its £198 in the South East, and £156 for the
remainder of the country??

Jon



There don't seem to be too many conditions at first glance. I'm sure
"How old is the boiler?" will rear its ugly head at some point

*the gas valve cost me £55 delivered
*the boiler has been serviced not long ago so doesn't need that just now.
*The foresaid plumber serviced it for me not long ago for a decent price of £130.
*So I can't understand why he wants £280 for this job when he knows he's already given it a good servicing?
*I'm obviously no expert but would guess he'd do this swap over in under an hour unless there's some special post installation set up procedures that need undertaking??Is there?
*I've checked and I can get to the securing screws and the supply pipe flange screws of the gas valve without moving the fire & pulling the whole unit out .
*other than jointing compound for the gas union nut & leak detection fluid/spray is there anything that's needed to do it?


thanks for the answers

Stuart Noble wrote:
Jonathan Pearson wrote:
Stuart Noble wrote:
£198 for my area. Includes the whole CH system so is a better deal
than the Worcester Bosch callout

Apologies it looks like its £198 in the South East, and £156 for the
remainder of the country??

Jon



There don't seem to be too many conditions at first glance. I'm sure
"How old is the boiler?" will rear its ugly head at some point

From their T&Cs:

16. We will not carry out the repair if:
- parts are unavailable; or
- your system is not included on our servicing list.

What BG call 'unavailable' may be different to what is normally defined!
And who knows what is on their servicing list.

Still, it seems an attractive price and competetive to their own servicing
contracts (assuming just a a single fault per year).

Grumps wrote:
"How old is the boiler?" will rear its ugly head at some point

From their T&Cs:

16. We will not carry out the repair if:
- parts are unavailable; or
- your system is not included on our servicing list.

What BG call 'unavailable' may be different to what is normally
defined! And who knows what is on their servicing list.

Still, it seems an attractive price and competetive to their own
servicing contracts (assuming just a a single fault per year).

I know quite a few people in their service contacts - the 'unavailable'
appears to be the same as elsewhere i.e. if the manufacturer has stopped
supplying / can't get hold of an alternative, then the clause comes into
force.

The servicing list covers most boilers IIRC

As BG has only brought in the fix a fault / fixed fee - i'm sure that the
price will go up once they have cornered the market - nevertheless as a
first glance it appears to be very attractively priced as most heating
engineers call out charge are approaching the quoted price.

Jon

On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 09:14:28 +0000, Jonathan Pearson wrote:

Call British Gas on 08450 777 111- ' British Gas will repair your central
heating problem for an upfront, fixed price. And no matter how big the
problem the price includes all parts, labour and call out charges, so you'll
know exactly what you will be paying from the start.'

Cost = £156 incl VAT

No idea if they are any good / how quick they come out
Jon

kjhi98 wrote:
I'm replacing a Gas Valve for a Glowworm 45 back boiler which seems to
have packed in right at the coldest spell we've had in a while!!lucky
me
*plumber wants £280 to do it which sounds sky high to me,please
somebody agree!
*I've got the original instruction manual to do it & think I've
sourced the correct part needed too.
*Is it a DIYable job?Is it as straight forward as the manual seems to
show or are there any hidden problems such as post installation set
up?
*Any constructive replies very much appreciated,any righteous silly
comments ,I'll ignore.

ta in advance

But then they'll wriggle out on an old back boiler...

.... can't get parts (supposedly)
.... some slight irregularity on the flueing or ventilation.




--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:24:30 +0000, Grumps wrote:

Stuart Noble wrote:
Jonathan Pearson wrote:
Stuart Noble wrote:
£198 for my area. Includes the whole CH system so is a better deal
than the Worcester Bosch callout

Apologies it looks like its £198 in the South East, and £156 for the
remainder of the country??

Jon



There don't seem to be too many conditions at first glance. I'm sure
"How old is the boiler?" will rear its ugly head at some point

From their T&Cs:

16. We will not carry out the repair if:
- parts are unavailable; or
- your system is not included on our servicing list.

What BG call 'unavailable' may be different to what is normally defined!
And who knows what is on their servicing list.

Still, it seems an attractive price and competetive to their own servicing
contracts (assuming just a a single fault per year).

From what I've seen the 'servicing list' is pretty much all boilers.
It just lets them wriggle out if the boiler is an unusual/expensive
model. Or they find there is a serious and expensive stock fault which
means they will lose money.



--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at http://www.diyfaq.org.uk
Gas fitting FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFitting.html
Sealed CH FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/SealedCH.html
Choosing a Boiler FAQ http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/BoilerChoice.html
Gas Fitting Standards Docs he http://www.makewrite.demon.co.uk/GasFittingStandards

In message , Jonathan Pearson
writes
Call British Gas on 08450 777 111-

Or ... better still, don't

' British Gas will repair your central
heating problem for an upfront, fixed price. And no matter how big the
problem the price includes all parts, labour and call out charges, so you'll
know exactly what you will be paying from the start.'

Cost = £156 incl VAT


There will be some small print somewhere



--
geoff

On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 12:12:04 +0000, kjhi98 wrote:


*the gas valve cost me £55 delivered

where from? I'm sure the last one I bought was around the £100 mark

*the boiler has been serviced not long ago so doesn't need that just
now.
*The foresaid plumber serviced it for me not long ago for a decent
price of £130.
*So I can't understand why he wants £280 for this job when he knows
he's already given it a good servicing?
*I'm obviously no expert but would guess he'd do this swap over in
under an hour unless there's some special post installation set up
procedures that need undertaking??Is there?

An hour might be optimistic since you've got to dismantle & then refit the
fire front as well as actually change the valve, but I'd guess the only
post-install work is to check the pilot & main burner pressure & gas rate
and test for satisfactory flue flow (spillage test) - on the fire as well
as the boiler of course.

The manual should give chapter & verse.

There will be some small print somewhere


They are also just as likley to condemm your boiler and slap a do not
use sticker on. And then wait to be asked to install a new one.

In article ,
Guy King wrote:
The message
from "Jonathan Pearson" contains these words:

Call British Gas on 08450 777 111- ' British Gas will repair your
central heating problem for an upfront, fixed price. And no matter
how big the problem the price includes all parts, labour and call out
charges, so you'll know exactly what you will be paying from the
start.'

Cost = £156 incl VAT

That just can't be right. What if the heat exchanger's buggered, for
example - just the parts will cost more than that.

Given the heavy TV advertising expect Watchdog to be full of complaints in
a few weeks about their excuses as to why they couldn't fix the problem...

--
*I love cats...they taste just like chicken.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
Grumps wrote:
What BG call 'unavailable' may be different to what is normally defined!

Not in the van?

--
*A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Given the heavy TV advertising expect Watchdog to be full of
complaints in a few weeks about their excuses as to why they couldn't
fix the problem...

But as they dont charge if they can't fix it - I can't see where the
complaints will come from?

Jon

The message
from "Jonathan Pearson" contains these words:

But as they dont charge if they can't fix it - I can't see where the
complaints will come from?

From people who've had their boilers tagged as dangerous and unservicable.

--
Skipweasel
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.