- This topic has 38 replies, 23 voices, and was last updated 8 years ago by chewkw.
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£55 for a plumber to tighen a nut?
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TaylorplayerFree MemberPosted 8 years ago
My combi-boiler was dripping, called local plumber who arranged to come out (not a middle of the night emergency call out). He came, I showed him where I’d noticed it leaking from. He said “The washers perish/become brittle over time and need to be replaced.” He tightened up the nut, and arranged for someone to come back the next day to replace the part.In and out in 15 min max.
Someone else came the next day, had a look, ran the taps (I’d noticed it would leak when running hot), but there was no leak. He suggested we leave it as it is as it seemed it just needed tightening, but left the washer with us. In and out in about 30 min (had a bit of a chat whilst waiting to see if it would leak).
From their office to me is 5 miles. So that’s:
Day 1: 5 miles + 15 min + 5 miles.
Day 2: 5 miles + 30 min + 5 miles.The bill for this was £55.
I intend writing and asking them to reduce this…
We moved here in May 2014. May this year, we noticed the hot water would sometimes run cold, so we called the local plumber and arranged for him to come and have a look/service boiler.
He said “the pressure is low, probably hasn’t been serviced in some time.”
Serviced boiler, also replaced a tap in kitchen, £270.Within 3 days, water was running cold, and the pressure was low, so called him back.
Replaced expasion unit – £480.
Within a week, pressure is low, and hot water intermittently runs cold. Called him back again, he said “there must be a leak in the system as well.” He suggested putting sealant into the system, but wife declined ( I was out). He didn’t bill us for this visit.
For the past month or so, we’ve had to top up the pressure every couple of days or so. Then I noticed this leak…
Since it was tightened (about 10 days ago now), I’ve not had to top up the pressure.
Now when he said he said “The washers perish/become brittle over time and need to be replaced.“, he also said “and we had to take that part out to replace the expansion unit.”
Firstly, I’m left suspecting there was nothing wrong with the expansion unit in the first place since it didn’t solve my initial problem.
Secondly, as he knows the washers become brittle, then I’m left wondering why these weren’t replaced as a matter of routine when replacing the expansion vessel.
Thirdly, I’m thinking he’s taking me for a bit of a ride in charging me £55 to tighten a nut that was connected by his company about a month back.
Do you reckon I have a case to argue?
Yes I could pay £55 and not use him again, but this has got up my nose so to speak.
And breath, and relax…
projectFree MemberPosted 8 years agoYou really are out of touch with reality, do you also question the cost when you see a solicitor, he doesnt arrive or drive to your house, a taxi, that does drive and arrive at your house, and nmany other people who charge for their sevices, experience, tools, insurance, overheads and basic wages for them and their staff.
or did you think he would come out for a packet of digestives.
Smudger666Full MemberPosted 8 years agoTypical homemoaner
Where to start?
editted – pay the bill, don’t use him again and good luck getting another tradesman as cheap.
ninfanFree MemberPosted 8 years agoYou paid £5 for him to tighten the nut
You paid £50 for the knowledge of which nut to tighten and why
CougarFull MemberPosted 8 years agoReminded me of this,
The huge printing presses of a major Chicago newspaper began malfunctioning on the Saturday before Christmas, putting all the revenue for advertising that was to appear in the Sunday paper in jeopardy. None of the technicians could track down the problem. Finally, a frantic call was made to the retired printer who had worked with these presses for over 40 years. “We’ll pay anything; just come in and fix them,” he was told.
When he arrived, he walked around for a few minutes, surveying the presses; then he approached one of the control panels and opened it. He removed a dime from his pocket, turned a screw 1/4 of a turn, and said, “The presses will now work correctly.” After being profusely thanked, he was told to submit a bill for his work.
The bill arrived a few days later, for $10,000.00! Not wanting to pay such a huge amount for so little work, the printer was told to please itemize his charges, with the hope that he would reduce the amount once he had to identify his services. The revised bill arrived: $1.00 for turning the screw; $9,999.00 for knowing which screw to turn.
OnzadogFree MemberPosted 8 years agoHumm, two sides to this. If he came out to do some work, the price sounds justified.
If he’s coming out to correct some of his previous work within a fairly short period of time, he shouldn’t be charging at all.
The thing is, do you know without doubt that the nut in question constituted part of the the previous works.
wwpaddlerFree MemberPosted 8 years agoSo you’ve paid £55 for 2 hours of someone’s time, vehicle costs, diesel, tools. Sounds a bargain. Sounds like he hasn’t charged you for one of those days
ernie_lynchFree MemberPosted 8 years agoDay 1: 5 miles + 15 min + 5 miles.
Day 2: 5 miles + 30 min + 5 miles.The bill for this was £55.
So over an hour of their time, possibly two, plus fuel. £55 sounds fair. How much did you want to pay ?
I can’t comment on the other stuff as it’s obviously a lot less straightforward.
wilsonthecatFree MemberPosted 8 years agoDoesn’t seem unreasonable to me, especially considering the amount of time travelling to and from. Although I do question why he didn’t have a fibre washer on his van, even if he had ran out I would expect a considerate technician to pop down to local merchant’s.
At the end of the day, if you can’t drain/isolate a system and replace a washer yourself I don’t see how you can complain about a standard call out cost.
CougarFull MemberPosted 8 years agoTBF, re-reading, you may be right. Certainly, the work required seems to be either as a result of something they did recently, or something they didn’t do. Whether the previous work was justified or not, I doubt you’ll ever know beyond speculating.
trail_ratFree MemberPosted 8 years agoSorry eh.
270 to service … Fair enough- although not to notice the expansion vessel was toast and fail so quickly after when servicing it is poor … Although i suspect your expansion vessel was probably fine all along…
480 quid for an expansion vessel and fitting – i guess its gold plated or is one of them shit designs that you have to pull the whole boiler to bits and not one of the ones where its hung on the front of the tank.
And 55 quid to tighten a nut that it sounds like they either didnt touch and was loose all along when they threw the parts cannon at it or didnt tighten propperly when changing the expansion vessel is taking the piss. – ie if it was genuinely a brittle washer they would have changed it on the second visit.
I would be finding a new plumber you sir have been taken for a ride.
Even more so if as i susspect the – “loose nut” was the culprit all along…..
Unfortunantly proving anything is nigh on impossible.
Also. You still in kinross ? What you doing with your self these days !
TaylorplayerFree MemberPosted 8 years agoYou really are out of touch with reality, do you also question the cost when you see a solicitor, he doesnt arrive or drive to your house, a taxi, that does drive and arrive at your house, and nmany other people who charge for their sevices, experience, tools, insurance, overheads and basic wages for them and their staff.
or did you think he would come out for a packet of digestives.
Maybe I am out of touch with reality, and no I didn’t think he’d come for a packet of digestives. I did though expect that after paying £480 for a new expansion vessel that I’d be able to take a shower without it intermittently running cold.
I take it You don’t think I’ve got a case to argue then?
ernie_lynchFree MemberPosted 8 years agoTo be fair your question was “£55 for a plumber to tighen a nut?”, which is the one most people answered, not whether the previous work had been correctly carried out.
TaylorplayerFree MemberPosted 8 years agoThe thing is, do you know without doubt that the nut in question constituted part of the the previous works.
I showed him where it was dripping from, he said that with the washers heating up and cooling they become brittle over time, and that they (his company) had removed & replaced that specific part in order to be able to replace the expansion vessel, and that the washer would need replacing. That’s what has me wondering why he didn’t replace the washer when replacing the expansion vessel.
TaylorplayerFree MemberPosted 8 years ago270 to service … Fair enough- although not to notice the expansion vessel was toast and fail so quickly after when servicing it is poor … Although i suspect your expansion vessel was probably fine all along…
480 quid for an expansion vessel and fitting – i guess its gold plated or is one of them shit designs that you have to pull the whole boiler to bits and not one of the ones where its hung on the front of the tank.
See above – had to dismantle in order to replace expansion vessel!
And 55 quid to tighten a nut that it sounds like they either didnt touch and was loose all along when they threw the parts cannon at it or didnt tighten propperly when changing the expansion vessel is taking the piss. – ie if it was genuinely a brittle washer they would have changed it on the second visit.
I would be finding a new plumber you sir have been taken for a ride.
Even more so if as i susspect the – “loose nut” was the culprit all along…..
Unfortunantly proving anything is nigh on impossible.
Also. You still in kinross ? What you doing with your self these days !
Aye I think you’re right with regards to new plumber.
Still in same area, different house – boiler in the old house was 25 years old and never broke down!
Not doing much cycling these days due to injuries but three dogs seem to take up all my time anyway 🙂
TaylorplayerFree MemberPosted 8 years agoTo be fair your question was “£55 for a plumber to tighen a nut?”, which is the one most people answered, not whether the previous work had been correctly carried out.
Maybe I didn’t phrase it very well, however…
Although I don’t post much (and ride even less), I’ve been on here long enough to know that regardless of how I’d put it, someone would have jumped in with the “You expect him to do it for free” post 🙂
TaylorplayerFree MemberPosted 8 years agoFair enough they dismantled it but **** me 480quid.
Exactly, which I why I feel somewhat justified in expecting a repaired boiler to be… repaired and working!
robdobFree MemberPosted 8 years agoIf you can fix a bike you can fix a boiler. I’ve fixed my own a few times. I would never touch the gas side but the water side is simple plumbing.
Expansion vessels – most boiler need to be taken off the wall to replace these and it’s a days job. Expansion tanks are £50+ too. However any decent plumber would have just suggested fitting an external expansion tank, all you have to do is mount it on the wall near the boiler and tee it in to the return of the heating circuit. That’s what I did, cost me about £50 in total which included all the fitting and buying a fancy pipe cutter as I didn’t have a 22mm one and the inhibitor to replace as I had drained the system.If it was leaking why didn’t you trace where it was leaking from (use tissues held against joints) then nip it up a bit with a spanner? Hardly difficult and unlikely to damage anything unless you swing on it like an imbecile.
trail_ratFree MemberPosted 8 years agoGood business model that.
Do original repair badly.
Charge client to fix it with bullshit excuse.
seaversFree MemberPosted 8 years agoAfter reading the whole post and what you have had done and paid for, it sounds like something worth contesting. They are the only people messing with the connections and should make sure they are tight and the seals, if perished are replaced.
gears_suckFree MemberPosted 8 years agoPart of a boiler service (combination or any with an internal expansion vessel) is to establish the pressure vessel is within the tolerance specified in the manual. i.e. it’s divider is not perished and the whole thing full of water. The air side should be at the correct pressure when tested at the schrader valve. The only right way to do this is to relieve the system pressure first and drain the boiler. Had this been done at the service, whether the vessel was faulty or not would have been established.
As for a day to change one or replacing an internal one for an external one because you can’t be arsed to or don’t know how to take the faulty one out. Well, that’s just amateurish and typical of the advice dished out by messers on here.robdobFree MemberPosted 8 years agoreplacing an internal one for an external one because you can’t be arsed to or don’t know how to take the faulty one out. Well, that’s just amateurish and typical of the advice dished out by messers on here.
The boiler I have is known for having an expansion tank which is a bit on the small side. Nothing wrong with fitting an external one, common thing to do. Makes no difference if its internal or external. I don’t have any space issues which might be a problem for some people if they have their boiler in a kitchen cupboard or similar – mines in the cellar. To take the internal one out you have to take the boiler off the wall (manufacturers instructions) which makes no sense at all – better to fit a better performing part instead of replacing a known weak component with the same thing.
trail_ratFree MemberPosted 8 years agoSwapped mine… Which involved draining the system presure.
Undoing the nut.
Lifting off, charge new vessel and reverse steps.
Im glad some engineers designed my boiler with forethought as to how you would work on it…..
robdobFree MemberPosted 8 years agoI wonder if the people in question did all the right things to check and find the true fault – loss of pressure can be from so many issues. I thought my issue was the secondary heat exchanger for so long but after finding a way to test for it I then knew it was the expansion tank. Checking the internal expansion tank was difficult as I tried to repressurise it but it was acting strangely when I pumped it up eventually figured out the Schraeder valve was faulty! Fixed that, water coming out of valve so yes it’s borked.
robdobFree MemberPosted 8 years agoSwapped mine… Which involved draining the system presure.
Undoing the nut.
Lifting off, charge new vessel and reverse steps.
Im glad some engineers designed my boiler with forethought as to how you would work on it…..I suppose it’s because people want the units smaller and smaller all the time, means the manufacturers have to keep cramming things in to a tighter space. In fairness everything in my boiler is generally well made and easy to access apart from the EV which sits behind everything else.
trail_ratFree MemberPosted 8 years agoYou mean do exactly as gears sucks describes ?
Which was how i discovered mines was fubar. Putting 1 bar into my expansion vessle with the system drained down to atm pressure a took a longer time than its size would suggest and resulted in a 1 bar increase on the pressure gauge….
Noting this i realised i was pumping up my whole system to 1 bar with the pump then water came out.
45 quid later we were warm again.
My situations slightly different as the frost got my externAl boiler during a 3 day power cut mid winter when i wasnt around to drain the system and buggered a few bits in the dhw side, so i was looking for bigger issues. Was relieved to find it was only thAt. On a 3year old grant combi
I guess making the bit that most commonly fails hard to get At it increases boiler cos profit as people really hate to pay labour costs so will replace the boiler rather than pay another 500 quid……oh am i being negative again….
Seosham 30 quid an hour doesnt seem bad for competent staff… But to charge to come out and correct a cock up is a bit rich.
piemonsterFull MemberPosted 8 years agoThe GF called a plumber for something similar recently.
Plumber tightened the nut FOC and now has a future customer. He wasn’t to know the boiler is getting replaced, but he will soon.
If he’d charged us £50 we’d go elsewhere. As for the distance to office, he tied the job in with another just round the corner to minimise his expenses.
weeksyFull MemberPosted 8 years agoMy former neighbour used to say this to Customers who’d complain about callout/driving/initial charge
“Tell you what, you bring your heating system to me and i’ll fix it free at home”
Obviously that’s not viable…
Whilst he doesn’t sound like a great friend in the OP… he’s charging a fair price for his time that’s for sure.
cheekymonkey888Free MemberPosted 8 years agowell if it makes you feel better its £45 to change a lightbulb down south.. unbelievable
globaltiFree MemberPosted 8 years agoYour plumber might just survive in business as he seems to have some idea of the value of his own time. £55 seems modest for him to drive to your house, diagnose your problem and fix it.
Buy yourself a pipe wrench for a fiver and do your own simple plumbing jobs.
johndohFree MemberPosted 8 years agoIf I was so inept that I couldn’t figure out to how to tighten a leaking joint then I would be happy to pay £55 for someone’s time and knowledge to do it for me.
footflapsFull MemberPosted 8 years agoIf I was so inept that I couldn’t figure out to how to tighten a leaking joint then I would be happy to pay £55 for someone’s time and knowledge to do it for me.
🙂
horaFree MemberPosted 8 years agoI was ready to flame the OP until I read his post properly:
Thirdly, I’m thinking he’s taking me for a bit of a ride in charging me £55 to tighten a nut that was connected by his company about a month back.
I think the OP has the right to complain and once the bill is reduced (or preferred cleared). Use someone else in the future.
Plumbers don’t work for free and their time is travelling setting up, etc etc but when its their handiwork within a certain timeframe. No. They have to offer some sort of guarantee that their work will last a reasonable length of time.
gears_suckFree MemberPosted 8 years agoI thought my issue was the secondary heat exchanger for so long but after finding a way to test for it I then knew it was the expansion tank.
I’m curious. What test would you perform to find this out other than feeling and looking around to see if water was leaking from it?
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