Is a plumber allowed to fix our boiler during coronavirus outbreak? 

Our boiler has been playing up since the weekend and we ideally need a plumber to come over and check it over before it packs in for good, leaving us without heating or hot water.

Giving the current coronavirus outbreak, are tradesmen still allowed to come to the house to do necessary maintenance?

If they are, what do we need to do? Should we ask them if they’ve had Covid-19 symptoms?

Are plumbers allowed to go and fix people’s boilers if they are broken during the pandemic?

Grace Gausden, This is Money, replies: With the lockdown now in full effect, the number of questions surrounding what people can and can’t do is growing. 

One of the key questions is around tradespeople and whether or not they should be entering homes.  

Having a broken boiler is certainly a pain and, at a time like this, incredibly inconvenient, especially as you will spending even more time at home than normal.

The likelihood is, more boilers are under strain with people at home more using hot water and heating. 

As to whether you can get it repaired, there is currently no overarching rule as to whether or not engineers can still make home visits and it will depend on each company individually as to what they decide to do.

Ofgem, the energy watchdog, said that it expects suppliers to have the ‘safety, health and wellbeing of their customers as their central priority with a particular focus on risks to vulnerable customers or where customers are at risk of going off supply or have gone off supply.’

How this is enacted by each plumbing firm is up to them. This is Money spoke to a couple of well known firms to see how they are responding to the coronavirus. 

Pimlico Plumbers, London’s largest independent plumbing firm, said that it is currently providing an emergency service for all essential work and screening all calls prior to booking to establish whether customers have had any symptoms of the coronavirus before going ahead with the booking.

It added that when engineers arrive at the customers house, they call them on their phone so they can open the door and then self-isolate whilst the engineer carries out the work. 

The engineers wear foot covers, gloves and face masks and all vans have a sink so they can wash their hands before and after the job. They all also have hand sanitiser.

Customers are advised to contact their local plumber to see if they are can complete repairs

Customers are advised to contact their local plumber to see if they are can complete repairs

A spokesperson for British Gas replies: Right now we need to avoid unnecessary contact but we’re still responding to our customers whose boilers have broken down and who have no heating or hot water as we would prioritise that as emergency work – we can’t do non-essentials like meter reads, for example. 

Vulnerable customers and emergency work is our absolute priority.

We’re also asking our customers to only contact us in an emergency as our call centres are focused on helping vulnerable customers and those in need. 

This means that those who need us urgently will be able to reach us.

A spokesperson for EDF replies: The health and well-being of our customers and employees is always our top priority. 

When a customer contacts us we will ask to see whether there is any risk to either themselves or our engineer. 

In the event of an emergency, an engineer will further assess the situation locally and, if safe to do so, will enter a property and do their best to ensure our customers’ boilers are operational. In order to do this, our engineers will wear some personal protective equipment to minimise the potential risks. 

All steps and preventative measures will be explained to the customer at the time of booking an appointment and by our engineer prior to the visit to a customer’s home.

A spokesperson for Uswitch replies: The first thing to do would be to call your local plumber or you boiler cover provider to see whether they are even sending their teams out to carry out repairs right now.

If they are, they may have certain criteria that need to be met first, such as whether the situation is an emergency or an essential repair – you could argue that your boiler packing up would necessitate essential repairs.

They may also ask whether anyone in your home has been displaying symptoms or been in contact with someone who has. Likewise you should ask them to vet the health of their staff to minimise the risks of someone bringing COVID-19 into your home.

They could also ask you let them examine the boiler via video-call first to see if they could diagnose the problem before they arrived and minimise any time they spend in your home.

Finally, if they did send someone to carry out the repair, you should continue to follow social-distancing guidelines and stay as far away from them as possible when they are in your home.

Ultimately, while there appears to be a valid reason for allowing someone to come into your home, you need to make sure you’re comfortable with this first and take all necessary steps to minimise the risks to yourselves and the person coming into your home first, such as cleaning any surfaces the boiler repair person is likely to touch before they arrive and after they leave.

Grace Gausden, This is Money, replies: You will have to contact a local plumber to see whether they are willing to come out and complete repairs. 

It may be the case that you will have to do some calling round to find someone who is willing to come out, if anyone. 

If they are happy to come out, you should ensure you still maintain social distancing and ensure that you wipe down all surfaces the engineer touches after they leave. 

You should also ensure they are in full protective gear when entering the home. 

Unfortunately, it could be the case that you have to wait until it is broken completely before they will agree to do a home visit.  

 

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

Source link