FWIW used BG as for fitting just for peace of mind – too much of a faf trying to rely on local plumbers etc.

As a gas safe engineer I would say at worst it’s Not To Current Standards. Believe me I’ve seen much much worse than that. Reroute and repair seems a good option and there’s no harm in speaking to Gas Safe or Vaillant tech for their opinion.

Sheesh is that it?

Ask vallient if it would be okay to have the wire rerouted and the hole permanently sealed with something like a piece of metal epoxied in place, both sides if they want belt and braces.

Worse case is replace that panel, might be a bit of ball ache but still got to be cheaper than a new boiler.

As for people suggesting £1200 + boiler is acceptable for a boiler change….simply ridiculous.

Seems a bit fishy to me as I’ve never seen a boiler with air tight casing

The old Potterton Nettaheat are air tight and have to be as they are positive pressure, so any leak and CO escapes into the room. Although this design is no longer allowed, and all new boilers have to be negative pressure, so any leak just sucks air into the boiler i.e. a leak isn’t a safety risk at all.

Getting British Gas to fit your boiler is fair enough as long as you’re happy that you’ve been totally screwed for price. 😈

new boilers have to be negative pressure, so any leak just sucks air into the boiler i.e. a leak isn’t a safety risk at all.

New boilers aren’t all negative pressure.

Negative pressure until certain fault situations arise.

Order a replacement cable entry point from the manufacturer and install in place of the hole made by the bodged entry ( I assume the manufacturers ones are cable glands)

Therefore the ‘fix’ would comply with the original designs certification.

Bit of an update. I can see this all going badly!

Spoke to Vaillant this morning and they are sending an engineer tomorrow so that I can get a second opinion from one of their guys. I’ve had to sign up to a service policy but it’s no fix, no fee, so hopefully will be a positive outcome.

Only concern is that the Vaillant guys can’t actually re-commission the boiler. They’re allowed to perform repairs, re-connect the gas and test it, but then they have to cap it off again and somebody else has to commission it. That surely can’t be normal!?

Manufacturers state clearly that boilers and components should be installed and fitted exactly to their design specification. Any alteration, modification or incorrect installation practice will void any warranty and could present a dangerous situation. Gas safe also states manufacturers installation instructions are to be followed above all other instructions.
Therefore, if the moron who fitted your boiler had looked at the installation manual, he would have seen the correct location for cable entry to the connection points.
Having said that. There’s no reason why a permanent repair to the hole should not be performed and as long as it can be shown to bring the casing back to the manufacturers original spec. I would be happy to reconnect it.

Update?

Making progress! Vaillant engineer was very helpful yesterday but was unable to resolve without running it past the product team first. Have heard back from them this evening and they’ve agreed that a repair can be performed; reroute the cable to the correct location and then repair the hole by drilling to 20mm to fit one of the original spec grommets. They’ll come back as soon as that has been done.

Incidentally I did get another quote for replacement and it came in at £1300, showing just how crazy the sse price was.

Still a few cold nights to go but looking like the right result.

Chancing feckers.

Nice one, I should’ve mentioned I’m a newly qualified plumber & gas engineer, and just getting into boiler repairs so was wondering.

£1300 sounds about right for a supply and fit, we charge around £400 labour for a like for like swap over and normally done in a day.

Fuxhutchinsun – re Remeha our seven year old Advanta Plus boiler was ‘condemned’ on Tuesday (15/3) by a British Gas engineer due to the manufactured hole in the base of the casing (back right) that appears to have no purpose: although it is clearly shown in the installation manual (but with no guidance as to purpose or part supplied to block it). The boiler is condemned ‘until further notice’ while the engineer tries to source a part. He said he spoke to the manufacturer who confirmed that the casing should be sealed, but was unable to supply anything to block the hole. I spoke with Remeha in the UK, who seemed to think they had also spoken to our engineer, and they advised sticking some aluminium tape above and below the hole.

Our boiler has been serviced annually and also had some repair work done over the years without this being picked up. I don’t know how well sealed it is meant to be as it has leaked through the casing (not the offending hole)in the past, and the engineer came this time to deal with a leak.

Any background knowledge/advice regarding this situation would be gratefully received.

The message I’m receiving from all of this is never to get my boiler serviced.

The message I’m receiving from all of this is never to get my boiler serviced.

I love getting calls from people who think this way. They start by saying, Do you do boiler servicing?” To which I reply, “Yes.” They then proceed to explain how theirs is not working.
It goes quiet when I explain the difference between a service and a repair.
It’s precisely for the above reasons it’s important to follow guidelines and service your gas appliances.
Under normal circumstances most minor leaks on a boiler case will not result in a problem. But should the boiler fail in some other way, it could compound and become a much greater risk to health.
But hey, I’m all for strengthening the gene pool.

…in winter 🙂

gears suck – the previous leak was in a pipe joint, although was only sorted after the (British Gas) engineer had visited several times and replaced another part first. This time he thinks it is the heat exchanger (as the water seemed to be below this) so he’s replacing the heat exchanger as well as intending (somehow) to plug the hole. We have a service and repairs contract with British Gas.

When I spoke to Remeha they were pretty non committal regarding the fact there may be a number of Remeha boilers out there with a hole in the casing – “there might be, there might not be”. It seems strange that this situation could occur, particularly as, on paper, the boiler seems to have been fitted in line with the manufacturers’ instructions…

Beans With a heavy heart. Your first mistake was buying a Rhema boiler. Reviews here. The second was employing British Gas to do anything to it.
Sorry for your woes but by now I would have thought their reputation should finally be starting to precede them.

I wouldn’t trust british gas to flush my bog. Sad thing is many old people still think they’re the gas board and therefore the only people who can help them.

Having been through all that isn’t that a big gaping hole between the two copper feeds ?

New boiler fitting is a complete rip off. They always install in a day so at most labour should be £250 ( that’s a good day rate ). God knows why it is always nearer £1000. We paid £2300 for local plumber to fit a decent sized boiler for 4 bedroom house.

Plumber recommended the boiler when we had work done in 2008 – although not British Gas he was pretty dodgy too.

Where do we get a good plumber? We’re in South Northamptonshire.

woody74 – Member

New boiler fitting is a complete rip off. They always install in a day so at most labour should be £250 ( that’s a good day rate ). God knows why it is always nearer £1000. We paid £2300 for local plumber to fit a decent sized boiler for 4 bedroom house.
I don’t know what you do, but your comment is very general and completely incorrect. I replaced a boiler last week. What would be considered like for like. Vertical flue and new condensate where previous boiler was not condensing. It took me 2 1/2 days and I charged 430 plus materials at 80. (Customer provided boiler, flue and stat.)So before you insult someone and what they do. Not all people in the same profession operate the same way.
I could fit a boiler in a day if I didn’t do it properly.
Also, I resent you dictating what you think my day rate should be. Unless you’re paying me to work for you. Mind your own damn business!

Not sure what that means. Is it your mom and dad getting ready to pay for the new boiler?

I’d be interested to know what the daily rate is for people who make handbags, and if they make designer handbags is it more? 😯

What’s a ‘Mom’? Is it a bit like ‘Mum’ but for Yankeeeeeees?

Well final update from me, as finally as of this evening all is sorted. Not without some final dramas though.

After Vaillant agreed on a suitable repair I managed to get an electrician out on Monday to reroute and extend the cable to correct place and sort out the hole that had been drilled.

Vaillant then came back out today to reconnect the boiler, only to find that the guy who ID’d it in the first place had also **** one of the pipes trying to cap it off. Long story short I then had to get another local company to come and sort that out, only for them to then find the electrician hadn’t quite wired it up correctly which they did resolve.

In total it’s taken best part of 2 weeks to resolve but at least it hasn’t cost us too much in the end. Thanks everyone for the advice.

I trust you won’t be paying the donkeys who did the half arsed work?

Vaillant then came back out today to reconnect the boiler, only to find that the guy who ID’d it in the first place had also **** one of the pipes trying to cap it off. Long story short I then had to get another local company to come and sort that out, only for them to then find the electrician hadn’t quite wired it up correctly which they did resolve

chuffin ‘ell. You need to find a decent plumber/gas person and electrician and keep their numbers. I used to use one company in Bristol for all my gas and electric works. They were a big local company who charged slightly more than a little local guy who “might” do it right but did a very professional job every time.