We are in Addlestone, Surrey today. We are replacing a boiler badged and installed by British Gas a few years ago (but we know it is a Gloworm with a bigger margin), with the latest Worcester-Bosch combinaton boiler.
British Gas BG330 to be removed
The new owners of the property quite fancied getting all their radiators working, as the ones in the recent kitchen extension only worked intermittently, and even then, were lukewarm.
They also desired mains pressure hot and cold water, so the no doubt expensive Gloworm (or BG 330 as it is otherwise known) heat only boiler had to go. As things turned out, it wasn’t a moment too soon, because the 3 yr old boiler was all rusty inside due to condensate leaking from the heat exchanger.
Condensate leak inside BG330 (overpriced rebadged budget Gloworm)
We rerouted some of the radiator pipework, giving a better flow to the kitchen radiators. We also latterly discovered a flattened hot water pipe under the hall floor, but that is another story.
Our Powerflush Magnacleanse magnets picked up lots of magnetite, suggesting the heating system water pipes hadn’t been properly cleansed 3 years earlier.
This lot is going, to be replaced by a combination boiler in the utility room
Our customer had read all about the Worcester WAVE controller, so he was one of the first to have one of these (Nov 2014).
A Worcester WAVE internet linked thermostat and hot water controller
Things were going swimmingly until we noticed the very low gas pressure from the meter upon connecting the new Worcester 37CDi Classic boiler. By now it was 6pm in the evening and things weren’t looking good. Our customer had no heating and HW , and we were miles from home.
We thought we were going home……..
Low gas pressure warning tags ready for use
A man from National Grid (the gas distribution network owner) came and checked the gas meter regulator and discovered a large amount of debris in the pipe. So he called in the National Grid hoover. Around 2hrs later a van towed vacuum pump turned up, complete with flare stacks and two operatives.
The cavalry arrive
The hoover was started up with a diesel engine, and a large rubber pipe run through the house to the meter in the utility room. The meter was removed and the flexible hoover pipe connected to the incoming gas pipe.
Preparing to vacuum
The noise sounded like loads of rusty bolts being sucked down the pipe out of the gas main.
Tucker, from National Grid, overseeing the vacuuming operation
No naked lights!
After about 10 minutes the hoover was removed from the live gas pipe, the meter connected up, and all was well!
One of our installers, Ricky, explaining the concept of low gas pressure.
Great service from National Grid, we’d never seen the likes of their truck mounted gas pipe hoover before. You read it first here.
As usual we Powerflushed and Magnacleansed the old system, and we able to leave our nice customers (both architects) with a clean functioning heating system and an 8 year warranty.
