Kitchen Tap - £180 gas check?!

[Southcoastcali]

hiya all. We have a 10 reg cali that has a dicky tap and pump which is about to be replaced by Peter Cooper in Portsmouth. They have called to say that sometimes to fix the tap they have to fiddle around with sink unit - and if they do this there will be a £180 charge for the gas to be rechecked. Am comfortable that gas needs checking - and we prob need a check of the hose / pressure reg as the three year sticker time period is well in the past - but am *really* struggling with £180 to just check the sink connection....has anyone had any similar issue? thank you am a regular lurker but a very infrequent poster!

 

[Hotel California]

Don't know the charges in the UK for checking gassystem but the sticker that comes on the rear of the Cali from new is ONLY for German (TUV) purpose!

 

[Meoncoast]

Peter Cooper Portsmouth?
Are they a Van centre Peter Coopers I thought were VW car dealers rather than van centres. If only cars I would check out a van centre or even a motor home dealer over car centre

 

[calikev]

Try VW campersales I think they do a full check for around £60. Burgess hill West Sussex

 

[Southcoastcali]

hiya all and thanks for the speedy responses...yeah van centre is now in Portsmouth rather than just in Soton. It's not actually a gas check per se- just a charge they want to levy if they need to get at the sink unit to fix the tap! (as an aside I have been meaning to get campersales to give the gas set up a once over at some point - I know its not needed by law etc but am enough of a worrier to just fret about the reg / hose set up etc and it is now coming up for 7 yrs old) This £180 isn't to do that though....its just if they need to get a gas man in if they fiddle with the sink unit.

 

[calikev]

I can't see the need to touch the gas to fix the tap. It sounds like a job they don't really want

 

[Southcoastcali]

well they have the van already - tbh we told them there was no way we would pay £180 for a gas man. Just wondered if anyone had had any similar. Over the years we have realised that there tends to be a "normal" repair bill....and then a "california" repair bill - with the cali bill generally having a few extra 0's !! ( bit like weddings really...cali seems to be a licence for van centres to print money)

 

[snowy55]

The Vw garage won't have an in house gas man they will be getting a qualified person to come in and then double his price to you.

 

[motacyclist]

Our pump failed a few weeks ago, I removed the top of the water tank, turned the tap on, got hold of the pump and gave it an almighty thwack on the side of the tank whereupon it started working again!

Before you do this though, check you have 12v at the connector to the pump above the water tank (it's the one that goes straight into the tank, the one in the lid is the level sensor.) If you have 12v here then the problem is the pump. You might be able to fix with the method described above, or if not then there are plenty of replacements on eBay for £15 - 20 (it doesn't have to be the same make - try Whale). If you need to replace the pump then cut the connector off the old one and attach it to the new one with a chocolate block connector, after first passing it through the small hole in the tank

If you haven't got 12v at the pump connector (and assuming you've checked the fuse) then remove the kitchen drawer and feel up at the back for the wires to the tap. There is a connector here so check that 12v is going to the tap. If 12v is present, then the microswitch is faulty; I understand that this can be replaced very cheaply without removing the tap, there is a thread about it on here somewhere - Hotel California will find it for you if necessary!

The top of the water tank can be difficult to remove, I made a tool out of a piece of wood, drill two holes just smaller than the diameter of the top and insert two nuts and bolts to slot into the vanes on the top to unscrew it.

Good luck and keep the cash in your pocket.

 

[WelshGas]

well they have the van already - tbh we told them there was no way we would pay £180 for a gas man. Just wondered if anyone had had any similar. Over the years we have realised that there tends to be a "normal" repair bill....and then a "california" repair bill - with the cali bill generally having a few extra 0's !! ( bit like weddings really...cali seems to be a licence for van centres to print money)

There is absolutely no requirement for the gas supply to the gas rings to be interrupted in any way when replacing the sink tap or water pump. If they do undo it in any way then they are incompetent and not following normal practice. Refuse to pay and when you have the vehicle back arrange a Gas Check elsewhere.