Boiler not working - RESOLVED by British Gas

I was not getting hot water since about 2 days. I wasn't bothered initially and thought nothing was wrong but took things seriously on the second day after it was confirmed that there was something was wrong with the boiler as there was no hot water inspite of turning it ON for about 2 hours! I could hear a clicking sound from a small white plastic box attached to the pipe coming out of the vertically placed cylindrical water storage device. I can't remember if this clicking / ticking sound was present before the issue. The actual boiler, which is a Glowworm, is a rectangular box shaped white boiler. I chatted with my energy provided EDF and they guy on the chat checked my account and told me that there is a problem with the meter and I needed to phone EDF and make an appointment with an engineer. I dialled their 0800 customer care number from my mobile phone and after a wait of about 45 minutes a customer care lady told me that since the gas burner is working fine, the issue is with the boiler and not with the gas supply hence I needed to book and appointment with an safe engineer. Before calling anyone, I called my dad. He said, while he and my mum were visiting me, a similar issue has occurred. He resolved it by opening the lower part of the boiler and pushing in the red protruding button inside. He asked me not to push hard. when I opened the bottom cover of the boiler, I saw a screw like red button and a tiny red dot like button. I tried to push both gently but no luck.

Then I opened up the white box next to the water storage cylinder, which was making the continuos clicking sound. But I didn't understand much about it. Finally after the recommendation of a friend of mine, I called British Gas. First of all they asked me if they could call me so that I did not have to spend the phone conversation's money from my pocket. That was very nice of them. They gave me 2 options. The first would be a one off repair with a one off repair charge of about £89 pounds. However, I think he said the cost would keep increasing depending on the time spent by the British Gas Engineer. The second option was an annual contract which would cost be £23 / month. This would include boiler and radiator repairs including any parts and inclusive of VAT. While he was explaining me about the contract I recollected how all my previous land lords had a contract with british Gas! And I now being the owner of a house needed to take this contract to avoid frequent hassles. So, I decided to go for the annual contract option. The British Gas customer care took my card details and setup a direct debit. He said that I would have to pay a one off £99 for the repair of my boiler and after that £23 pounds would be deducted from my account every month. I was given the time slot between 12 and 6. The engineer arrived at about 5pm. Within about less than 5 minutes he resolved the issue. He did the same thing what my dad asked me to do. Push the red buttong on the boiler! I probably didn't push hard. Well I was disappointed with myself initially but later thought that, I had to buy the annual contract anyway so it wasn't very bad after all. The boiler started immediately. He also checked each radiator and unscrewed them to take out excess air so that the whole radiator is filled up with hot water and hence functions more efficiently. He checked a few other things including the density of carbon monoxide in my house as he has seen a fe black patches on the kitchen ceiling near the boiler. But then he said there was nothing to worry as the patches were due to the heat radiated by the boiler. He then told me that my boiler was very old. It was 16 years old and hence he booked an appointment with british gas so that an engineer could come and check my boiler and would advice me if I'd have to buy a new boiler or needed to change any parts. Just out of curiosity, I asked him the price of a new boiler and he said it could be about £2000! But he said that the booking of an engineer to inspect the boiler was not a sales activity. The engineer who would be coming to inspect my boiler might make a recommendation to buy a boiler but I could always opt out of it. The safe engineer was friendly, and was answering all of my questions. He also had a look at the main water tank located in my house's loft. He had a ladder with him.

I would suggest every home owner to register for a long term contract with British Gas as short term one off repairs can be very expensive. The following is the forms one uneed to fill out : British Gas Homecare

Similar British Gas services:

British Gas Energy

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