As previous posts I am looking to rent my house out. Therefore I engage a plumbing firm to repair the leak on my boiler, service it and issue me the relevant gas safety certificate. The hot water in the property was also not working properly (I was not aware of this as I havent been there for a few weeks but my lodger spoke to him while he was there). The plumber quoted £220 for replacing the divertor valve. This has been done but no improvement and they now state I need a new heat exchanger (any idea what this may cost?). Does this process of elimination seem correct or am I having my leg lifted? He stated that the heating is working fine now, but it always was!! Advice would be appreciated as I know very little about plumbing. I have paid for the repair and service but not the £220 to date.

Coincidentally, I’ve got two here right now, so I asked them.

They’ve said they’d need to know more about exact symptoms and the make of boiler. The price is “a little high” but it varies; cheaper boilers often have move expensive parts.

They also advised that there’s no logic in going from the valve to the heat exchanger as a porcess of elimination and, I quote, “I’ll show my arse on the town hall steps if there’s anything wrong with the heat exchanger.”

“I’ll show my arse on the town hall steps if there’s anything wrong with the heat exchanger.”
manual labourers, innit. They’ll show their arse anywhere, no matter what circumstances.

AndyP – LOL

Cougar – Its a Potterton Performa 28i, probably due for replacement soon but will keep running it for the forseeable. There had been a leak for a while but about a week before the plumber came the hot water became cooler, sometimes running cold and very rarely getting hot. I was told the divertor valve had gone wrong causing no hot water. £220 was the figure quoted, however I had other things on my mind last week (partner in hospital) I OK’d it to get it done. However, £220 along the line still no hot water. I’m thinking this wasnt a problem at all, therefore am not willing to pay for it yet, despite being chased.

Thanks for your help.

AndyP – LOL

Cougar – Its a Potterton Performa 28i, probably due for replacement soon but will keep running it for the forseeable. There had been a leak for a while which was getting progressively worse but about a week before the plumber came the hot water became cooler, sometimes running cold and very rarely getting hot. I was told the divertor valve had gone wrong causing no hot water. £220 was the figure quoted, however I had other things on my mind last week (partner in hospital) therefore I OK’d it to get it done. However, £220 along the line still no hot water. I’m thinking this wasnt a problem at all, therefore am not willing to pay for it yet, despite being chased. I also still have a drip which was part of the first bill (£89) so not going to part with my money in a hurry.

Thanks for your help.

My OH’s boiler went on the blink, going hot then cold in the shower – that was the heat exchanger, so they can fur up (or whatever was wrong with it).

If its the heat exchanger then thats fine and am happy to pay for it. I’m just not convinced the divertor valve needed replacing. They’re not being very helpful when I ask for reasoning, only stating ‘when you pay for this work we’ll carry out the next bit’. I would like a detailed explanation for the engineer visited but this company doesnt work like that it seems. They also dont want to quote for the works to the heat exchanger, anyone know what a reasonable cost is?

I had a problem with the boiler (combi) in our house when we first moved in, hot water would trip off after about 10 seconds. Called a plumber round, had a look, reckoned it was the heat exchanger being full of magnetite/crap, and sure enough it was. He fitted a magnaclean, and got me to stick the heat exchanger in a bucket of water and soda crystals overnight and hopefully he wouldn’t need to fit a new one. He re-fitted it the next day, no problems since, and it was pretty unbelievable how much cack the magnaclean took out of the system so might be something else to consider.

Thanks honeybadgerx.

Do you think I should pay them based on what you have heard or do you think I have good reason to withold the money? Where do I stand on this?

the diverter is either bust or it isnt.. symptoms.. either hot water or central heating but not both..

like pregnancy it cant be a little bit broken all ok or all fecked no mid point.

on your boiler the job takes 15 minutes and you need a phillips driver and a 6 quid rubber diagphram

your boiler does not have a heat exchanger..

the issue is likely that the temp stat is knocking it off early and its modulating on and off.. 30quid fix

if a repair doesnt work dont pay in fact you can invoke the distance selling regs and tell minute job.. tell em to naff off even if the repair had worked..

landlords seen as easy money by some ‘plumbers’ decent landlords always pay on results only and expect decent below average rates as they are one customer with many potential calls..

i’d expect a landlord to pay 45 for a service and certificate 41 for the diverter repair and another 50 for the stat repair but as only the stat repair needed doing 95 the lot

any more than that and they kicked your back doors in

totalshell – thank you very much for this, no heat exchanger, hmm I had a bad feeling about this all along. May I ask, are you a plumber?

The plumber did spend a few hours there (3?) carrying out the job but seemed to think he had done a favour by making the heating work, though there was never a problem with this! The hot water wasnt working, the heating was. I dont want to pay for something that the plumber misdiagnosed!

I paid £50 for the service plus £30 for the urgent repair (which has still not been resolved – small drips).

No heat exchanger?? Really? Surely it needs one of those to transfer heat from the burning gas to the water in the pipes.

I wonder if “I made the heating work” means “I broke the heating, but I fixed it again”?

Just spoke to another friend who said it will have a heat exchanger?

I wonder if “I made the heating work” means “I broke the heating, but I fixed it again”?

It was his last job of the day so that may be the case = you have heating again for the weekend…then whispers…but still no hot water.

According to the exploded diagram I just checked it has a plate heat exchanger.

Parts Center code 424064, seal kit for it is 248049.

Retail on the heat exchanger is £92 exc VAT.

Potterton Performa 28 has a heat exchanger, part should cost about £140 + VAT.

http://www.potterton.co.uk/docs/Potterton_Performa.pdf

(Bottom of page 5)

No idea if yours is the source of the problem, but it does have one.

Nice and cheap then! 🙁

So, no definitive answer on whether £220 is reasonable for a divertor valve and whether it should have solved the problem?

Does anyone know whether the heat exchanger is the likely cause of the problem?

Advice on next steps appreciated.

Full Divertor Valve should be about £60-£85 + Vat
If its just the Diaphragm that’s needed, less than £10

Seems like he’s overcharging a bit.
And possibly doing work that wasn’t needed.

Nealglover – are the figures you state inclusive of labour or just parts?

Poor domestic hot water could quite easily be a choked plate heat ex. It’s quite common, the failure of the diverter valve could quite possibly be sludge related too, but then, it could be anything at all.

Impossible to say without being stood in front of the boiler.

Call heateam… Baxi pottertons service dept.. Pay a fixed fee repair & get everything sorted for one price.. Pay a bit more & get 12 months breakdown cover included.
Oh & you boiler has 2 heatexchangers. 1 primary (main) & a plate heat exchanger where the hot water is heated

Del

there can be a couple of hours work in replacing a diverter valve. If the diaphragm’s knackered then you may still get the hot water to come on for 30 seconds. You can test this by running the hot tap for a minute and listen out for a slight click (do this with the cover removed) as the micro-switch opens (demand light goes off); this happens when the faulty diaphragm can’t hold the switch in the on position.

there can be a couple of hours work in replacing a diverter valve

It’s beyond me why anyone would replace one. You can get a replacement pump proving diaphragm, a service kit including glands for the water section, and strip and service the spindles in the main valve. You can also do all of this from the front of the boiler with no messing about in a fraction of the time, and at a fraction of the cost of a new valve.

PCB.
Hot water sensor.
Potterton used to offer a repair service. It was expensive but included parts and years warranty. Not sure if they still do it but well worth a call.
Diverter valve was excessive as a diaphragm should have done the trick but I can’t diagnose the problem without seeing the boiler.
I would have charged about £220 for a full diverter valve fitted.. If that was the problem.

I can fit a new boiler for you in the new year, sorry, not much help now.

My experience was with a year 2000 Worcester 26 CDI: You had to strip the heat exchanger and fill loop to get at the diverter valve; I got a recon one on ebay.

My experience was with a year 2000 Worcester 26 CDI: You had to strip the heat exchanger and fill loop to get at the diverter valve; I got a recon one on ebay.

They’re probably the most awkward to do. Would still just service the valve though once I got it out.

OK, thanks for your help, will seek more advice before paying the bill.