Resident Questions for Housing Area Panel

Reference Number: N3.2                                                                                                                    

Department

Housing

Date question raised

30.08.22

Week of Area Panel

10.10.22

Area in city

North Area

Star rating applied by residents

3 Star

Deadline for officer response

19.09.22

Name of officer responding

Geof Gage

Officer job title

Head of Housing Investment & Asset Management

Resident Question

Title of Question

Boiler Installation and Repairs

 

Issue:

Council contractors have installed boilers incorrectly. KT Heating don’t appear to be able to carry out repairs on boilers.

Background:

A resident of Coldean reported a faulty boiler to the Council. KT Heating visited the property 5 times before calling out a specialist Worcester-Bosch engineer to fix the boiler issue.

 

The Worcester-Bosch engineer told the resident that the boiler had been incorrectly housed: it should not have been boxed in and sealed, which is not safe.

 

This is a building standard issue of concern across all areas of the city.

Action requested by residents:

It was agreed to raise the following at all Area Panels:

 

  • Are KT Heating qualified to do repairs on boilers?
  • Are contractors fitting new boilers aware that boilers are not meant to be boxed in?

Officer Response

Officer contact details:

Rob Mabey, Mechanical and Electrical Manager

 

Officer Response:

1.    Yes, absolutely. K&T are our Gas Contract partner and have been fitting and fixing boilers for us for nearly 10 years. All their staff are Gas Safe registered and highly trained in repairs and maintenance of gas appliances.

 

2.    Most modern boilers are fine to be boxed-in.  Older boilers used to get warm and needed airflow to keep them cool, but any Worcester Bosch Boiler fitted within our housing stock in the last 10 years is okay to be boxed-in.  Subject to a few minor restrictions on how small the boxing should be. See below guidance from Worcester Bosch.

 

 

Action:

If the resident could share more info on this specific property, then we can investigate the repairs history to get a better idea of the fault. It can be frustrating for the resident if repeated visits are required. It’s rare, but sometimes a process of elimination is required on intermittent faults that take a few visits to get it right.

 

Start date:

06.09.2022

End date:

06.09.2022