WWYD: Boiler 'At Risk'

[Williams3001]

(Hope this is the right thread; sorry if not)
Trying to keep this brief: My insurance company sent a gas engineer to fix an issue with our boiler (it kept losing pressure); she fixed it and told me it should work 'fine' now, but also mentioned that a part was limescaled and may fault in future. She said to just contact them if the boiler cut out again and they'd order the new part. So far so good.

But then later on she sent me a gas certificate saying the boiler was 'At Risk'; and (in very tiny writing) to not use an appliance classed as 'at risk' or 'immediately dangerous'. I've contacted the insurance company for advice but I can't for the life of me find a phone number, so it's just email 😩.

We have a functioning carbon monoxide detector but obviously now I'm freaking out that our boiler's dangerous. We also have a 17-month-old and the flat gets freezing with no heating at this time of year. WWYD: Use it (as the engineer said it was 'fine'); or just turn everything off?

Oooh that's tricky. Is it a big company? Do they have online chat?

Wow, I work for a gas engineer company and is an appliance is found to be At Risk the engineer (with your permission) should have isolated the appliance and put a sticker on it.

If it is At Risk/Condemned it should be disconnected and have yellow stickers on.

In all honesty I would bin off the Insurance contract and go direct to the boiler manufacturer for a call out.

Same experience as you, we had appliance insurance cover with D&G. The boiler failed with a code shown, the contract repair engineer attended site, filed a report and did not undertake any repairs. As the boiler was over 10 yrs old the insurers automatically flagged the boiler as beyond economic repair and sent a quote for £6K for replacement towards which they would contribute £750.

We contacted the boiler manufacturer who sent their own badged engineer within 2 days, who repaired the boiler on the spot with parts they were carrying on the van. 1 was failed and the others were a pre-emptive, "it is chalking up, so will swap it now" action. A couple of hundred £ on the credit card and back in business. No problems since.

We cancelled the D&G contract.

It is in the manufacturers interest to have the boiler in top condition.

Make the call today.

Thanks for the advice! It's an Ideal boiler, so I will get in touch with them and try to get it sorted asap.

Ooh- interesting. We have an Ideal boiler that has, coincidentally, just been serviced today. All well.
We have lived in the house 16 years so the boiler is older than that.
Approx 6 years ago, a British Gas boiler told us we should replace it as parts would be difficult to replace. Around that time we were feeling really dissatisfied with BG [plumbing issues] so cancelled our homecare package. We got a local plumber out. He said that boiler fine. Not efficient, but safe and -this is the crucial bit- did not have many parts to go wrong and therefore need replacing!
We know our boiler will need replacing at some point but get someone else out for a second opinion.
Good luck.

I would recommend you contact the Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111999 and tell them you have concerns about your boiler. If it is 'At risk' then it should not be connected. It sounds as if your insurance company should therefore come back to order the necessary parts.

Please check that whoever works on your gas appliances has a valid Gas Safe accreditation, which you can double-check on the Gas Safe register website. Check that it is still valid and that they are trained to work on the correct domestic appliance - simply having a Gas Safe card is not necessarily enough.

Please post to let us know how this panned out for you.

From 2025 all new build properties will be built without gas boilers and will use other means of heating.

While there's no date set for when to ban any new gas boilers from being installed in existing properties, this will be the next logical step to reducing dependence on fossil fuels. At some point a date will be set and if your gas central heating breaks down irreparably after that date you will have no choice but to replace it with an electrical or sustainable-energy system. But existing and fully functional gas boilers will be continued in-use until they die, it's not likely that there will be a mandate to strip out and replace a system that works.

Therefore it is in the interests of everyone who works in any trade connected with gas systems to get as many new ones as possible installed now, before any such new policy is announced. As soon as there's a deadline like that on the horizon people will start thinking twice about replacing gas with a new gas system. The industry will decline and die from that point on, so the more people who can be convinced to install a new gaa system now, the longer those jobs are safe.