Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:54 am  

Maybe a long shot but would be nice if anyone has any advice.

Our boiler seems to have sprung a leak over the last few days after it would seem it has been holding too much pressure.

It's fine when the heating is off and just boiling water, but over the last few days with the heating on it has been losing pressure and cutting off, so we manually raise it with a tap, no more than 2 bar. and we found that water had been leaking down the wall underneath the boiler.

The chuckle brothers have turned up and are basically saying we need a new boiler, I'm not convinced but it's my mum who pays the bills and don't want to see her getting ripped off.

allegedly the boiler is reaching 3.8 bar before it is cutting off and then sending water from an overflow pipe or something which is higher than it should be and is "dangerous", we haven't see it that high since they turned up and I'm wondering if he could have fiddled something with the screwdriver he was poking around... They where quick to keep saying "it's dangerous", "very dangerous that" really dangerous... which seems like just a way of scaring my mum into spending a fortune on a new one.

I'm gonna tell my mum to get a second opinion when they disappears, that's if they haven't already hoodwinked her into paying for it before i go back downstairs. Maybe they are right but I just want to be sure I guess.

Re: Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:09 am  

Check the filling loop isn't constantly topping the pressure up slowly causing the pressure to reach 3.8 bar and blow off, failing that its the expansion vessel. Usually about £20 to £50 and can be installed anywhere on the heating system to absorb the pressure caused by the heating of the water. You can leave the old expansion vessel in the boiler and its prob best to fit the new one near to the boiler.

A plumber gas engineer may charge half a day/days labour plus parts £100 to £200

Re: Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:34 am  

post wrote:

Check the filling loop isn't constantly topping the pressure up slowly causing the pressure to reach 3.8 bar and blow off, failing that its the expansion vessel. Usually about £20 to £50 and can be installed anywhere on the heating system to absorb the pressure caused by the heating of the water. You can leave the old expansion vessel in the boiler and its prob best to fit the new one near to the boiler.

A plumber gas engineer may charge half a day/days labour plus parts £100 to £200

This. A new pressure vessel adding to the system is what you need. In fact I'm getting the same problem solved myself today and it's costing me £165.

Re: Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:36 am  

post wrote:

Check the filling loop isn't constantly topping the pressure up slowly causing the pressure to reach 3.8 bar and blow off, failing that its the expansion vessel. Usually about £20 to £50 and can be installed anywhere on the heating system to absorb the pressure caused by the heating of the water. You can leave the old expansion vessel in the boiler and its prob best to fit the new one near to the boiler.

A plumber gas engineer may charge half a day/days labour plus parts £100 to £200

They did mention a filling loop and said that was topping it up. But when I've just looked at the boiler after they've left a blue tap that is turned to put more pressure in the system wasn't tight at all.

They demonstrated to us that the boiler is continuously getting pressure and it went upto about 3.8 bar before it shut off. Although if the tap was still open I'm guessing it would do right?..

they let the pressure go up and up let us watch some water go out of a pipe outside somewhere and said yeh... it's knackered.

I just tightened the blue tap back up as it should be too stop adding water and turned the boiler on, but then some steam blew out the bottom so I shut it off straight away, It's never come close to doing that before. Can't help but feel they've purposely let it blow.

Re: Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:39 am  

Robbo wrote:

Maybe a long shot but would be nice if anyone has any advice.

Our boiler seems to have sprung a leak over the last few days after it would seem it has been holding too much pressure.

It's fine when the heating is off and just boiling water, but over the last few days with the heating on it has been losing pressure and cutting off, so we manually raise it with a tap, no more than 2 bar. and we found that water had been leaking down the wall underneath the boiler.

The chuckle brothers have turned up and are basically saying we need a new boiler, I'm not convinced but it's my mum who pays the bills and don't want to see her getting ripped off.

allegedly the boiler is reaching 3.8 bar before it is cutting off and then sending water from an overflow pipe or something which is higher than it should be and is "dangerous", we haven't see it that high since they turned up and I'm wondering if he could have fiddled something with the screwdriver he was poking around... They where quick to keep saying "it's dangerous", "very dangerous that" really dangerous... which seems like just a way of scaring my mum into spending a fortune on a new one.

I'm gonna tell my mum to get a second opinion when they disappears, that's if they haven't already hoodwinked her into paying for it before i go back downstairs. Maybe they are right but I just want to be sure I guess.

Ours is an unvented system and we were getting the same symptoms, i.e. switching itself off and a small amount of water leaking out of it but leaping back into life when I turned the tap on it to increase the pressure.
I got the guy from Vaillant (as it's a Vaillant boiler) to take a look and he replaced the pressure sensor.
It's been fine since.

Re: Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:46 am  

El Barbudo wrote:

Ours is an unvented system and we were getting the same symptoms, i.e. switching itself off and a small amount of water leaking out of it but leaping back into life when I turned the tap on it to increase the pressure.
I got the guy from Vaillant (as it's a Vaillant boiler) to take a look and he replaced the pressure sensor.
It's been fine since.

That's what ours was doing, Losing pressure so it would switch off, we'd turn the tap then close it to build it up a bit again, and it would work fine. had a bit of water come down the wall and not really used it since. till these guy's come to be told the system's constantly filling up. Had I not noticed that the tap was still "open" I would have believed them, Not really sure what to do now as my mum is just happy to give these guys £1900 for a new boiler, we were gonna get someone else to look at it, but since I turned it on and saw steam blowing out I'm guessing it is gone now.

Re: Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 11:54 am  

Robbo wrote:

That's what ours was doing, Losing pressure so it would switch off, we'd turn the tap then close it to build it up a bit again, and it would work fine. had a bit of water come down the wall and not really used it since. till these guy's come to be told the system's constantly filling up. Had I not noticed that the tap was still "open" I would have believed them, Not really sure what to do now as my mum is just happy to give these guys £1900 for a new boiler, we were gonna get someone else to look at it, but since I turned it on and saw steam blowing out I'm guessing it is gone now.

I don't think I'd be willing to give them the job.
When I lived in London, I had an ever-so-slightly leaky cylinder and to this day, I'm convinced that the guy who came to look at it fecked it good and proper so that it leaked in a constant stream.
It's a long story with a few twists and turns ... and I ended up needing a new cylinder but I didn't trust him at all and didn't give him the job.
If she's happy to get a new boiler, I'd shop around and get a reputable company such as the boiler manufacturer's own people (e.g. Vaillant) to do it ... but, please, not British Gas.

Re: Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 12:05 pm  

I've said all this to my mum and she " just wants hot water and heating"

I'm not happy about it all and don't like seeing her get robbed blind but If I confront them I'm not really sure what will come of it, the boiler is about 10 years old, not sure what the lifespan of a boiler should generally be though.and shes of the opinion that once something starts going on it, it's only gonna get worse. I'll be checking what they charge for the boiler anyway to see if they are adding anything to the value of it. Which I expect they will.

Oh, and just to add, she's now on the way to the bank to draw out the money as she want's to pay cash... (maybe they've asked for cash I don;t know)

I've literally pleaded with her to not give them cash in hand and she isn't listening, I'll be the first point of contact when they turn up on Wednesday , but ultimately it's not my decision.

Re: Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 12:26 pm  

Just one note of caution: we've just had fun and games with our boiler (17 and a half years old).

It was cutting out in terms of heating, and then overflowing outside with boiling water.

First plumber who came and looked at it squeaked in amazement that it had no 'thermal expansion tank' and we started to arrange to put one it.

Company sent around another plumber the next morning to do a 'quality control check'.Apparently this model of boiler was one of the first to actually have one built in.

Never thought I'd hear it mentioned again so shortly after first hearing of it.

Anyhow, a whole new boiler was required, as there was one element and one thermostat gone, but the tanks and everything inside were clarted up (as one might expect) with 17 and a half year's of limescale, so any repair would only have been a temporary solution.

Re: Any Boiler/heating experts on here? : Mon Mar 11, 2013 12:39 pm  

Just spoke to my mum and they requested cash payment, Thankfully she'd decided to fob them off and now I'm having to look for a fitter

If we need a new boiler so be it, but I just didn't want those 2 cowboys fitting it as I'm not happy to see my mum handing over nearly 2k in cash.