Faulty Boiler

[Char2207]

Hi all, recently we bought a new house, our boiler stopped working last week, we called out the people who we have boiler cover with who have come out and refused to fix our boiler on the grounds of a part of the boiler being recalled some years back. This part was recalled as it's made of aluminium which can rust and cause Carbon Monoxide leaks. We now have a huge sticker over our boiler saying "DANGER DO NOT USE". I contacted the boiler company who apologised and said they would send someone out tomorrow to replace the recalled part as this part is what has caused the boiler to lock out. Today I have been left a voicemail message saying they won't be dropping this off tomorrow as they have an "engineering shortage" so it will have to be next week. By the time this is delivered I will have been without running hot water or central heating for over 10 days.

I spoke to my neighbours on the street who have owned their properties since they were new builds and they have confirmed nobody from the boiler company has contacted any of them regarding the faulty dangerous boiler part.

My question is whether this is grounds to sue the boiler company for not informing people of a potentially fatal fault?

Thanks in advance.

[Arcadian]

Re: Faulty Boiler

Not a Powermax is it?

[Char2207]

Re: Faulty Boiler

It is!

[Arcadian]

Re: Faulty Boiler

It is!

Aha, no surprise there then. I did some research on them when friends moved into a house with one.

Im aware that there was a risk of CO leakage when a seal was not replaced with a new one during service, but the risk of leakage from corrosion was not mentioned in any sources that I recall.

I think they were originally produced by a company called Range, it was subsumed in some form by Potterton?
all from memory so I'll stand corrected.

I don't think you'll get anywhere with legal action, even if you do manage to find the remnants of the company that made these.

[Arcadian]

Re: Faulty Boiler

Here is the leading authority on this type:
http://www.powermax-repairs.co.uk/

It does indeed mention corrosion of the aluminium flue pipes, due to the boiler producing corrosive condensate but not being designed to cope with it!

[Char2207]

Re: Faulty Boiler

Thanks for sending over that information! Our boiler did a lot of things on that article before it packed in. I'm more shocked than anything that they didn't contact at least the developers when they bought 50 odd boilers off them for the new houses. I didn't really plan on suing in all honesty but I was hoping to have some realistic leverage if the service I receive continues to be so frustrating...

[Arcadian]

Re: Faulty Boiler

Thanks for sending over that information! Our boiler did a lot of things on that article before it packed in. I'm more shocked than anything that they didn't contact at least the developers when they bought 50 odd boilers off them for the new houses. I didn't really plan on suing in all honesty but I was hoping to have some realistic leverage if the service I receive continues to be so frustrating...

Hundreds of developers probably fitted thousands of these units across the country, they were very popular because they were such a useful solution at that price. When they were working they were (and still are) brilliant, so it's a shame they're so fundamentally flawed.

An entire estate where friends live had these installed; many have now had them replaced with high flow rate combos or with a resited system boiler heating a thermal store or a mains pressure tank.

[Arcadian]

Re: Faulty Boiler

http://www.uk-afi.org/product-recall...oduct-code-135