Boiler lockout

[fabien]

Hi

Could I have your thoughts and maybe advice on this:

For the last 2 weeks I couldn't get any hot water from the kitchen tap. The electronic panel was showing an error message which according to manual is ‘safety thermostat intervention lockout’, manual says that the boiler can be directly reactivated by the user by pressing the reset button, which I have been doing and it has been working fine. I had to do that once almost every day.
Last Tuesday night I looked by chance the pressure gauge which is under the boiler and I noticed that the boiler pressure was at 3 bars. I know it shouldn't be that high (I don't know how long it has been like that) and maybe I should have looked at it more seriously but I didn't think much of it at the time as it seemed to work without problem, apart of the daily reset.

On Friday I did try to call our local engineer if he was available after Christmas to have a look at boiler but I had no answer or reply so left it.

On Saturday, we have been out all day and when I came home the house was freezing. I checked the pressure gauge and no pressure at all! I refilled the boiler to 1.5 bars but after an hour all pressure was gone again. So I did the process again, I left it overnight.

On Sunday (yesterday), I was out all day. I refilled the boiler to have a bit of heat for a couple of hours.
Just before going to bed, my girlfriend went to the downstairs toilet and noticed there was a small puddle of water on the floor; water was dripping down through light bulb. Fortunately, she didn't switch on the light.
The leak was coming from the boiler cupboard which is above.
For your information, we have a second toilet which is next to the boiler cupboard. The toilet flushing system is behind the toilet wall, inside the boiler cupboard and is connected to the boiler. Worm Water was dripping out the toilet system down through the cupboard wooden floor.
Is it common (or legal) to have that type of system? It's not the first time we notice that the toilet is flushed with warm water. “I am fortunate enough to have warm water to flush my toilet” .

Anyway, I immediately switched off the boiler, flushed the upstairs toilet, put bucket and towel to soak up.
This morning I tried to switch on boiler but it would not ignite.

I spoke to my landlady this morning, she said she wouldn’t be able to get someone out today (what she means is she is not going to pay to get someone out on Boxing Day) and she will call engineer tomorrow.

I know that some people are not working tomorrow in lieu of Christmas (like me) so there is no guarantee she will get someone in.

What do you think is going? Is there anything I can do?
Sorry I am total novice in terms of boiler

[SimonJohns]

What boiler do you have

[warrington]

The problems you explained here indicates many problems, thermistor, overheat thermostat, expansion vessel some of these problems. About having a warm flush from toilet worries me , i can't tell without seeing but sounds like your prv discharge connected to your cistern, ( hope not ). I just wrote shortly because there is nothing you can do really. You need GSR engineer.

[fabien]

It's a Biasi Activ A 25c. She said it was quite expensive but to me it's very basic. I don't know how it compares to over boilers.

It was installed last summer so almost brand new. I would think being that new that there is a warranty on it. My landlady is a scrooge as anything and will not spend if she does not have to; She even said she will get the engineer to call me and see if it could be sorted over the phone because there is a charge every time he calls in.

[fabien]

The problems you explained here indicates many problems, thermistor, overheat thermostat, expansion vessel some of these problems. About having a warm flush from toilet worries me , i can't tell without seeing but sounds like your prv discharge connected to your cistern, ( hope not ). I just wrote shortly because there is nothing you can do really. You need GSR engineer.

When you say hope not, what would happen if it is?
Hopefully, an engineer will come tomorrow and I will let him know about the warm flush. But it would be the same guy who installed and connected boiler so he would know about what he has done.

[warrington]

He shouldn't connect prv discharge pipe into the cistern, against regulations. your expansion vessel doesn't accommodate the expansion, prv release will the water in cistern and it will cause the cistern over flood . I am not saying he did connect but the way you explained the problem sounds like it. I would like to know what he says tomorrow.

[fabien]

If i send you photos do you think you could figure out if it is connected?

[warrington]

you said cistern is connected to boiler in your first post. If you take the photo of that connection,possibly i can tell you.

[fabien]

100_5376.jpg100_5375.jpg

[fabien]

Does that help?

[warrington]

Your condensate pipe is connected to the cistern which shouldn't, and too close the water, and causing condensate getting trapped. If you check your manual, you will see requirements about it.And that causing lock out problems.

[Gray0689]

Lol that's some plumber you got to do that lol
Sorry it's very bad the condensate is backing up as the cistern fills with water from it very bad job

[stevetheplumber]

cant see if the original over flow still runs out and he has teed in to it

[APPlumbing]

That's a terrible job. Needs the installer back to put that shambles right.

[fabien]

thanks all for your comments.
Does that type of work needs to be reported?