Boiler / heat unit issues

[augusta]

Hi there,

I've just spent a joyous day trying to sort out issues with our hot water. I live in Sledge Tower and we have been experiencing similar issues as you have, argayu. Ever since the works on the community boiler we had been noticing that we were running out of hot water certainly on weekends and then slowly more and more often, each night after the washing up was done there would be no hot water left. This tended to rectify itself in the morning again which we put down to our storage unit being set to heat up once in the early morning, and again in the evening. We thought we were simply using too much hot water, but we hadn't increased our usage and don't actually use that much so we were flummoxed.

This morning we awoke to find there simply wasn't any hot water and our underfloor heating wasn't working either. We had our lovely plumber John from Permanent Plumbing Solutions (if you ever need a plumber, he's exceptional) come round and he immediately noted it was an e.on related issue. Since the works on the communal boiler there have been a large number of flats who have been experiencing this issue and the e.on engineer has come out and discovered that there is what they are calling an air lock. When the works were carried out, they somehow managed to allow quite a bit of air into the pipes which has then been forced along until it has no where to go. In our case, it was blocking the intake of the hot water from the community boiler. The engineer also noted that our actuator had gone, though we can't tell when. 

I'm confident that John's theory is correct, as we have had issues since those works were carried out, and they've become worse over time. My advice is to call e.on heat and request that they send an engineer out. They will check to see if there have been any other issues registered and you're welcome to reference my call out to Flat 30, Sledge Tower, today the 9th Feb.

You need to be rather pushy with them, but once they send out an engineer I can almost guarantee it will be an issue of an air blockage. Check your bills, ours had skyrocketed as our under floor heating system was constantly trying to retrieve hot water but hardly any was getting through.

[argayu]

Hi augusta

Many thanks for sharing your experience. It actually resonates with mine, as the lack of hot water is usually in the evenings.

The e.on engineer came last week for the third time since I reported the incident to e.on, but as he admitted he is “bamboozled”. He actually changed the actuator on his first visit and he even mentioned that some flats had the air blocking issue your plumber mentioned, however it´s not clear whether if he checked that on mine (i´m on the case with e.on again – as you say being pushy is a must here).

E.on also mentioned no one in the development reported them a similar issue (!!!) nevertheless I know of two residents (Marley and Joplin) that mentioned this in the coffee time prior our last residents association meeting (unfortunately I don´t know their name/contacts).

Moreover, our contract apparently entitles us to some refund if we have at least 24 hours of no service (heating and hot water). This actually happened in late November during one of E.on maintenance works. I actually talked to the E.on guys on site and these mentioned they were on the case. However E.on claims we have no right to compensation unless we had reported it on the day (to their customer service, not to the on-site team). I´m on the case too.

Thanks again augusta and if anyone else is experiencing these issues, I would also appreciate if they could also chase E.on and report it here. The more, the merrier and the higher the chances E.on raise their game

[augusta]

I am still on the case with Eon as well - I've been making contact via email so there is a paper trail my end, however they have not written back or responded in any way at all to 5 emails. This morning I noticed a missed call on my phone while I was in a meeting at work and when I googled the number I see that it is connected to Eon - but no message was left so I don't know if it was in connection with this issue or if it was just them calling to try and up my tariff as our heat bills continue to spiral out of control.

There are three of us living in the flat, all full-time working professionals and we are being charged in excess of £140 per MONTH on our heat bills lately. Surely this is wrong? I'm going to do a manual heat meter reading tonight and submit that. I'm wondering if there is a discrepancy between the actuator having been not working and subsequently replaced and perhaps them taking incorrect readings. Meanwhile, their total lack of response is infuriating! I've been unable to call them during business hours as I just have too much work on to be sat waiting on hold all morning and we have unfortunately had full weekends lately, so I can't waste my Saturday morning on the phone either.

Thankfully the hot water has been absolutely fine since John and the eon engineer came out that day in early February, but I still think there's something seriously amiss with the billing. I paid less to heat a 3 bedroom Georgian flat over the winter last year, less than half of what we are paying for this 2 bed flat!

[argayu]

Yes, still on the case.

Since Eon last maintenance works in Nov/Dec it seems more people have issues with temperamental hot water performance, particularly on the evenings and in Phase 2 and 3 properties.

It seems Eon´s Energy Centre for the Square is not coping well anymore with the demand of water for the residents and hence those sharp drops in the temperature of the water for some properties.

Over the weekend I asked randomly five neighbours I met in common areas, and while three of these haven´t noticed any difference, two of them noticed it since the aforementioned Eon works, but they are putting by with adding as much time needed as boost at their hot water controller panel (i.e. wasting some energy and adding extra cost to their bills) instead of chasing Eon. I understand we all have busy lives, but this is frustrating, as Eon only will take thorough action within their Energy Centre if more residents report the issues.

[argayu]

Hi there,

Does anyone know whether the Heating and hot water programmer (mounted on the wall in
the airing cupboard) is responsability of E.On (like the Heat Interface Unit) or ours (like the hot water cylinder).

Thanks

[Mark]

Yours: E.On's responsibility stops with the HIU. Everything else in the cupboard is down to you.

[argayu]

Apr 10, 2018 14:12:25 GMT Mark said:

Yours: E.On's responsibility stops with the HIU. Everything else in the cupboard is down to you.

Noted down. Thanks Mark

[sokho]

Apologies to revive an old thread, but is anyone still experiencing lack of hot water in the evenings like Argayu? It only occurred to me to check the forum as have actually been living with this for more than a year now (in Thomas Tower) but time flies when you’re just getting on with the work grind etc. I believe my issues also started after Eon’s “servicing” which quite frankly maybe they should have left it because my hot water was working fine up until that servicing update happened. The temperature gauge in my shower is now permanently at max and it’s pretty much luke warm. Quite upsetting. Will be writing to Eon customer service tomorrow. Has anyone seen any improvement through outside plumbing assistance which helped the situation?

[argayu]

Mar 7, 2019 23:48:03 GMT sokho said:

Apologies to revive an old thread, but is anyone still experiencing lack of hot water in the evenings like Argayu? It only occurred to me to check the forum as have actually been living with this for more than a year now (in Thomas Tower) but time flies when you’re just getting on with the work grind etc. I believe my issues also started after Eon’s “servicing” which quite frankly maybe they should have left it because my hot water was working fine up until that servicing update happened. The temperature gauge in my shower is now permanently at max and it’s pretty much luke warm. Quite upsetting. Will be writing to Eon customer service tomorrow. Has anyone seen any improvement through outside plumbing assistance which helped the situation?

Yes, problems persist - mostly on the weekends.

This is a numbers game and E.On claims they hardly got any complaints from Dalston Square. The Energy Ombudsman backs this lack of complaints too.

Another Barratt development with the same E.On service in Canada Water had a similar issue and they managed to get better luck -and an Eon representative on site- to sort this out.

Agree that the problem started with that infamous E.On servicing back in Nov/Dec 2017. Until then, the system was as reliable as a Swiss watch. Sadly, if complains don't get to E.On first and the Ombudsman later, E.On won't move a finger to fix this for good. Residents will keep using more heat supply to get the same or worse service and bills are higher.

It's a David vs Goliath situation. If we don't get enough numbers, nothing will be sorted out.

BTW - Hi to the E.On rep who is checking this forum every now and then

[globers]

Feb 9, 2018 17:59:45 GMT augusta said:

Hi there,

I've just spent a joyous day trying to sort out issues with our hot water. I live in Sledge Tower and we have been experiencing similar issues as you have, argayu. Ever since the works on the community boiler we had been noticing that we were running out of hot water certainly on weekends and then slowly more and more often, each night after the washing up was done there would be no hot water left. This tended to rectify itself in the morning again which we put down to our storage unit being set to heat up once in the early morning, and again in the evening. We thought we were simply using too much hot water, but we hadn't increased our usage and don't actually use that much so we were flummoxed.

This morning we awoke to find there simply wasn't any hot water and our underfloor heating wasn't working either. We had our lovely plumber John from Permanent Plumbing Solutions (if you ever need a plumber, he's exceptional) come round and he immediately noted it was an e.on related issue. Since the works on the communal boiler there have been a large number of flats who have been experiencing this issue and the e.on engineer has come out and discovered that there is what they are calling an air lock. When the works were carried out, they somehow managed to allow quite a bit of air into the pipes which has then been forced along until it has no where to go. In our case, it was blocking the intake of the hot water from the community boiler. The engineer also noted that our actuator had gone, though we can't tell when. 

I'm confident that John's theory is correct, as we have had issues since those works were carried out, and they've become worse over time. My advice is to call e.on heat and request that they send an engineer out. They will check to see if there have been any other issues registered and you're welcome to reference my call out to Flat 30, Sledge Tower, today the 9th Feb.

You need to be rather pushy with them, but once they send out an engineer I can almost guarantee it will be an issue of an air blockage. Check your bills, ours had skyrocketed as our under floor heating system was constantly trying to retrieve hot water but hardly any was getting through.

Hi Augusta - do you have details for John? Their website does not seem to be working now...
Thanks, Matt

[sokho]

Hi Globers and neighbours,

Permanent Plumbing Solutions (John Kennedy’s Company) was dissolved last summer. I woke up to a leaking tap this morning and just found this information when I was looking up his website.

In the meantime, if anyone else knows any other plumbers or just one who can replace my tap, would be appreciated as John was the only one I knew lol!!
So I’m a little stressed this morning too hehe.

[traveler20]

I have just got John Kennedy's new number which is 07551443557.

[globers]

Jan 14, 2020 13:24:28 GMT traveler20 said:

I have just got John Kennedy's new number which is 07551443557.

This is super helpful - thanks traveler20. I just spoke with John and he's coming next week.