Boiler needs a service

[feder1]

Moderator Message:
Discussion moved here from DAK as it soon exceeded the remit of DAK, was borderline C-19, and ended up being a bit of a discussion about heating. - Chris

Is it safe to have the plumber come into the house to service the boiler in today,s CV climate please?

He would need to be in the living room and spare bedroom.

[Itsallaguess]

Is it safe to have the plumber come into the house to service the boiler in today's CV climate please?

He would need to be in the living room and spare bedroom.

With some mitigations, such as him washing his hands straight away following entry, and good social-distancing whilst in your home, then the risk might well be quite low, but even then I'd have to ask what reason there might be to even introduce a 'low risk' into your home if this is something you're concerned with at this present time?

This is a boiler-service, and not a repair, and you should be able to be put it off for a while unless there's an over-riding reason not to...

I've just done the same thing with a dental check-up, and the receptionist told me when I was talking to her that they were actually beginning to call people to cancel check-ups from their side, so I'd have a word with your plumber and ask him if there's any risk or other down-stream issues to perhaps postponing the service.

Do note that depending on the age of your boiler, and hence potentially affecting a warranty of it, or perhaps even the terms of any boiler-insurance you may have taken out, there may be a clause where a periodic service is required as part of those terms, so do take this into consideration if that's something that's pertinent to your situation.

If you do consider putting the service off for a while, and if you know the plumber well and he's been a reliable tradesman for you, then have a think about paying him the money for the service anyway, and asking him to give you an IOU in terms of the service itself....

You might well find that you go straight to the top of his Christmas Card list, which is always a good position to be in with good tradesmen....

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Stompa]

Do note that depending on the age of your boiler, and hence potentially affecting a warranty of it, or perhaps even the terms of any boiler-insurance you may have taken out, there may be a clause where a periodic service is required as part of those terms, so do take this into consideration if that's something that's pertinent to your situation.

I know that Worcester Bosch are relaxing the rules regarding the warranty:

https://www.worcester-bosch.co.uk/corona

I would have thought it likely that other manufacturers will be doing something similar.

[UncleEbenezer]

If you do consider putting the service off for a while, and if you know the plumber well and he's been a reliable tradesman for you, then have a think about paying him the money for the service anyway, and asking him to give you an IOU in terms of the service itself....

You might well find that you go straight to the top of his Christmas Card list, which is always a good position to be in with good tradesmen....

Perhaps bear in mind, tradesmen may be twiddling their thumbs now and keen to get whatever work they can, but super-busy and unavailable when lockdown is lifted. May be a consideration if the job is urgent - e.g. the boiler is behaving alarmingly.

[tjh290633]

Unless it breaks down, I would not bother.

TJH

[swill453]

"My" plumber is only doing emergency callouts now. Albeit waiving his callout fee.

Scott.

[88V8]

We had an electrician in last week to change our fuse box. Not urgent, but I wanted it done.
His income has crashed.

Unless you are in 'at-risk' category, I would go ahead.

Keep 6ft away, wash hands etc.

V8

[Nocton]

I agree with those who suggest it should be safe. And good to keep tradesmen in business. But why do you say "He would need to be in the living room and spare bedroom." Where is your boiler? Is it it not in the usual places, garage, utility room or kitchen?
In any case you will presumably be turning it off a the end of April, for heating at least. So in the worst case, if you do use your boiler for hot water too, you can use your electric immersion heater to heat your hot water.

[didds]

I agree with those who suggest it should be safe. And good to keep tradesmen in business. But why do you say "He would need to be in the living room and spare bedroom." Where is your boiler? Is it it not in the usual places, garage, utility room or kitchen?
In any case you will presumably be turning it off a the end of April, for heating at least. So in the worst case, if you do use your boiler for hot water too, you can use your electric immersion heater to heat your hot water.

Purely out of interest - only if one has an electric immersion heater of course...

Doe everybody else have that except us?

We "only" have an external (to the hosue - it abuts the utility/shower room wall) oil boiler that gives us both hot water and central heating )controls are in the bathroom. There si no other water heating aside from a kettle/pan on the stove.

didds

[bungeejumper]

Purely out of interest - only if one has an electric immersion heater of course...

Doe everybody else have that except us? .......There si no other water heating aside from a kettle/pan on the stove.

As Warren Buffett nearly said, it's only when the boiler goes out that you find out who's been swimming naked. Or in our case, bathing without a hot water backup. It took a boiler fault to remind us that we do have an immersion heater, and to make us discover that it wasn't working.

On Christmas Eve. With the family coming over for the week....

BJ

[Dod101]

I agree with those who suggest it should be safe. And good to keep tradesmen in business. But why do you say "He would need to be in the living room and spare bedroom." Where is your boiler? Is it it not in the usual places, garage, utility room or kitchen?
In any case you will presumably be turning it off a the end of April, for heating at least. So in the worst case, if you do use your boiler for hot water too, you can use your electric immersion heater to heat your hot water.

Purely out of interest - only if one has an electric immersion heater of course...

Doe everybody else have that except us?

We "only" have an external (to the hosue - it abuts the utility/shower room wall) oil boiler that gives us both hot water and central heating )controls are in the bathroom. There si no other water heating aside from a kettle/pan on the stove.

I should think that is very unusual in fact I have never not had an immersion heater, in fact I have three. I have two separate hot water systems, one with a very tall Megaflo tank. It has two immersers one at the bottom and one halfway up. I did ask how this works but I have forgotten what I was told. I also have the traditional header tank with a hot water tank for another bit of the house. it is not used much but it too has an immersion heater. Just remembered that I have a little pump for the hot water on a mechanical timer. The clock needs to be changed because since the weekend it has been an hour slow which helps to explain why I could not get hot water last night without running the tap for a long while.

Dod

[swill453]

I should think that is very unusual in fact I have never not had an immersion heater, in fact I have three.

I don't think it's that unusual. Our house has a combi boiler and no water storage whatsoever.

99.99% of the time it's advantageous...

Scott.

[Watis]

I have two separate hot water systems, one with a very tall Megaflo tank. It has two immersers one at the bottom and one halfway up. I did ask how this works but I have forgotten what I was told.

IANAP but I would guess that having two immersion heaters in the same tank allows you to choose whether to heat the whole tank or just the top half, dependent on anticipated usage. Heating half the water talkes half the energy so there's a significant saving to be made when appropriate to demand.

Hopefully a real plumber can confirm or correct this?

Watis

[Dod101]

I have two separate hot water systems, one with a very tall Megaflo tank. It has two immersers one at the bottom and one halfway up. I did ask how this works but I have forgotten what I was told.

IANAP but I would guess that having two immersion heaters in the same tank allows you to choose whether to heat the whole tank or just the top half, dependent on anticipated usage. Heating half the water talkes half the energy so there's a significant saving to be made when appropriate to demand.

Hopefully a real plumber can confirm or correct this?

I think that is the point. I inherited what seems to be a good system when I bought this house about 15 years ago. I guess I would choose the top half only since hot water rises if I ever had the need to use it at all but so far have had no need. I use the other one in the conventional hot water tank from time to time to save firing up the whole system at that end of the house.

Dod

[UncleEbenezer]

Purely out of interest - only if one has an electric immersion heater of course...

Doe everybody else have that except us?

I don't think I've had one since the 1980s.

Here I've always thought my fallback against outright boiler failure would be a walk down to the public swimming baths, where I could get a shower. That's looking dead now: it'll have to be the river if the home fails!

[didds]

On Christmas Eve. With the family coming over for the week....

BJ

been there, done that, eaten the pie!!

lol

didds

[didds]

I should think that is very unusual in fact I have never not had an immersion heater, in fact I have three.

I don't think it's that unusual. Our house has a combi boiler and no water storage whatsoever.

99.99% of the time it's advantageous...

Scott.

yup - that is us too. all our cold water taps feed from the mains - no tank in the roof etc.

I think our combi boiler has a tiny interim tank but it woud only be very few pints

didds

[88V8]

...would guess that having two immersion heaters in the same tank allows you to choose whether to heat the whole tank or just the top half, dependent on anticipated usage. Heating half the water talkes half the energy so there's a significant saving to be made when appropriate to demand.

In the CH system I installed in our previous house - we have no CH in our C17 cottage - I designed in exactly this feature by controlling the tank with two stats, one nearer the bottom, one nearer the top, and a changeover switch in the kitchen so we could flip between them. We hardly ever needed a full tank.

Never not had an immersion.
And wouldn't give house room to a combi boiler, unless they have spectacularly improved from the glacial trickle that sloooowly fills the bath.

V8

[richlist]

If you have solar panels and an immersion heater you have unlimited hot water for free for about 2/3rd of the year.

If you have a combi boiler......I guess you can't get hot water for free without installing a hot water tank and immersion heater.

[neversay]

The 10-year warranty on my Ideal boiler says that it needs an annual service in order to be valid. DAK know if the boiler controllers have a service schedule that is 'reset' or are the services just evidenced by a stamp in the book?