The Lemon Fool

Fresh from a sweet pool of sewage in the back garden, the boiler has developed a leak.

I've had a look. Worcester Greenstar boiler, it's been here since we moved in 9 years ago, so probably around a fair bit before that too.

Anyway, we have a drip - nothing for a few secs, then a few drips (2 or 3), and repeat. The pace quickens when the hot water is turned on.

https://ibb.co/YdxQt98

Sorry the image won't embed.

Is this something i can tackle myself?

NapoleonD wrote:Fresh from a sweet pool of sewage in the back garden, the boiler has developed a leak.

I've had a look. Worcester Greenstar boiler

There's ya problem, right there!

People never learn. Peps can be suckers for a competent marketing campaign and consequently lots believe Worcester are the best boiler money can buy.

I decline to work on Worcester boilers but to explain why, just sounds like sour grapes!

My advice is get a Vaillant. I hardly ever get a call to fix a Vaillant.

To be fair, it's the first issue we've had in 9 years - and it came with the property.

I'm hoping we are not looking at a full replacement. That is definately beyond my competence.

+1 on a Vaillant boiler. Unbelievable that WB use plastic fittings on a boiler, but they do. They usually last about ten years before they leak.

NapoleonD wrote:To be fair, it's the first issue we've had in 9 years - and it came with the property.

I'm hoping we are not looking at a full replacement. That is definately beyond my competence.

It is almost certainly fixable, but I don't recognise the part in your photo. As BullDog says, Worcester have a reputation for the plastic parts cracking and spraying the finest imaginable mist around inside the boiler. My best advice is call Worcester themsleves. They do a fixed price repair scheme for about £300-ish, and the bod will turn up (hopefully) in a van already stuffed with parts for your boiler so will probably do a one-visit-fix.

Mike4 wrote:
My advice is get a Vaillant. I hardly ever get a call to fix a Vaillant.

I can do some research on what power outage I would need in the event of a replacement - but would you recommend one of these?

https://www.screwfix.com/c/heating-plum ... d=vaillant

TIA

NapoleonD wrote:

Mike4 wrote:
My advice is get a Vaillant. I hardly ever get a call to fix a Vaillant.

I can do some research on what power outage I would need in the event of a replacement - but would you recommend one of these?

https://www.screwfix.com/c/heating-plum ... d=vaillant

TIA

I think you could do worse than finding a local recommended Vaillant installer via their own website.

The key advantage being that this usually gives you a 10 year or so warranty subject to having annual inspections.

Mind you, if, as Mike4 finds, they never break down, it does make you wonder if a ten year warranty is worth the inevitably higher installation cost going via this route would entail

EcoTEC is Vaillant's premium range. EcoFIT Pure is the budget range.

Behind the front panel Vaillant EcoFIT Pure looks the same as Glow-worm Energy7. The Installation and Service instructions are mostly word for word identical. They come from the same factory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3-sXpKFPCY

NapoleonD wrote:To be fair, it's the first issue we've had in 9 years - and it came with the property.

I'm hoping we are not looking at a full replacement. That is definately beyond my competence.

One problem in nine years and you are suddenly worrying about a replacement? Has it been annually serviced? When was it last serviced?

Get the same people out to fix it and argue about the price if you must.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:To be fair, it's the first issue we've had in 9 years - and it came with the property.

I'm hoping we are not looking at a full replacement. That is definately beyond my competence.

One problem in nine years and you are suddenly worrying about a replacement? Has it been annually serviced? When was it last serviced?

Get the same people out to fix it and argue about the price if you must.

Dod

I strongly advise against this. "Boiler slingers" (as we fault-tracers scathingly call them) rarely understand how boilers work inside and are highly likely to turn up, announce "Its had it mate, you need a new one" and charge the OP a hundred quid for the privilege. I encounter this tale constantly when people track me down and book me to visit and fix having rejected the 'Get a new one mate' advice.

"When you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" is apposite when you call out a boiler installer out to fix a boiler fault. No great surprise when they usually recommend getting a new one!

Mike4 wrote:

Dod101 wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:To be fair, it's the first issue we've had in 9 years - and it came with the property.

I'm hoping we are not looking at a full replacement. That is definately beyond my competence.

One problem in nine years and you are suddenly worrying about a replacement? Has it been annually serviced? When was it last serviced?

Get the same people out to fix it and argue about the price if you must.

Dod

I strongly advise against this. "Boiler slingers" (as we fault-tracers scathingly call them) rarely understand how boilers work inside and are highly likely to turn up, announce "Its had it mate, you need a new one" and charge the OP a hundred quid for the privilege. I encounter this tale constantly when people track me down and book me to visit and fix having rejected the 'Get a new one mate' advice.

"When you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" is apposite when you call out a boiler installer out to fix a boiler fault. No great surprise when they usually recommend getting a new one!

I stand by my statement. I am suggesting getting the fault fixed and of course you call out a competent boiler engineer (as they like to call themselves) not a boiler installer. (In my case, they will be the same)

I have an old oil boiler (Dansmoor I think it is) which I get serviced every year and if it goes wrong, so far it has done may once in the last 16 years, I call out the same people and they fix it. If they cannot it will be time to look for a replacement.

I live in a different world where most people know each other.

Dod

Dod101 wrote:

Mike4 wrote:

Dod101 wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:To be fair, it's the first issue we've had in 9 years - and it came with the property.

I'm hoping we are not looking at a full replacement. That is definately beyond my competence.

One problem in nine years and you are suddenly worrying about a replacement? Has it been annually serviced? When was it last serviced?

Get the same people out to fix it and argue about the price if you must.

Dod

I strongly advise against this. "Boiler slingers" (as we fault-tracers scathingly call them) rarely understand how boilers work inside and are highly likely to turn up, announce "Its had it mate, you need a new one" and charge the OP a hundred quid for the privilege. I encounter this tale constantly when people track me down and book me to visit and fix having rejected the 'Get a new one mate' advice.

"When you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail" is apposite when you call out a boiler installer out to fix a boiler fault. No great surprise when they usually recommend getting a new one!

I stand by my statement. I am suggesting getting the fault fixed and of course you call out a competent boiler engineer (as they like to call themselves) not a boiler installer. (In my case, they will be the same)

I have an old oil boiler (Dansmoor I think it is) which I get serviced every year and if it goes wrong, so far it has done may once in the last 16 years, I call out the same people and they fix it. If they cannot it will be time to look for a replacement.

I live in a different world where most people know each other.

Dod

I do apologise.

I misread your post as suggesting getting the original installers out to fix it, when you actually suggested getting the last people to service it to do it.

I'm still not sure service engineers are that good at fault-tracing though, either!

P.S. I call myself a technician, not an engineer. My dear old departed Dad was a 'proper' engineer, a "Chartered Engineer'. I'm no such thing. I just work stuff out by looking at it and reading the manual.