Boiler Heat Exchanger busted

[Suzan]

Hi guys,

Quick question. Had 2 new rads fitted (system was drained) but I didn't test the hot water or heating after he fitted the rads. 4-5 days later I noticed there was no hot water (wasn't in the house) and I kept hearing clanging sounds after the boiler has tried to ignite then shutdown. Only rad that got hot when heating was turned on is one above boiler, rad in the room next to it got a bit hot when i turned the first one off but not fully hot. Plumber came round and said f&e tank was contaminated and when the system got drained, sludge may have gone into the system and caused the heat exchanger in the boiler to overheat. He cut the boiler off from the gas and just labeled it not usable.

So I have a couple of options. I was gonna go with buying a combi boiler that will require the system be drained and flushed anyway, and he said the current boiler is beyond repair because the heat exchanger is expensive.

I saw on ebay a refurb for £55, and I'm thinking, can we not just power flush the system, then install the new heat exchanger, make sure the f&e tank has no gunk, and all good? Or is this a bad idea? This is a vented system btw. Picture of boiler is attached (worcester bosch greenstar 24 ri)

 

[Harvest Fields]

Hmm I guess. Hopefully it's just a bunch of airlocking/some sludge and a good clean with chemicals left to descale the system will be enough. Is flushing the system a hard thing to do (not power flush)? Shall we clean the F&E tank manually (remove any sludge before it's drained?)? Not entirely sure the full process A-Z of cleaning the system with chemicals (something like sentinal x300)?

X800 will be what is needed.

 

[Riley]

You’re going to spend more doing a proper flush and repairing the boiler and installing a magnaclean etc

 

[Suzan]

You’re going to spend more doing a proper flush and repairing the boiler and installing a magnaclean etc

Flush is going to be needed either way though right? Boiler repair is £315 and magnaclean is £90 + £50 fitting (from my gas dude), that's £450. New boiler + flush is gonna be at least double that i'd assume...

 

[ShaunCorbs]

10 year warranty on the hex how old is the boiler

 

[Suzan]

Boiler is 5 years old. Yeah Bosch said they'd replace for free.

 

[Harvest Fields]

10 year warranty on the hex how old is the boiler

If it is registered.

 

[Suzan]

Yeah I called them up and they registered it for me

 

[Harvest Fields]

Fixed repair is about £260.00 plus mate.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

If it is registered.

tbh worcester are normally good if it hasnt

 

[Harvest Fields]

Yeah I called them up and they registered it for me

If it wasn’t registered that explains a lot.

 

[Suzan]

Tbh it was my mum's place and she didn't bother to register it... I didn't know it wasn't registered sadly... but luckily it didn't matter

 

[Harvest Fields]

Tbh it was my mum's place and she didn't bother to register it... I didn't know it wasn't registered sadly... but luckily it didn't matter

Not your Mums responsibility to register the boiler.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

get worcester to supply you with a nex hex then get a local gas guy or worcester to fit as your in london rates can differ alot

 

[Scott_D]

Worcester wont replace an external pump as part of the fixed price repair

 

[Suzan]

Not your Mums responsibility to register the boiler.

She was the landlord..... Hence why I've registered it now as I'm the owner

 

[Harvest Fields]

get worcester to supply you with a nex hex then get a local gas guy or worcester to fit as your in london rates can differ alot

Was about to say that. But looking at the picture that isn’t a bad deal from Worcester. Especially if they said they would change the pump also.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Was about to say that. But looking at the picture that isn’t a bad deal from Worcester. Especially if they said they would change the pump also.

they wont as its not a worcester part eg boiler part

 

[Suzan]

Worcester wont replace an external pump as part of the fixed price repair

I might be being thick but is there a pump *inside* the boiler? Or is it just that pump near the hot water cylinder? PP guy said it was fine

 

[Harvest Fields]

I might be being thick but is there a pump *inside* the boiler? Or is it just that pump near the hot water cylinder? PP guy said it was fine

Pump
Will be by the cylinder.

 

[Suzan]

Yeah that wilo yonos pico pump was fine he said

 

[Suzan]

Thing i didn't understand is when i turned it to vent mode (set in the middle) i had no idea where it was venting air from..... there's no escape valve...

 

[Harvest Fields]

Thing i didn't understand is when i turned it to vent mode (set in the middle) i had no idea where it was venting air from... there's no escape valve...

In the loft.

 

[Suzan]

In the loft.

Venting to the tank you mean? i.e. releasing air up to there? hmm that makes sense... couldn't go anywhere else

 

[Harvest Fields]

Looking at that pic. It is showing a BG install? That maybe why it wasn’t registered.

 

[Suzan]

Yeah the guy who fitted it was BG at the time

 

[Drewy]

That’s a problem that goes back way further than recent work you’ve had done. Get Worcester to repair the boiler, get someone to powerflush the system and investigate why the problem occurred in the first place. I can’t see in the airing cupboard pic but is there a bypass and is it open? Also it might be that air is getting into the system.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

could of just airlocked in the first place so might be no fault

 

[Burger]

Full pic

View attachment 39099

They haven’t sealed other side of pipe either to prevent the smell of gas escaping, which could lead to a false attendance for a gas “leak”.

 

[Suzan]

Is it this thing? Dunno ...

 

[Suzan]

They haven’t sealed other side of pipe either to prevent the smell of gas escaping, which could lead to a false attendance for a gas “leak”.

He used this machine to make sure all gas had left... i guess...