Thank you for your reply Mr P. So this disputes ericsbrother's post then. Yet he made me look like an idiot for questioning it! You say the damaged area would be patched and then the entire ceiling would be skimmed, when Dynorod came out to have another look on Saturday, he simply said that that part of the ceiling would be removed and replaced and painted over. He didn't mention skimming the whole ceiling. I'm worried that I'm going to be taken for a ride by British Gas/Dynorod, I live on my own. Also Mr P, as I mentioned, my daughter's ceiling was found to have asbestos and the WHOLE ceiling had to come down, not just where the leak was.

Thank you for your reply, but if my daughter's ceiling had asbestos when it was built late 1980, why wouldn't mine, built less than one year later? Admittedly anything I know about asbestos has been what I have found on the internet but they have been UK sites and all seem to say the same thing. Plus you say they were too heavy for ceilings, but I go back again to my daughter's house. Also, why when I claimed on my insurance for a totally unrelated incident years ago, when we were talking about the age of the houses on the estate the assessor said to me that if I ever had a problem with any leaks - a friend on the other side of the estate at the time had a leak through her ceiling - I would need to have an asbestos check done. I remember saying at the time, fingers crossed I don't then. So can you explain that please? A non aggressive reply would be appreciated.

Hi ericsbrother, sorry but I know that to be wrong. My daughter had a leak through her ceiling caused by a plumber (not Dynorod) accidentally going through a pipe. Her house was built in 1980. They came out to check for asbestos first, discovered it was there, the whole ceiling had to be taken down. My house was built in 1981 and I know from all that I've found out about asbestos since this happened that although it was banned late 1970, some houses were still being built in the early 80s with asbestos in the ceiling.

Please can someone help, I feel I am slowly going mad! I had a nightmare here Thursday night, Dynorod had come out three times this week to do little jobs, (The 2nd job on Wednesday they were here 6 hrs to fit just a couple of toilet handles and another small job!) on Thursday they came to fix a dripping bath tap, the plumber was obviously in a rush , soon after he left I spotted a large water stain on the carpet, looked up and water was starting to stain a large area on various parts of the living room ceiling, streaming down the patio doors and walls, curtains were soaked & are ruined, weatherboard soaking, and this was with rusty water of course. After phone calls to them where I was promised someone would be out very soon, an emergency plumber from Dynarod arrived an hour and a half later, poked 3 in the ceiling to let the horrible orange water through, 2 and a half bucketfuls, my daughter came over as I was in a bit of a state, it's a right mess. He fixed the problem, which was that the original plumber hadn't tightened the taps that he replaced! They have to come back to fit the bath panel back on when it's dry inside. Now they've caused another dripping tap which they'll have to fix but I can't handle it at the moment, they'll have to do it one day next week. Dynorod came out again on Saturday at my request as I asked for a dehumidifier, which I was informed he would definitely bring (he didn't and said they never carried them on their van) & said section of ceiling will have to be removed and redone, I don't know if there's asbestos in the ceiling as I was told by an assessor years ago when I claimed on my insurance for something else that there could be. If that's the case the whole ceiling in the living room, up the stairs and the landing will have to be removed (so he said) as it's open plan. I'm so stressed and the house stinks. I haven't a clue how long sorting it out is going to be and I'm sitting upstairs every day but can still smell the horrible damp. The plumber on Saturday said it's not a healthy environment to live in as it's so damp. I can already feel that I am breathing in the damp and feel a bit chesty. I have just come off the phone to British Gas complaints, I said that before that part of the ceiling is pulled down I need to know if there's asbestos up there but they refuse to sort that out and say it's something I would need to pay for myself - even though they caused the damage in the first place! well, Dynorod did. I told her I haven't got the money to pay for an asbestos survey - I started drawing my pension last week - and she just repeated that they won't cover that. Now I don't know what to do. I will get a call apparently within 48 hours from the 'damage team' but if they want to start cutting that part of the ceiling out without checking to see if there's asbestos, yet they won't check! Please can someone help?

Hi slick, no you're not butting it at all. I never got around to complaining by letter, but I did phone their customer services on the same day that I got the call from them saying that I needed a power flush. The technical manager had been told of the situation and wanted to sort it out. I didn't mention 'greed and not need' as I'm not that brave! lol

Oh I definitely agree with you Bigmac, what concerns me is the situation pensioners might be in when they have British Gas out to maintain their boiler and are told the same thing. They could end up taking out a loan, maybe using a loan shark to get the money, it is most certainly worrying. Yes, I did ask why I needed a power flush done when they first phoned me and the woman simply said that she had it in front of her that the engineer had said it needed doing. I must admit that if I'd had lots of money in the bank - I wish! - I would probably have just thought 'well, he said it needed doing and just forgot to mention it, so I might as well get it done.' British Gas really needs to stop the bonuses from power flushes but I don't suppose they will. Is this commission thing for power flushes a new thing, do you know? Oh and thankyou, yes, next year I will definitely mention the seal! Carrie

Hi Bigmac, an update on my power flush situation. I didn't get the chance to write to customer services at British Gas as my daughter fell ill and I was busy looking after her. I had intended writing to them once she was on the mend. Then I received a call from a British Gas technician a few days ago and he asked if he could come round to discuss the situation as he was in the area. When he arrived about 10 minutes later, I was expecting a hard sell about how important it is to have a power flush, how Briitsh Gas are the experts etc. Instead, he was an extremely nice man, who was obviously keen to sort out the situation, he was clearly on my side and couldn't understand why the first engineer had suggested a power flush as my system seemed fine. He said it wasn't the way British Gas did things anyway, I hadn't had lots of call-outs about my heating, but if I had, then the engineer should have mentioned a power flush there and then and asked if I would like a quote. I told him exactly what had happened and he said he would try and sort it out for me. I then received a letter from British Gas this morning, saying: Further to your telephone conversation with our Technical Manager, Mr X. Please accept our apologies for the letter you received regarding your central heating system. This letter was sent in error. (Actually, I received a phone call first of all telling me the system needed a power flush....) Mr X has inspected your system and has confirmed that at this point in time, a power flush is not required. Your agreement has not been downgraded or amended in any way. I am sorry for any inconvenience this has caused........ I am so relieved, but annoyed that the first engineer put all that stress and worry onto me. But hats off to the second technician who came out to me, he even left me his mobile number in case I wanted to discuss it with him again. If only all British Gas employees were like him. Many thanks Bigmac, for all your help on here and also slick132, I really appreciated it.

Oh I see, so I can put it in the kitchen then? Why did my one say not to put it in there? Thanks again for all your help. Off to get sorted for the evening now, but will reply to any of your answers tomorrow.

Oops sorry, I was too quick in replying.

Thanks again Bigmac. Where should I put the carbon monoxide alarm?

Thanks Bigmac, the thing is I can't ask about the seal now as the service has been carried out. Yes I have a First Alert carbon monoxide alarm.

It's funny you should mention a carbon monoxide detector, I bought one a few weeks ago but it's still sitting in the box. That's because I don't know where to site it! It says not to put it in the kitchen, which is where I would have thought would be the obvious position for it and the instruction leaflet is several pages long (with small writing!) It's a First Defence one. Whereabouts should I sit it? I can't put it on the ceiling or in the wall as I am not confident enough to start drilling (knowing me, I'd drill through a pipe and have another problem on my hands!) It would have to go on a shelf, but where is the best place please?

Oh crikey, that's awful. I do have it serviced as regular as clockwork every year though, and the engineer would check for a distorted seal, wouldn't he - hopefully? I will do as you say and write to them and will report back when (if) I get a reply. Do you think I should write to the customer services department or the complaints department? Thankyou very much by the way, for all your help, I really appreciate it.

Thankyou for moving the post to a new thread slick. This forum's so helpful, I'm glad I found it.

Hi Bigmac, it's a 10-16.

Hi, The boiler is a Potterton Netaheat.

Hi Bigmac and thankyou very much for your reply. Thanks to slick too for shouting Bigmac! In answer to your questions, no the engineer didn't check the radiators for cold spots or air. He asked me if there were any problems, did the maintenance of the boiler, went to the airing cupboard and switched on the heating (at this point, as he went upstairs on his own I don't know if he felt the landing radiator as he passed, but he didn't go into any of the bedrooms nor any other rooms downstairs. He came down from turning on the heating within a couple of minutes). He didn't go into the loft at all, no. I don't know if he checked the connection of the feed pipe to the system if that's in the airing cupboard. The engineer took about half an hour with the boiler maintenance as he had to do a room check too - which he said it passed. Another few minutes was spent when he went upstairs to the airing cupboard to switch on the heating. The only places he did the checks were in the kitchen for the boiler, which he said was fine and then, as I say, he went upstairs for a few minutes to the airing cupboard. When he had finished and was about to go, he ticked the various boxes on the checklist, said everything was fine and went. It was only when I got this call three weeks later from a woman at British Gas that she told me the engineer said there was a blockage in the system and it needed a power wash within about 3 weeks to fit in with the renewal of my service contract. He had mentioned nothing to me - although he can always say that he did, of course - and absolutely nothing was mentioned on my checklist. My Dad said that B. Gas will get round this by saying it was just an error on the engineer's part, but why did he tell me everything was fine when he left? I am worried sick as I don't know where I'm going to find this money. I understand that as the system is 25 years old that one day I will have to have a power flush anyway, but I didn't think I would have just 3 weeks to come up with between £500-£700! Many thanks Bigmac for any further advice. Carrie

Thankyou very much slick and I await Big Mac's reply too. I would say though, that although British Gas will possibly let me see the report, it mentions nothing on my report at all about a power flush. Looking at the checklist, the boxes that say 'Appliance is safe and working correctly' 'Programmer/timer and all controls working correctly' etc. are all ticked 'yes.' So even though his report will of course mention a power flush, which is why the woman rang me, it still wasn't mentioned to me at the time nor mentioned on my report. Carrie

By the way, call me suspicious, but a couple of months ago I had British Gas out to have a look at my fridge/freezer. It wasn't broken, but making a bit of a noise from the freezer. The engineer said that even though it was frost-free it needed defrosting occasionally and that there was probably a little bit of ice caught every now and then around the fan. He told me to defrost it, which I said I would do and then he said he might as well do it with a hairdryer while he was here. He spent a while with the hairdryer, telling me I couldn't do it as you had to be careful with the sensors. When he was about to go, he said he would ring me to make sure it was working again ok. He never rang and over the weekend the temperature fluctuated dramatically, the buzzer kept going off and I had to have another engineer out a week later. He tested the freezer with his temperature gauge and told me that it was nowhere near the temperature it was meant to be and he could see it was going quickly from 0 degrees to -20 and back again. He said the first engineer had damaged the sensor and the upshot was that British Gas paid me £360 for a new fridge/freezer (the original cost me £470 but they wouldn't give me that much as it was five years old, albeit working fine). Secondly, I changed energy suppliers when all the energy companies were starting to raise their prices about two months ago and went for a capped price with Scottish Gas. As I say, call me suspicious, but I find it a bit strange that this call about power flushing the system has come out of the blue after all these years and also with no note left with me about having one done. A way of British Gas recouping their £360? Carrie

Hi again slick. We have four bedrooms, lounge, kitchen, bathroom, dining room, cloakroom, and of course the landing has a radiator too, 11 in total. I forgot to say that the first woman I spoke to said the engineer said there was a blockage in the system. Well, he said nothing to me about a blockage of any kind, he told me everything was fine. Thankyou in advance for any more advice or suggestions you can offer. Carrie

Hello slick and thankyou for your reply. The only trouble we have - and we have had this for years and years and were told it was the way the pipes were designed - is that we need to bleed the bathroom radiator occasionally. This one is right next to the airing cupboard. The cold spot is at the top of the bathroom radiator - halfway up and is fine once bled. There isn't the normal 'arc' that I've been reading about. The system - touch wood - is running fine, we haven't had any problems. No, I haven't had anything in writing from British Gas and as I say, the checklist they left doesn't mention anything about a power flush. The engineer didn't even put my name at the top! Carrie

Hello, Please excuse this long post and sorry for posting it on the other thread too, I thought more people might read it if I posted separately. I had British Gas out on the 1st October this year to do their annual boiler/maintenance check. The system is nearly 26 years old and I was worried in case the boiler failed the tests. The engineer did his checks, including a room test (apparently a new thing they do) turned on the central heating and left saying that everything was fine. He left me the checklist which has everything ticked ok and a comment that said: ASV. ROOM TEST. ALL OK. Then, 2 days ago (29 days after the maintenance check) I received a phone call from a woman at British Gas who told me the engineer had made a note that I needed a power flush to my system and that it would cost between £500-700 but that I could have a Corgi registered person to do it for slightly cheaper. I listened to her and told her I couldn't afford anything like that at the moment. She told me that if I didn't have one before my annual maintenance agreement was up for renewal, then although British Gas would come out to me if I had a problem with the central heating, I would have to foot the bill and my direct debit payments would be reduced to take this into account. I asked when my renewal was and she told me the 24th November! I stumbled and stuttered my way through the rest of the conversation, asking her: 'so if my central heating broke down on, say, the 25th November, you would fix it but send me the bill.' She said yes. I told her again that I knew nothing about this and that the engineer hadn't mentioned anything at all to me about a power flush, but she just repeated that I won't be covered in future. I then phoned British Gas, got a very rude man who sullenly told me he wasn't an engineer and couldn't help me and with a yawn asked me did I want to make a complaint? I told him no, I just wanted to know why I wasn't told about this at the time. He said he'd get someone to call me that afternoon, no call came. I phoned again half an hour later, hoping to get someone more helpful, which I did and he told me he would get someone to look into it for me and phone me back as soon as possible. Yesterday, no call had come so I phoned again around 3pm, this time a woman answered and when I told her I was still waiting for a call back, she told me someone had tried to ring me at 1.50pm. I told her no-one had tried to ring me, I had been in all day and hadn't used my phone at all. She told me she would get the woman 'who tried' to ring me urgently. Still no call. So here I am, 2 days later, worried sick and wondering where on earth I can find anything up to £500-£700. Even half of that I can't afford at the moment. I can't find anything in the small print that mentions anything like this - but I bet I've missed it. Can someone please advise as to what they would do in my circumstance? I just don't have the money to pay for a power flush at the moment. Many thanks in advance, Carrie

Hello, Please excuse this long post. I had British Gas out on the 1st October this year to do their annual boiler/maintenance check. The system is nearly 26 years old and I was worried in case the boiler failed the tests. The engineer did his checks, including a room test (apparently a new thing they do) turned on the central heating and left saying that everything was fine. He left me the checklist which has everything ticked ok and a comment that said: ASV. ROOM TEST. ALL OK. Then, 2 days ago (29 days after the maintenance check) I received a phone call from a woman at British Gas who told me the engineer had made a note that I needed a power flush to my system and that it would cost between £500-700 but that I could have a Corgi registered person to do it for slightly cheaper. I listened to her and told her I couldn't afford anything like that at the moment. She told me that if I didn't have one before my annual maintenance agreement was up for renewal, then although British Gas would come out to me if I had a problem with the central heating, I would have to foot the bill and my direct debit payments would be reduced to take this into account. I asked when my renewal was and she told me the 24th November! I stumbled and stuttered my way through the rest of the conversation, asking her: 'so if my central heating broke down on, say, the 25th November, you would fix it but send me the bill.' She said yes. I told her again that I knew nothing about this and that the engineer hadn't mentioned anything at all to me about a power flush, but she just repeated that I won't be covered in future. I then phoned British Gas, got a very rude man who sullenly told me he wasn't an engineer and couldn't help me and with a yawn asked me did I want to make a complaint? I told him no, I just wanted to know why I wasn't told about this at the time. He said he'd get someone to call me that afternoon, no call came. I phoned again half an hour later, hoping to get someone more helpful, which I did and he told me he would get someone to look into it for me and phone me back as soon as possible. Yesterday, no call had come so I phoned again around 3pm, this time a woman answered and when I told her I was still waiting for a call back, she told me someone had tried to ring me at 1.50pm. I told her no-one had tried to ring me, I had been in all day and hadn't used my phone at all. She told me she would get the woman 'who tried' to ring me urgently. Still no call. So here I am, 2 days later, worried sick and wondering where on earth I can find anything up to £500-£700. Even half of that I can't afford at the moment. I can't find anything in the small print that mentions anything like this - but I bet I've missed it. Can someone please advise as to what they would do in my circumstance? I just don't have the money to pay for a power flush at the moment. Many thanks in advance, Carrie